Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
years old, are all ungrafted. Serdiana is another
high-quality island area for Bovale Sardo.
believes it's a great variety; Angius goes as far
as to say that it in his opinion it's the best Sar-
dinian variety of all, especially when aged fi ve
or six years. Furthermore, its strong color, tan-
nins, and acid concentrations make it ideal as a
blending grape, and it is used to add acidity to
wines made with Cannonau and Carignano,
structure to those made with Monica, and color
to them all. I also point out that Bovale Sardo
wines don't taste anything like those made with
Cagnulari, even when made by the same pro-
ducer from grapes grown in the same area.
Bovale Sardo is an up-and-coming Sardinian
variety that an increasing number of producers
are taking a long look at as a possible monovari-
etal wine; thus, purer Bovale Sardo wines are
becoming easier to fi nd all the time.
Which Wines to Choose and Why
On Sardinia, Bovale Sardo is generally viewed
as having the better fi ne-wine potential of the
two
Bovale
s; much Bovale Sardo wine is made
from ungrafted vines planted in very sandy
soils. The best DOC wines are Campidano di
Terralba (occasionally 100 percent Bovale
Sardo) and Mandrolisai (Bovale Sardo blended
with Cannonau and Monica). Stefano Casadei,
a much sought-after viticulture expert (also
owner of the Castello del Trebbio estate in Chi-
anti Rufi na) fi nds that Bovale Sardo reminds
him a bit of Canaiolo Nero, as both give up color
with diffi culty: Bovale Sardo “has a ton of color
to give, but getting it to do so isn't always easy.
I fi nd it needs to be worked at about 30°C for
fi fteen days to fi nally get it to release pigments,
but it's a very good variety for Sardinia since it
tolerates the heat well.” Fabio Angius, director
of the high-quality Pala estate, agrees and
points out that “wine made from Bovale Sardo
can be so tannic and brutal that in the Ter-
ralbese district the habit was always to add
small percentages of lighter wines made from a
variety of local, little-known grapes, some of
them even table grapes, such as Niedda Pedra
Serra, Arramungiau Arrubiu, Arramungiau
Biancu, Gregu Nieddu, Greco Nero, Monica,
and Pascale.” According to Mariano Murru,
winemaker at Argiolas, the best-known estate
of Sardinia, Bovale Sardo wines are so tannic
that sometimes even blending with low-acid,
lightly tannic varieties doesn't soften them. He
fi nds that “the best approach is to slightly air-
dry it directly on the vine, and use short and
light macerations only, or the resulting wines
will be too astringent.” Angius also adds that
it's a diffi cult variety in the cellar because it
tends to be highly reductive, and off odors are
always possible: “For example, though we have
tried many times over, using indigenous yeasts
is just not a good idea with Bovale Sardo; the
wine invariably smells too strong and almost
sweaty.” Everyone I have talked to over the years
wines to try:
Pala*** (Essentija, from sixty-
year-old and ninety-year-old vines planted on
white sandy soil) and Argiolas** (Is Solinas).
Brachetto
where it's found:
Piedmont.
national reg-
istry code number:
40.
color:
red.
Brachetto is an aromatic red grape and yet
another Italian native variety that belongs to a
group of similarly named grapes whose closely
related members are nonetheless distinct from
each other. Since none of the other members of
the group are known outside their immediate
production area and have never been commer-
cially important, I have chosen not to speak of a
Brachetto group, for there are only two Bra-
chetto varieties of any consequence. True
Bra-
chetto
s are aromatic, and include Brachetto (its
correct name, not Brachetto del Piemonte), Bra-
chetto a Grappolo Grande (also known as Bra-
chettone or Birbet or Brachetto Lungo del
Roero, typical of the Roero area in Piedmont),
Brachetto Migliardi (or Brachetto di Monta-
bone, grown mainly between Acqui and Nizza
Monferrato), a very rare as yet not better
defi ned Brachetto sporadically found in vine-
yards around Nizza Monferrato in the province
of Alessandria, and perhaps a few more still. In
