Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
occur late, so while spring frosts pose no threat
whatsoever, autumn rains are a potential prob-
lem, though given its southern Italian habitat,
true downpours aren't likely to occur. Bombino
Bianco is both vigorous and resistant to most
grapevine pests. There are three offi cial clones
available (ARSIAL-CRA 231, CRSA-Regione
Puglia 191, and CRSA-Regione Puglia 197);
most of the grapevines labeled as Bombino
Bianco available from nurseries today derive
from clonal research performed in Abruzzo
and Puglia between 1973 and 1974. The
research work done in the fi eld originally
focused on twenty-eight accessions obtained
from fi ve different estates (four in northern
Puglia, near San Severo; and one from Abruzzo,
near Ortona). Clones CRSA-Regione Puglia
C191 and CRSA-Regione Puglia C197 descend
from two old San Severo vineyards. Today,
Bombino Bianco is most typical of Puglia (in
the areas around Foggia in the north, but also
near Bari and even Lecce), but also grows in
Abruzzo, Marche (around Macerata and Ascoli
Piceno), Campania (Avellino), Lazio (Rome
and Frosinone), and Emilia-Romagna. Sporadic
plots of Bombino Bianco are also found in
Umbria and Sardinia.
ducers believe that there is a separate Pagadebit
variety, and that it should be the only one used
to make this wine (see MOSTOSA, chapter 5).
Hard as it maybe to believe, the Trebbiano
d'Abruzzo DOC is even worse: it requires the
wine to be made with a minimum 85 percent of
either Trebbiano Abruzzese and/or Bombino
Bianco and/or Trebbiano Toscano. It's enough
to drive one to drink. Bombino Bianco is also
allowed in roughly forty IGT wines, including
Puglia's Daunia, Murgia, Puglia, Salento,
Tarantino, and Valle d'Itria, Abruzzo's Terre di
Chieti and Terre Aquilane, Umbria's Narni and
Spello, Molise's Terre degli Osci, Campania's
Pompeiano, and Emilia-Romagna's Ravenna
and Rubicone. This large presence in many
regional wines is a testament to Bombino Bian-
co's importance.
In my opinion, based on years of tasting the
various Bombino Bianco wines all over Italy,
wines made with true Bombino Bianco in
Puglia are creamier (with aromas and fl avors of
minerals, almonds, and aniseed, and hints of
apricot and tropical fruit) than those of Lazio or
Emilia-Romagna, which are thinner, more
herbal, and lemony, but I think many of the
former were made with quantity in mind rather
than quality, while the latter were almost always
blends of Bombino Bianco with Pagadebit and/
or Mostosa and probably Trebbiano Toscano,
which are lesser varieties. In Lazio, Bombino
Bianco has always made up a small percentage
in the blended wines made around Rome;
though it was always highly thought of, nobody
ever thought to make a monovarietal wine from
it. Most producers in the Castelli Romani area
didn't own enough Bombino Bianco grapevines
to make wine in any commercially signifi cant
volumes; Donnardea is the fi rst estate to have
gone the monovarietal route with this cultivar,
in the early 2000s. In southwestern Lazio,
monovarietal bombino is easier to come by, but
it is labeled ottonese, as that is the name the
variety is known by there. Ottonese wines are
very high acid, lemony, and mineral, and for
this reason many producers prefer to blend in a
little Bellone or one of the local
Malvasia
s to
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Bombino Bianco is included in the blend of two
DOCG wines, both from Lazio: Frascati and
Frascati Cannellino. It is also allowed in DOC
blends such as Puglia's Cacc'e' Mmitte di
Lucera, Castel del Monte, and San Severo,
Lazio's Marino and Frascati, Abruzzo's Trebbi-
ano d'Abruzzo, Emilia-Romagna's Colli della
Romagna Centrale and Pagadebit di Romagna,
and Abruzzo's Trebbiano d'Abruzzo. Hilari-
ously, and a refl ection of all the problems men-
tioned above relative to the exact identity of
Bombino Bianco, more than one of these DOC
wines is produced under guidelines that border
on the schizophrenic. For example, the DOC
wine Pagadebit di Romagna has to be made by
law with 85 percent Bombino Bianco, but in fact
it is often made—as it should be—at least in
part with Mostosa; of course, many local pro-
