Gruppo Italiano Vini
text and photographs © 2009 Tom Cannavan
I'm pretty sure most people reading this feature will not recognise the name Gruppo Italiano Vini, or 'GIV'. GIV is without doubt
the biggest wine company in Italy that nobody has ever heard of. Indeed, it is the biggest wine company in Italy full stop.
GIV is a private company that operates 14 large wineries, literally across the length and breadth of Italy, from The Veneto in the
north, to Sicily and Puglia in the deep south. But the company's philosophy is to let the focus fall on each of its wineries as a distinct,
regional business, and not to publicise the group or its central role. In total the group's 14 wineries produce 85 million bottles of wine
and it farms 1250 hectares of its own vineyards.
This huge private company is also unique in Italy in that it is owned by two large co-operative cellars, Riunite & CIV, in
the Emilia-Romagna region.
I recently spent a whirlwind three days in Italy, visiting four of their main wineries (from north to south): Bolla in the Veneto, Melini and
Machiavelli who make wines at the same facility in Chianti, and Fontana Candida in Frascati.
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the estates
Bolla Cellars, the Veneto
| Bolla is one of the region's biggest and best-known names, making typical DOC
wines like Valpolicella and Amarone. Like most of the companies that comprise GIV, I think it is fair to say that Bolla sits in the
middle of the road in terms of quality, though as my tastings proved there are some excellent wines in this portfolio. I met up with
oenologist Luca di Palma and agronomist Gianantonio Marconi at their large winery that is also the research and technical HQ for the
whole GIV group's northern operations. Right: the scale of these tanks is given by the worker in red overalls on the fourth level.
Though founded in 1883 by Abele Bolla, The Bolla operation belonged most recently to the American company Brown-Forman, owners of
Fetzer and Sonoma-Cutrer amongst others. GIV completed the purchase of Bolla in 2008, with excellent US distribution in place. Gianantonio tells me that since then the emphasis has been on
the vineyards. Although working with the same growers that have been supplying Bolla for decades, there have been radical changes to the management of vineyards and technical assistance
that growers receive.
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There are many more meetings between the growers and expert staff from Bolla cellars, tighter technical controls on
quality and new systems of reporting in place so that Bolla can monitor and update its family of growers on controlling any
problems that arise. Gianantonio says "Early and efficient action can cut down on blanket use of synthetic pesticides and treatments."
One example of this is a move to using pheromone traps to capture insects and analyse their breeding patterns, so treatments
can be developed to disrupt these.
Bolla has growers in over 100 districts of the Verona area, which Gianantonio says gives a lot of flexibility as well as more options in tough vintages.
They also have integrated operations with GIV's other two cellars in the area, the volume producer Lamberti and the high-end estate of Santi,
bringing more flexibility and cost savings.
At the time of my visit a vast new bottling line was being installed. Oenologist Luca di Palma tells me that the groups new quality controls
required that the line be replaced. In terms of the current vintage, it is "like 2003" according to Luca, with a very late spring but then very
hot summer, so a short growing season that has really suited whites. Some sunny days and cool nights where being prayed for
in order to ripen and improve colour depth in the reds.
see all stockists of Bolla on
wine-searcher.
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for tasting notes on 9 wines from Bolla Cellars |
Melini & Machiavelli, Tuscany
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These two estates in the Chianti Classico zone are, to all intents and purposes, run together. Between them they cover
544 Hectares of land, with 180 hectares under vine. Under GIVs ownership almost all of these have been replanted with new clones, mostly of Sangiovese, in a
rolling programme. Melini has four farms, each operated independently, covering both Chianti and Chianti Classico zones.
Some Cabernet and Merlot is grown for IGT wines, and sometimes for blending into Chianti wines.
