I received this e-mail in response to my inquires to the Consortium of Vino Brunello di Montalcino Wine:
Cliffs notes: HOORAY – Appears this isn’t a problem after all!

26/3/2008
PRESS RELEASE
THE CONSORTIUM OF BRUNELLO CONTROLS ITS OWN PRODUCERS
Since the year 2004 the Consortium of Vino Brunello di Montalcino Wine was
put in charge, by the Ministry of Food, Agricultural and Forestry Policies, of
controlling both vineyards and wines with the Brunello di Montalcino denomination.
As in other occasions the Consortium of Brunello was the first one to be invested with
this role.

This task is carried out with a great sense of responsibility and meticulous care
by the staff of the Consortium with thorough inspections of the 2000 hectares of
registered Brunello di Montalcino vineyards. The controls effected concern both the
vineyards and the wines that are in the process of being aged and bottled.
With regard to information that has appeared in these last days on a few web
sites concerning alleged violations of the production rules of Brunello di Montalcino
Wine, the safeguarding Consortium has put out the following declaration:
1. Rumours according to which Montalcino producers used wines from the South
of Italy for their 2003 Brunello: this is an extremely serious accusation which
we find hard to believe and for which the Consortium has found absolutely no
proof.
2. As for the purity in the Brunello vineyards, in 2007 the Consortium completed
the inspection of over 1667 hectares of registered vineyards. In the course of
these inspections, begun in 2004, a few cases of non-conforming vines were
found on 17 hectares, equivalent to about 1% of the vineyards inspected. We
can therefore affirm that until 2007, more than 99% of the vineyards registered
in the Brunello di Montalcino Roles are completely within the production
Regulations.
It is the declared intention of the Board of Administration of the Consortium
of Brunello di Montalcino Wine, to carry out its task as it has always done, of
safeguarding the wines of the four denominations of the Montalcino territory, both
with the instruments for controlling established by the legislation and with the even
more stringent ones of the internal regulations of the Consortium.
CONSORZIO DEL VINO
BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO
Costa del Municipio, 1
53024 MONTALCINO – Siena – Italy
tel. 0577 848246
fax 0577 849425
e-mail info@consorziobrunellodimontalcino.it
web www.consorziobrunellodimontalcino