Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
nonau appeared in the literature at more or less
the same time. However, Lovicu believes that
the Garnacha mentioned in the early Spanish
literature refers to a white grape and wine, and
that a red garnacha wine is not mentioned in
that country until the eighteenth century (in a
dictionary published in 1734). By contrast, other
researchers believe that Garnacha was present
on Spanish soil long before the eighteenth cen-
tury but was called Aragones, a red-berried vari-
ety from the area around Madrid (where this
synonym is still used for Garnacha), and was
fi rst mentioned in Alonso de Herrera's
Agricul-
tura General
(1513). However, Alonso de Herre-
ra's description is reportedly insuffi cient to sup-
por t t he conclusion t hat he was in fac t descr ibing
Garnacha / Cannonau. The fi rst reliable men-
tion of Garnacha in Spain would appear to be
Estevan de Corvera's 1678
Cataluña Illustrada,
in which a list of grape varieties dotting the
countryside (including
Garnacha
s) is given; but
I fail to understand how anybody could conclude
that the
Garnacha
s the topic alludes to were
really Garnacha / Cannonau instead of some
other
Vernaccia
variety. After all, in light of the
proliferation of spurious
Malvasia
-named
grapes and wines that occurred all over Europe
only as a result of the fame of the original mal-
vasia wine, the likelihood of something similar
happening with the almost as famous
Vernaccia
grapes and wines is high. Italy's fi rst mention of
a Canonat variety dates to 1549, in a notary act
written by Bernardino Coni. Therefore, Italian
experts hold that Cannonau was present on Sar-
dinian soil long before the Spanish domination
of the island began, and that as a result of trans-
lation and printing mistakes, the name Can-
nonau was derived from a later reference to a
different Spanish cultivar, Canonazo. In one of
the editions of Di Rovasenda's ampelographies
(1877), just such a Canonazo variety from
Seville is described. However, no such Spanish
variety exists: the correct spelling ought to have
been Cañocazo, and it is a white variety fi rst
mentioned by Spanish ampelographer Simon de
Rojas Clemente y Rubio in 1807, almost extinct
today.
Still, given Spain's long domination of Sar-
dinia, it is hard to imagine Cannonau as a native
Sardinian variety rather than native to Spain.
Though there exist many biotypes of Cannonau
on the island, the various color mutations of
Garnacha that are frequent in Spain are found
not at all or only very rarely in Sardinia. I do not
know of much grey or pink Cannonau on Sar-
dinia. In fact, even the white mutation of Can-
nonau may not grow in Sardinia, for the island's
Cannonau Bianco was proven to be an only dis-
tant relative; Cannonau Bianco and Cannonau
only share fi fty percent of alleles (De Mattia,
Imaz, Grassi, Lovicu, Tardaguila, Failla, et al.
2007). Therefore, it would appear that in the
absence of abundant color mutations of Sardin-
ian Cannonau, it is more likely that Cannonao/
Grenache is Spanish, rather than Sardinian, as
in the former country the color mutations are
more common. However, recent study results
have added more food for thought (Meneghetti,
Costacurta, Frare, Da Rold, Migliaro, Morreale,
et al. 2011). While the accessions of Garnacha
from Spain, Alicante from Sicily, Tocai Rosso
from Veneto, Cannonau from Sardinia, and
Gamay Perugino from Umbria all had the same
genetic profi le, the Italian samples were charac-
terized by a strong genetic variability, in contrast
to the Spanish samples, which showed great
genetic similarity. Clearly, as discussed at length
in chapter 1, genetic variability is linked to mor-
phologic, viticultural, and enological differences
perhaps resulting from mutations occurring
over time. Since Cannonau has lived in Sardinia
for centuries, the grapevine has likely under-
gone more than its share of mutations over
time, induced both by man and the environ-
ment. Meneghetti's group draws the conclusion
that the genetic diversity of the Italian acces-
sions, by contrast to the high genetic similarity
present among Spanish samples, would appear
to support the hypothesis that Cannonau's
birthplace may be Italian after all. In any case,
Cannonau has been living on the island for a
very long time indeed.
Available clones of Cannonau are CAP VS 5,
CFC-13, CAP VS 1, CAP VS2, and VCR 23, but
