Grape Varieties Northwest Italy Flashcards
Teroldego
- Historically it was trained on pergolas for high yields. Quality minded growers now are also using Guyot.
- Suffer from drying out of stems but is less susceptible to mildews than the other two varieties.
- The best clones are 145 and 152 for intense aromas.
- The best quality wines come from the Teroldego Rotaliano DOC on sandy and gravelly soils in the far north of Trentino.
Marzemino
- prone to botrytis bunch rot and powdery mildew
- Older vines were usually trained on pergolas; newer lower-yielding clones have been trained as spurred cordons.
- The best, ripest, wines come from the Ziresi subzone of the Trentino DOC due to full sun exposure and rich calcareous/clay and basalt soils.
Lagrein
- This variety needs a warm site with plenty of sunshine to ripen fully.
- It can be subject to poor fruit set and thus low yields.
- Bitterness and some harshness on the finish is being addressed by shorter maceration times and oak ageing.
- Because of its deep colour, the variety is also used for rosés.
- The wines can be labelled in either Italian or German as ‘red’ and ‘rosé’: Lagrein rubino/dunkel and Lagrein rosato/kretzer.
Moscato Rosa
- This variety is a member of the Moscato family and is made into rose-scented sweet wines.
- Poor fruit set and susceptibility to botrytis bunch rot make it difficult to grow successfully.
- The wines are made either by the appassimento method or by picking late harvest fruit.
- The wines are premium priced.
Nosiola
- The white variety Nosiola is grown in the Valley of the Lakes, the warmest area with a sub-continental climate
- It produces a small volume of distinctive white wines with a light hazelnut flavour.
- It is also made in a semi-dried fruit version, called Vino Santo (not Vin Santo). The hazelnut flavour is from the fruit, not from oak.
- It is vulnerable to spring frosts, powdery mildew and sour rot. The dry wine is mid-priced, the Vino Santo premium priced.
Schiava vines, and wine style, quality, and price.
Santa Magdalena DOC
- While four separate varieties have been identified, they are normally grown and vinified together.
- The vines are typically grown on a pergola to cope with their natural vigour and the vines produce high yields.
- The wine is typically a pale ruby wine with perfumed violet and strawberry aromas with a medium to light body and low tannins.
- In the Santa Magdalena DOC Schiava can be blended with up to 15 per cent Lagrein producing a deeper coloured and fuller bodied wine.
Friulano
This variety, formerly known as Tocai Friulano, was renamed Friulano (‘from Friuli’) when the EU ruled that the name Tokaj was only to be used for the wine style in Hungary.
The variety is known elsewhere as Sauvignon Vert or Sauvignonasse and, in Friuli, it has a prominent role. It has good disease resistance, important in a region with high rainfall. The wines have medium (–) floral and apple flavours, medium to high alcohol with medium (+) acidity. They can either be made entirely in stainless steel to preserve the aromatics (most common) or be lightly oaked. The best wines have a capacity to age. They typically range from good to very good in quality and from mid-priced to premium.
Ribolla Gialla
This white variety is only grown in Collio and Colli Orientali, as it needs hillside sites to prevent it growing too vigorously. It is prone to shot berries. The wines have citrus and pepper notes and high acidity. Many styles are being experimented with as the profile of the variety has grown: oak-aged or not, Charmat sparkling wine, dry and off-dry, extended skin contact for orange wines, amphora wines.
Refosco
- Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso is the most planted of the local black varieties. It is another vigorous variety that produces its best wines when grown on hillside sites with lower fertility. It is late ripening and resistant to botrytis. The red wines produced are red cherry flavoured with herbal aromas. It has small berries that produce wines with high tannins that are best smoothed out by time in barrels.
Gargenaga
This is the historic white variety of the Veneto and is vigorous, very productive and late ripening (October). Traditionally it was trained on a pergola system but nowadays it may be trellised. It is sensitive to winter cold and to mildew and botrytis. The grapes are usually handpicked on hillside sites and machine-harvested on the plain.
The wines typically have high acidity levels, a medium body and medium intensity
of lemon, apple/pear, white pepper and, in the ripest examples, stone fruit. They do not typically display any aromas or flavours of new oak, though some high-end examples are oaked. The best examples can age, developing aromas of almonds and honey. They are typically good to very good in quality and inexpensive to mid-priced. The top producers’ wines are very good to outstanding in quality and mid- to premium priced.
The vines on the plain are planted on fertile sandy and alluvial soils. Grapes produced here on the plain are fruity with medium acidity and the wines are meant to be drunk young. They are acceptable to good in quality and inexpensive in price.
Quality producers will typically employ a short cold maceration period, cool fermentation at 16–18°C (61–64°F) and a few months of ageing on the lees before bottling. A few producers ferment and/or age their leading wines in oak barrels.
Wines are also made by the appassimento method (see below).
Soave Appellations
- For Soave, there are three main DOCs for dry wines, with slightly rising minimum alcohol levels.
- Soave DOC – Grapes from the entire Soave region (now three times larger than the original region of 1931), of which a minimum of 70 per cent must be Garganega, with up to 30 per cent of Trebbiano di Soave (local synonym for Verdicchio) or Chardonnay. Of this 30 per cent, a maximum of 5 per cent can be any other authorized variety. Maximum yield is a substantial 105 hL/ha. The wine can be sold very young, after 1 December of the year of harvest. Production is around 80 per cent of all Soave.
- Soave Classico DOC – Grapes from the hilly Classico region, same rules about varieties as Soave DOC, marginally lower yield at 98 hL/ha. Wines can be released on 1 February of the year after harvest. Production is around 20 per cent of all Soave.
- Soave Superiore DOCG – Grapes from same hilly zone as Recioto di Soave (see below), same rules about varieties as Soave DOC. Lower yield than the two other Soave DOCs at 70 hL/ha. Wines can only be released on 1 September of the year after harvest. However, production is tiny by comparison with the two above.
The details above show that high to very high yields are permitted in both Soave and Soave Classico. This led to the introduction of Soave Superiore DOCG with its markedly lower maximum yields. However, leading producers work with yields close to the maximums allowed and still produce concentration and flavour intensity in their wines, showing that Garganega when well grown on favourable sites can produce fully flavoured wines at relatively high yields. - Recioto di Soave DOCG – Grapes from a delimited hilly zone, this is made from the same blend as Soave but from semi-dried grapes. As a result, the yields are a low maximum of 36 hL/ha, producing rich, floral, honeyed, sweet wines with high balancing acidity.
