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Change afoot for Toscana IGT
Louis Thomas speaks with Consorzio Vino Toscana president Cesare Cecchi about its efforts to “make things easier for the consumer” by changing the law.
With the value of the production of Toscana IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) wines in the region of half a billion Euros (€495 million), and with more than a quarter (27%) of Tuscany’s total annual volume of wine production being designated as Toscana IGT, it is fair to say that there is a lot riding on the strength of its brand.
The Consorzio Vino Toscana, led by Cesare Cecchi since 2022, is currently in the process of having the law changed to implement a number of alterations, one of which will clamp down on alternative spellings on labels.
“The most important change is that up to now you could call the IGT ‘Toscana’ or ‘Toscano’ – so you could say ‘Vino Rosso Toscano’, but we would like to just have the name of the region, ‘Toscana’. In the future there will be ‘Toscana IGT’, and then it will be ‘Rosso’, ‘Bianco’, or the grape variety, for example: ‘Toscana IGT – Sangiovese’,” explained Cecchi.
“We have also enlarged the number of the permitted grape varieties, including all those that producers are allowed to cultivate in the region.”
The list of permitted grapes now stands at 97, 10 of which are new additions, including international varieties, such as Mourvedre and Marselan, as well as more local Tuscan examples, such as Nocchianello in both its Nero and Bianco forms.
69% of Toscana IGT wine is internationally exported, and Cecchi suggested that this is a big incentive to make things easier to understand.
“Instead of having many ways to call the same denomination, it should make the whole thing clearer – you will see ‘Toscana’, the indication of the region, and all the other specifications, like colour and grape varieties, below,” he said. “We are trying to make things easier for the consumer – when you talk about Toscana IGT, there are a lot of different wine styles, what is important is to understand that those products come from that region. The region’s name works like a brand, and the goal of our consorzio is to protect the brand from misuse. We have to make sure that, whether the wine is £5 or £500, it is correctly regionally identified.”
According to the Consorzio Vino Toscana, in recent years it has successfully opposed and prevented the registration of 33 trademarks which could be seen as infringing on the Toscana IGT brand, including ‘Tuscan tree’ in the UK, ‘Bella Toscana’ in Brazil, and ‘Toscana Cordobesa’ in Spain.
Beyond just making things “clearer” for international markets, Cecchi hope that it would help domestically too, remarking: “In Italy we think we know everything about wine, but things are not as clear as they should be.”
Pushing for spumante
As well as consolidating the branding under one name, the consorzio is also in the process of having the law changed to permit the production of Toscana IGT Spumante, sparkling wine bottled at a higher pressure than frizzante.
“You were allowed to produce frizzante up to now, but not the spumante – under the new law, Toscana IGT producers will be able to produce both traditional method and Martinotti method spumante,” said Cecchi. “We already produce spumante in Tuscany, but there was no law around it. With this new law, we will regulate all the different spumante we produce in the area.”
Toscana IGT Frizzante is made in small quantities, making up about 1.5% of the total Toscana IGT production, and the number of bottles of spumante is similarly low.
“Spumante in Tuscany is not produced in the same numbers as Prosecco, that’s for sure, but traditionally a lot of producers make it, some with Sangiovese, but they might make it outside of Tuscany – this new law will put everyone under the same regulation, it’s a sector that has not been well regulated until now,” he added.
Bureaucratic hurdles
At this point, the Consorzio Vino Toscana is halfway through the four steps to enshrine these changes into law, from which point it can be enforced.
“The first step is that a majority of producers have to accept it, then the second is that the regional associations have to accept it – we have reached this point,” explained Cecchi. “Now there are still two steps left: the Ministry of Agriculture in Rome, that usually, once the regions have accepted the law, will approve it, and then the formal approval has to be given by the European Commission in Brussels.”
The timeline for this process is somewhat vague at present.
“We hope that Rome will give us the ‘ok’ before the next harvest, so in the next nine months, we are not sure about Brussels, because it can take a long time. If we get it approved soon, we can start producing the spumante, especially the metodo classico, which takes more time.”
Cecchi was very clear that the consorzio’s purpose is not to impose limitations upon winemakers, but rather to ensure that the Toscana IGT brand is in the strongest position.
“The IGT has to give the chance to the producer to express themself. If you go for DOC or DOCG, they are great wines, but ones which the law tells you how to make,” he said. “When you consider the Super Tuscans 30,40-years-ago and the emergence of new wines, that’s what we want to give producers – the opportunity to produce different kinds of wines, to innovate, to experiment. At the same time we want to look after the name.”
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