Italian wine voted world's best red

Florence - A 2004 Reserve Brunello di Montalcino produced by the Castello Romitorio vineyard won this year's International Wine Challenge (IWC) for being the world's best red wine.

The vineyard is owned and operated by artist Sandro Chia, a leading member of the 1980s Italian Transavanguardia movement and a native Tuscan.

The awards of the 27th IWC, which saw blind tastings of over 10,000 wines, were handed out at a gala dinner in London Monday night.

Contest judges described the Brunello produced by Castello Romitorio as "deep, intense and slightly brooding on the nose: leather, hints of tobacco and violets. Red fruits dominate on the palate".

Experts last year said that Brunello 2004 was a 'five-star' vintage, the highest ranking possible.

''Brunello 2004 is truly outstanding, both powerful and elegant, a wine which can be aged for a long time,'' observed winemaker Patrizio Cencioni, head of the consortium of Brunello producers.

Brunello di Montalcino is perhaps Italy's finest wine and certainly among the best in the world.

Its popularity has been rising steadily in the United States, which consumes 25% of the Brunello on the market and some 45% of all quality wine produced in Tuscany, the so-called 'Super Tuscans' Brunello was at the center of a trade dispute with the US a couple of years ago after it was reported that some producers were allegedly blending their wine with Sangiovese grapes other than those grown in the Tuscan town's boundaries.

This meant that the wine did not qualify for the official Brunello DOCG designation and, for the Americans, this represented a case of fraud.

The dispute was resolved when the Italian agriculture ministry set up a special body and process to certify Brunello's authenticity.

This year's IWC saw Marks & Spencer Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chalumeaux 2007, Jean Pascal & Fils, picked as the best white wine; Charles Heidsieck Millésime 2000, Champagnes P.& C.

Heidsieck as the best sparkling wine; Viña AB Amontillado Seco, Gonzalez Byass, the best fortified wine; and Sämling Trockenbeerenauslese 2007, Hans Tschida, as the best sweet wine.

Italy's Lambrusco Reggiano Concerto 2009, Ermete Medici, won the IWC Great Value award for a sparkling wine.

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