The makers of Brunello di Montalcino, considered by many to be Italy's best wine, have turned to high technology to protect the authenticity of their product with a special hologram impressed in the wine cap.
The hologram system is the same used by the European Central Bank to thwart the counterfeiting of euro notes.
The first to adopt the new system is the Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona vineyard which produces some 40,000 bottles of Brunello a year.
The caps are being produced by the Luxoro agency which has the exclusive rights in Italy to use the holograph system developed by the Kurz group.
The German company currently offers its holograph technology to some 150 banks worldwide, including the ECB, and it is also used also to guarantee certificates for such prestigious brand names as Rolex and Ferrari. The hologram on the wine cap has a mirror-like background on which letters and a special logo are printed in a combination of different colors is are near impossible to match.
The caps are then heat-shrunk over the cork.
The Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona vineyard has been in the forefront in using new technologies to guarantee the authenticity of its wine and in 2002 became the first to experiment with a wine label which had a special microchip on it, containing information on the wine's origin and quality. "We have always believed in innovation and we consider this new system to be an investment in our company's image, especially for the future in order to compete on a global level," Paolo Bianchini, one of the vineyard's owners, said of the new hologram cap.
Last year, several Brunello producers opted to use the so-called "talking label", which took the microchip idea a step further.
The brainchild of Daniele Barontini, whose company Modulgraf designs labels for the leading producers of Brunello and other top flight Tuscan wines, the talking label offers the potential consumer spoken information on the wine's vintage, its history, the method of production used, the area where the grapes were grown and can even suggest the best ways to fully appreciate the wine.
The label can be heard through a small reader, similar in size to a walkman CD player.
Thanks to the tailored label, "each wine can explain itself in the first person," Barontini said.
The latest Brunello will be presented to the public in the Tuscan village of Montalcino, south of Siena, this weekend at the annual 'Benvenuto Brunello' (Welcome Brunello) event.
Taking center stage will be the four-star 2001 vintage Brunello di Montalcino but the show will also offer Rosso di Montalcino and Sant'Antimo from 2003 and 2004 as well as some select Brunello Riservas, grappas and a sherry-like vinsanto.