In fact, big changes are happening
in Chianti, where the former rule that the wines must be 85% Sangiovese is being swept away from the 2009 harvest, with a new rule
that only
70% of the blend needs be Sangiovese. The other 30% could be Cabernet Sauvignon for example. The move is largely because
Sangiovese is difficult to grow, often struggling to achieve good colour and concentration. "The only way is to ensure that with
Sangiovese is to farm excellent sites with very low yields," says Marco Galeazzo, winemaker for both estates. "That would mean the only
Chianti on the market was at very high prices."
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Whilst this move is intended to allow more reliable commercial products at
slightly lower prices, Marco Galeazzo expresses concern: he and GIV think the changes runs the risk of Chianti losing its identity. "It
could become a homogenised red wine that might appeal to the market," he tells me, "but will it still be Chianti?"
He will continue to limit non-Sangiovese grapes to around 15%, even after the changes are in force.
Even in the Maremma (the "Eldorado of Tuscan wine" according to Marco), grapes this year are selling for 25 cents, when one euro is
really the lowest viable price for growers. The market is extremely difficult, and even in the Maremma some younger generations of
family growers might abandon their vineyards.
Meanwhile, GIV shows confidence in the region, and last year five million Euros was invested at the large vinification center at Melini,
which is their technical centre for the region, much like Bolla in the north.
see all stockists of Melini on
wine-searcher.
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for tasting notes on 12 wines from Melini & Machiavelli |
Fontana Candida, Lazio
My visit to Fontana Candida was the final and most southerly point of my trip, with their vineyards in the Lazio hills west of Rome. It
turned out to be a fascinating visit, not just because there are some terrific top-end wines here that are pushing the Frascati envelope,
but because of some candid comments made by Mauro Merz, Director and Oenologist, about selling to the large UK supermarkets.
| Fontana Candida was acquired by the GIV group in the early 1980s, and lies on the site of an ancient fountain, hence the name of the
winery. It produces six million bottle annually, and there are wonderful old cellars beneath the winery carved
from tufa, now used to age the top wine, Luna Mater.
In the heart of the Frascati DOC with beautiful views over to Rome, the dome of St Peters visible in the distance,
about 90% of production is DOC wine (Frascati was one of Italy's first DOCs, declared in the 1960s).
The soil here is volcanic and
naturally healthy, needing little by way of treatments. It is very permeable soil
with good drainage and high ash content. The climate is mild, with proximity to the sea giving constant, delicate breezes. |
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Malvasia di Candia and Malvasia di Lazio are now the in vogue grapes, the use of Trebbiano declining rapidly - that is a policy of the
Frascati Consorzio too. Like the other GIV properties, there have been significant quality initiatives here, including identifying a
clone of Malvasia di Candia from one of their growers, which has since been replanted extensively in their vineyards.
For the past three years a full time agronomist has worked exclusively with their grape suppliers.
Noting that their young, fresh wines were all in cork or
synthetic closures, I asked Mauro about screwcaps and learned that for now these are outlawed by the DOC regulations, but
there is a proposal that they will be permitted from the 2009 vintage.
Sainsbury's stocks two wines from Fontana Candida, one an own label Frascati. Tesco also sources its own label Frascati from
Fontana Candida, but the relationship between wine suppliers and supermarket buyers was one that Mauro Merz commented upon quite openly: "We have twice been asked to
reduce our prices, to the extent that we could no longer supply one basic Frascati line, and have had to reduce quality of the other."
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The big supermarkets are notorious for the hard-nosed deals they negotiate with suppliers. This is not a situation that is confined to just one or two larger players, and
indeed it is not a problem unique to the UK. But it is unusual to have a winemaker who is happy to speak about it on the record. "This pressure on prices means we will struggle to
push through our quality initiatives," says Mauro (left), "especially our ability to pay our growers a premium for
high quality: if there is no demand for high quality, how can we continue to pay growers higher prices?" With the proximity of these vineyards to
Rome, Mauro fears many small growers might rip out vineyards and turn to developing property instead. |
see all stockists of Fontana Candida on
wine-searcher.
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for tasting notes on 12 wines from Fontana Candida |
