Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Bellone
Peloursin to breed Joubertin, but the latter is no
longer cultivated (and never was in Italy, to the
best of my knowledge).
where it's found:
Lazio.
national registry
code number:
23.
color:
white.
Bellone is a magical grape but I believe that
very few of the producers who make wine with
it realize that. In fairness, the realization may
be hard to come by because they have only a
limited number of Bellone grapevines at their
disposal and just mingle it with all the other
varieties they own. Though most producers in
the area of the Castelli Romani (where the vari-
ety was once very abundant) still own a few
sporadic rows of it, they simply don't have
enough Bellone to try making a monovarietal
wine. Instead, in historically poorer parts of the
Lazio such as Cori, where local growers didn't
have the time or money to uproot old vines in
favor of more productive but lousier varieties,
Bellone survived to tell its tale of quality.
Bellone's ancestor is believed to be Uva Pan-
tastica, described by Pliny in the
Naturalis His-
toria
as a particularly high-quality grape.
Another possible synonym, Uva Pane (from the
common belief that this grape was as good as
bread) is more controversial—a minority
believe that Uva Pane is a different variety, but
all the examples of supposed Uva Pane I have
seen over the years looked identical to Bellone.
In ancient Rome, there was already a family of
grapes known as
Belli,
due to the particularly
opulent, generous look of their bunches. In
comparing vines designated Bello Romanesco,
Di Rovasenda (1877) revealed several acces-
sions with different morphological and produc-
tive characteristics, and Bellone, noteworthy for
its vigor, was included among them (Mengarini
1888). Due to its vigor, Bellone was also referred
to as Pagadebito, one of the many high-yielding
varieties given this name in Italy; Muganu,
Dangl, Aradhya, Frediani, Scossa, and Stover
(2009) showed that Tuscia's Pagadebito VT5
has the same microsatellite profi le as Bellone
(this Pagadebito variety should not be confused
with the Pagadebit variety of Emilia-Romagna).
We also know from Mancini (1893) that grape-
vines then called Romanesco and Bello Velle-
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Becuet is grown mainly in the Valle di Susa and
Pinerolese areas of Piedmont; it has essentially
the same stomping grounds as Avanà. In fact,
Becuet is almost always blended in with the lat-
ter (generally as the DOC wine Ramiè), where it
adds structure and depth of color. For example,
according to Gerbi, Rolle, Zeppa, Guidoni, and
Schneider (2005), there is almost three times
as much malvin in Becuet grape skins com-
pared to Avanà's. On its own, Becuet is a very
tannic wine, with light, fl oral, red-berry aromas
and fl avors; in my experience (admittedly only
with wines made in a rather artisanal manner
in both vineyard and cellar), the tannins don't
smooth out much in time, so the wine remains
hard and rigid. It is always very dark in color,
and not by chance: Thonet refers to it as a “con-
centrate of polyphenols.” Late-harvested grapes
and small oak barrels may help create a more
velvety mouthfeel, and some producers are in
fact experimenting with these ideas. Recent
wines have been encouraging, and becuet's
slightly austere mouthfeel is a welcome asset
when digging into hearty stews or saucy meat
dishes. Furthermore, the two mountain valleys
Becuet calls home are characterized by very
pretty panoramas, and are ideal summer vaca-
tion destinations. I therefore exhort wine lovers
to try a pure becuet with a hearty meat dish
when next in the area, because it really is likely
to be the only place and time you'll ever get to
taste a monovarietal Becuet wine. The cultivar
has not yet spread in any quantity to new vine
regions, though some good wines made with it
show that Becuet deserves to be better known.
wines to try:
Martina** (Malliolo, a monova-
rietal made from grapes grown in the Malliolo,
Rocchetto, and Signou vineyards; you can try
the wine at the adjacent, lovely Crè Seren bed-
and-breakfast) and Sibille*. Casa Ronsil does
not yet make an unblended wine.
