Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
19 T, 006-AL 17 T, and 007-VCR 21. It fl owers
late and ripens in mid-September. Its thick
skins and ability to accumulate sugar make it
ideally suited for production of sweet wines, but
over-ripeness can be problematic in humid con-
ditions, which prevail in many parts of Emilia-
Romagna, as they cause Albana's skin to break
easily. Albana is enormously vigorous, but its
large lymphatic canals mean that it suffers heat
shock easily; this variety hates water
deprivation.
rating with university structures CRPV and
CATEV to actively select old vines and different
biotypes for new plantings. Albana can also be
found in other parts of Italy, such as in Tuscany
(near Pisa or La Spezia), though in limited
numbers.
It's often said that Albana is a red wine in a
white's clothing: chunky (when not over-
cropped), full bodied, and tannic, with a typical
taste of pear, but also of acacia honey, aromatic
herbs, and exotic fruits. However, most dry
Albana wines on sale are usually very simple
and citrusy. It can be painful in the cellar,
because it oxidizes very easily: I have seen grapes
picked and pressed the same day whose juice
was already obviously golden-brown from incipi-
ent oxidation. Therefore, some producers hyper-
oxigenate the must; others try to obtain the
same result by using
barriques
(small 225-liter
oak barrels used around the world to age wine,
as opposed to much larger oak casks). “But it's
diffi cult,” Giovanna Madonia, one of Emilia-
Romagna's better producers, says simply.
Albana wines can be dry (DOCG Albana di
Romagna) or sweet (Albana Passito, which is
air-dried). The Albana
passitos
are probably
more worthy of the honor bestowed upon
Albana in 1966, when to general surprise, the
dry Albana di Romagna was named Italy's fi rst
DOCG white: the dry whites, though not bad
(lemony-fl oral, and on the thin side), are at
times so nondescript that you wonder just what
those legislators were drinking prior to making
their historic decision. The
passito
wines are
immensely sweet and thick, and can be remark-
able (Albana takes very well to noble rot),
though I prefer some of the slightly less mas-
sive, late-harvest wines (harvested directly from
the vine) that are increasingly being produced,
as they usually show better sugar-acid balance.
Albana
passito riserva
has to be much sweeter
still. Not to deprive themselves of anything,
producers have also turned to making spar-
kling versions of albana, though I'm not sure
Prosecco or any other decent sparkler need
quake in its boots at the thought of possible
competition.
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Albana grows in the provinces of Bologna,
Modena, Rimini, Ravenna, and Forlì, but is
most abundant in the latter two. Soils that allow
Albana to show its best are often characterized
by the presence of the
spungone romagnolo,
a
geologic formation dating back to the Pliocene
epoch (roughly three and one-half million years
ago).
Spungone romagnolo
is a calcareous-sandy
soil extremely rich in fossils, and is found
mainly between the Marzeno stream near
Brisighella up to Capocolle, between Forlim-
popoli and Cesena. Excellent Albana wines can
be made elsewhere, but they are usually less
refi ned and more structured; choosing between
them is a matter of individual tastes. The
grand
and
premier cru
areas for Albana appear to be
Dozza (Imola), Riolo, Santa Lucia delle Spianate
(Faenza), Terra del Sole e Castrocaro, Berti-
noro, Longiano, and Montiano; these areas
were fi rst documented in the fourteenth cen-
tury by Pier de' Crescenzi and Mariano Savelli,
of the Regio Laboratorio Autonomo di Chimica
Agraria di Forlì (the Royal Autonomous Labora-
tory of Agricultural Chemistry). In particular,
the area around Bertinoro, with its calcareous-
clay soils, has always been considered a true
grand cru
for the variety. Not all these areas are
good for both dry and sweet wines: around
Faenza, with its dry, windy conditions, noble rot
is rare. Unfortunately plantings of Albana have
steadily decreased since the beginning of the
twenty-fi rst century, when there were a note-
worthy twenty-eight hundred hectares under
vine; to combat this, the city of Imola is collabo-
