Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
used to make Negro Amaro-based wines more
genteel.
There is only one offi cial clone of Bombino
Nero, CRSA-Regione Puglia D205. Old farmers
have told me there also exist two biotypes of
Bombino Nero, but they swear the wines are
indistinguishable: the biotype Bombino Nero
dal Peduncolo Corto is short stalked and the
biotype Forcella takes its name from
forced
(meaning pronged or forked in local dialect). In
both cases the bunch is conical and medium-
sized (Forcella's is usually the larger of the two)
but Forcella's is much more compact. Due to
the latter characteristic, the Forcella biotype is
more prone to rot and diseases and it suffers in
excessively humid or wet conditions. The ber-
ries of both biotypes are similarly blue and
round, with thin skins. Both biotypes are late-
ripening and are characterized by asynchro-
nous bunch maturation, meaning that
Bombino Nero rarely reaches optimal ripeness
of its berries, so the variety tends to have high
acidity and poor sugar accumulation. Along
with the delicate thin skins, this explains why
Bombino Nero rarely gives important, full-bod-
ied red wines but is excellent for
rosato
produc-
tion. Due to its tendency to produce light- to
medium-bodied wines of high acidity, the culti-
var differs considerably from most other south-
ern Italian varieties, as practically all these red
grapes give full-bodied, bold wines almost too
heavy and too alcoholic. This explains why
many southern Italian producers look at
Bombino Nero with interest. “It is very atypical
in this respect,” concludes Carlo De Corato of
the famous Rivera estate, “these lighter, more
fragrant wines marked by high acidity and
crisp berry aromas and fl avors—it's a northern
grape in Italy's south.” I couldn't have said it
better myself.
Bombino Nero is grown around Foggia, Bari,
and Taranto, though it is mostly found in the
Castel del Monte area near Bari; this is where
wine lovers can hope to snag a wine made with
100 percent Bombino Nero
.
The
grand cru
sites
for it are around Ruvo and Corato, especially in
old vineyards trained with the
alberello
system;
according to Leonardo Palumbo, long the wine-
maker at the famous Rivera estate, “there is no
better
terroir
for Bombino Nero, though it also
does well in the rocky, calcareous soils of the
Murgia. The reason is that the black soils of the
Murgia are thin but rich in humus and organic
debris; beneath is stratifi ed marly-calcareous
rock, the so-called
chiancarelle,
but thanks to the
humidity of the soils, Bombino Nero can
weather the frequent droughts well.” Interest-
ingly, the variety does not do well in irrigated,
highly productive vineyards, where it produces a
wine that is nondescript. For this reason, low-
vigor rootstocks such as 140 Ruggeri and 157.11
are best. Bombino Nero is also grown in Basili-
cata near Potenza and Matera, but is not an
important variety there.
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Bombino Nero is rarely bottled on its own. It is
almost always added to Negro Amaro wines, as
10-20 percent of the blend. There is one DOCG
wine made, Castel del Monte Bombino Nero,
which is a good example of how highly regarded
the variety is. DOC wines such as Castel del
Monte and Lizzano are good examples, and
there are roughly thirty IGT wines as well,
made in regions like Sardinia, Lazio, and Basili-
cata (examples include Basilicata, Colli Cimini,
Daunia, Planargia, and Tharros).
Though Bombino Nero was once very popu-
lar, times and tastes have changed so much that
the acreage of Bombino Nero around Bari has
been reduced by half in the last fi fty years. This
is because the lighter, simpler, fresher wines
made with Bombino Nero fell out of favor in a
popular culture that is dominated by scores and
obsessed with inky behemoth wines. By con-
trast, red wines made with Bombino Nero are
tasty and medium-bodied, with mineral and
inky red-berry aromas and fl avors. They usu-
ally have lovely balance and I think their quality
goes unrecognized. Their light texture and
freshness makes them ideal with simple tomato
pasta and pizzas, or white meat dishes.
Where Bombino Nero is unbeatable is in
some of Italy's best
rosato.
In Puglia (which is,
