Il 28/09/2010 17:32, spamtrap1888 ha scritto:

> While looking up the use of Concord grapes in wine, I ran across an
> Italian wine -- now apparently banned -- made with American grapes
> (Isabella), which gave it a strawberry flavor. Fragolino is now
> apparently simulated with Vitis vinifera wine and strawberry flavor.
>
> Does anyone know more about why the original wine was banned?

The official lie, because that's what it is, was that grapes from Vitis
Labrusca produce too much methanol during the fermentation. Reality says
that the difference is so thin and so variable, with some vitis vinifera
grapes producing more methanol than some vitis labrusca grapes, that it
is a nonsense. The real reasons are thus left to speculation: maybe thet
wanted to protect traditions? I don't know, wines from v. labrusca
existed for many decades, maybe almost a century, in some areas such as
Veneto, where the Clintòn wine (wrong accent on the american name
Clinton) was famous and widespread decades ago. Wine regulations are
almost always the effect of a good idea badly worded and even more badly
carried out.
--
Vilco
and the Family Stone