Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
pH, and soft, tactile ripe blackberry and cherry
aromas and fl avors. Those who prize fruit in
their wines, or who fantasize about alcoholic
fruit juices, will simply love anything involving
Ancellotta.
From Brazil, I have tried Don Guerino's
monovarietal version, which resembles richer
versions made in Italy, as well as the Don Lau-
rindo Reserva, from that country's Serra
Gaucha wine region. Dal Pizzol made a very
good Ancellotta wine in 2008. In Switzerland's
Canton Ticino, the Cantina Sociale di Mendri-
sio and Enrico Trapletti both grow Galotta.
gested considerable genetic similarity between
Ansonica and Greek varieties such as Rhoditis
and Sideritis; this group believes the Ansonica
of Giglio to be in fact Rhoditis, but this remains
controversial. Furthermore, Carimi, Mercati,
Abbate, and Sunseri (2010) showed that Anso-
nica is closely related to other Sicilian varieties
such as Grillo, Frappato, and Nerello Masca-
lese, which would seem to confi rm the Sicilian
rather than Greek origin of the variety, since
those three varieties are all clearly of Italian ori-
gin (and are in turn, either the offspring or
siblings of other eminently Italian varieties
such as Sangiovese and Gaglioppo).
Ansonica has always been common in Sic-
ily, where it was also much appreciated as a
table grape. Many different Inzolia grapes have
been documented in Sicily throughout the cen-
turies, beginning with Cupani in 1696, who
described both a white- and a red-berried Inzo-
lia
.
It has long been unclear if once common
grapes Inzolia Nera, Inzolia Moscatella, Inzolia
di Lipari, and Inzolia Imperiale (some of which,
like the last of these, are actually black grapes,
rarely if ever used to make wine), were mem-
bers of the same family or not. Carimi's group
(2010) showed that Inzolia, Inzolia Imperiale,
and Inzolia Nera have different SSR profi les;
therefore, based on these study results, these
three grape varieties are not identical. Instead,
Inzolia Imperiale was shown to be synonymous
with a rare local variety called Primintia or Giu-
gnettina. It may well be that in Sicily farmers
named many different grapes with an Inzolia-
like moniker, given that Inzolia was a well-
regarded grape. Though Ansonica is very abun-
dant there, Sicily is, in the words of Roberto
Zironi of the University of Udine, the wrong
place for it: “Inzolia is a low-acid variety, so Sic-
ily's naturally warm climate is not ideal for it,
though the variety is very drought resistant.” In
Tuscany it has taken particularly well to two
other island
terroirs,
Elba and Giglio (where
they write its name Ansonico and pronounce it
Ansonaco). It appears that the acid soils derived
from granite desegregation in these island
ter-
roirs
suit it particularly well.
wines to try:
For rare examples of almost
monovarietal wines, try: Coste Archi**, Can-
tina Puianello* (Ancellotta dell'Emilia Bon-
damatt, a delicately sweet, fi zzy red wine with
only 6.5 percent alcohol, containing 15 percent
Lambrusco
varieties); La Girolda* (Lancellotta
della Girolda and Riserva, both with no more
than 5 percent Lambrusco Salamino), and
Rota* (Nero di Castellazzo). The new Rubicone
IGT contemplates an Ancellotta wine, but few
producers bottle it on its own, as the legislative
guidelines allow up to 15 percent other grapes.
Otherwise, Ancellotta is used mainly in
Lam-
brusco
blends, such as the excellent Lambrusco
Scuro by the Luni 910 estate or the Lambrusco
La Fojeta by Fratelli Caprari, a blend of Lam-
brusco Salamino and Ancellotta.
Ansonica
where it's found:
Tu sc a ny, Sic i ly.
national
registry code number:
13.
color:
white.
The correct name of this grape variety is
Ansonica, which derives from the French
sorie
(dark, gold), because Ansonica grapes turn
golden when very ripe; it goes by Inzolia in Sic-
ily, but this is not the variety's offi cial name,
and should not be used. In the past, it was pos-
tulated that Ansonica was the same as the Irzi-
ola variety mentioned by Pliny the Elder, but
clearly we have no evidence to support this
view. Instead, a 1999 study by Labra, Failla,
Fossati, Castiglione, Scienza, and Sala sug-
