Italy is THE country of wines. Basically where you can find an empty plot of land, sooner or later it will be planted with grape vines. Hence there are hundreds of indigenous grape varieties all over the country, that would take a whole book to cover. If you could cover all of them as I am sure, there are way more than we are aware of…
Today I would like to cover these indigenous varieties from the Northern part,the ones usually you can find in Piedmont and maybe sound familiar but at least you should really give a try because believe me, it worth to taste them! I am going to introduce you 7 but feel free to comment if you think I have missed one that it is your favourite!
Grignolino:
A red berry grape which is typical of the hills of Monferrato, in Piedmont. The name probably derives from the dialectal word “grignolo”, meaning grape seed, the abundance of which gives a pleasant bitterish taste to both grapes and wine. The famous Italian critic Luigi Veronelli used to describe it as “an anarchic bungling head”, referring to its often- unpredictable character. In fact, it is a very demanding vine, difficult to grow, requiring the right soil composition and location, but also difficult to vinify. However, it produces a very fine wine.
If you see some similarities with Pinot Noir, it is not a coincidence as when I have tasted a wine made out of Grignolino, there was a lot of similar flavour and aroma character in the glass. Although we are not sure of the parents of this grape, you never know if Pinot Noir is in the family tree or not…
Dolcetto:
It is a black Italian grape variety widely grown in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy. The word dolcetto means “little sweet one”. Despite its name, the wine is typically dry. Usually it has a low acidity and ripe fruit flavours which tend to suggest a sweeter sensation. Dolcetto is not a wine suitable for long ageing because of its low acidity, but it offers pleasant tannin stucture that makes it perfect and versatile for pairing with food throughout a meal. In Piedmont, there are many appellations that refer to Dolcetto, which gives rise to wines with very different characteristics despite being produced from the same grape.
Freisa:
Typical Piedmontese vine, its grapes were often used together with grapes from other vines to provide the wine with special characteristics, especially in the scents. Freisa is a vigorous and productive vine whose round, blue-black grapes are harvested in early October. By the 1880s it had become one of the major Piedmontese grapes, and in that period its cultivation was stimulated by the vine’s resistance to the downy mildew. Wines made from the Freisa grape are red and usually somewhat sweet and lightly sparkling, or foaming. Freisa has a parent-offspring relationship with Nebbiolo. Similar to Nebbiolo, Freisa produces wines with considerable tannins and acidity.
To be honest with you guys, I haven’t tasted this variety and its its wines yet but it sounds intriguing, right?
Albarossa:
It is a red grape variety that was created in 1938 by the agronomist Giovanni Dalmasso. He created an original cross with the aim of combining the quality and potential of Nebbiolo with the one of Barbera. While the second parent of Albarossa was later found to be Chatus instead of Nebbiolo, a very old French wine grape variety from the Ardéche. The confusion stemmed from a synonym of Chatus, Nebbiolo di Dronero (Nebbiolo of Dronero, a small commune in Piedmont where Nebbiolo is grown but so apparently was Chatus).
The grape retained many of the viticultural characteristics of Barbera, including its ability to late ripening but still maintain good levels of acidity, especially when planted in poor, calcareous soils. The grape has the potential to hang long on the vine, accumulating high sugar and potential alcohol level while still maintaining sufficient acidity and the made wine usually contains a fair amount of smooth tannins which makes it suitable for extended oak aging.
The one I have tasted from Vinchio e Vaglio Serra was indeed a fuller version with lots of delicate flavours and aromas, a complex wine with secondary and tertiary notes.
Bonarda:
Bonarda is a rare grape variety from northwest Italy, with a complicated etymological history that has often led to its confusion with croatina and other similar varieties. Piedmontese Bonarda is therefore almost a curiosity, usually used in small quantities to add colour and degree in blends with other varieties. When it is produced (rarely) by itself, Bonarda produces wines that are deep ruby red in colour, floral, with low acidity and low tannins. In the 19th century, Bonarda was speculated to have accounted for 30% of the plantings in Piedmont just before the phylloxera epidemic and in the mid-1990s, the grape experienced a slight revival again as Piedmontese producers sought to add more aromatics to their Barbera wines by blending in Bonarda.
Another variety that I have heard a great deal about but I still have to discover.
Ruché:
Ruchè is an indigenous grape from Monferrato, the origins of which are shrouded in mystery and therefore subject to a wide variety of explanations: the ancient proximity of the vineyards to a convent dedicated to San Rocco, which has now disappeared, or the steep slopes of the vineyards, or, again, the fact that it was imported by monks from Burgundy in the 12th century (hence the term Ruscè, which would become Ruchè). The latter theory has been disproved by recent research into its DNA, which shows that it is distantly related to two typical northern Italian varieties: Croatina and Malvasia aromatica di Parma, which has now disappeared.
The Ruchè grape grows on the dry, calcareous soils of a restricted area of Basso Monferrato (seven municipalities led by Castagnole Monferrato, from which the DOCG takes its name) and produces wines of limited quantity and high quality, characterised by some similarities with Nebbiolo. It tends to produce very tannic, light colored wines with pronounced aromas and bouquet. The wines are often characterized by a slightly bitter aftertaste.
Sounds like there is another good alternative in the region of Nebbiolo if we want to spend way less than for a Barolo or even a Langhe Nebbiolo…
Arneis:
Arneis is a white wine grape of ancient origin cultivated mainly in the Roero, in the northeast of the province of Cuneo. In dialect, Arneis means “arnese”, but also an original person, a person out of the box. This grape is not easy to grow. It is said that once it was planted to attract birds and bees, which in this way avoided feeding on grapes of greater commercial value. It is a crisp and floral varietal, tend to be dry and full-bodied with notes of pears and apricots.
A bottle of Roero Arneis DOCG is laying down in my cellar and I can’t wait to taste it and share my notes with you… So stay tuned!
As maybe you have been missed from this list, Nebbiolo, Barbera and the white grape that makes up Gavi di Gavi, Cortese is missing here but for a reason. I think they have more going on to talk about them in another post. With Barbera I have already done that, which you can read here. About the other two variety, I will come back soon to write a whole article about them and its wines.
If you wish to discover these varieties in depth, I would gladly suggest to search out for the Vinchio e Vaglio Serra cooperative who makes delicious examples on a very reasonable price! And most importantly you can taste the pure character as this is what they are looking for without any additional flavours (maybe except Barbera, Nebbiolo and Albarossa, which wines can benefit of some oak aging). To know more about the winery, just check out the post about Barbera where I introduced Vinchio e Vaglio as well.
Sources:
