Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
large sweet berries made this variety a much
sought-after table grape.
Better known as Carignan in France and
Cariñena in Spain, where it is an important
part of many wines, this is one grape variety
that is almost certainly traditional and not truly
native to Italy. Its cradle seems to be the Ara-
gonese city of Cariñena, hence the grape's Ital-
ian name of Carignano; though its other moni-
ker, Mazuelo (from Mazuelo de Muñó, a village
in the province of Burgos in Castilla y León), is
probably a more accurate name. This is because
Cariñena in Spain is also the name of a Denom-
inación de Origen, which engenders confusion.
In any case, it seems Carignano was trans-
planted mainly to the French departments of
Aude and Hérault as well as to Pyrénées-Orien-
tales, Gard, and Provence.
Of course, not everyone agrees with the
Spanish origin. Some hypothesize that Cari-
gnano was brought to Sardinia by the ancient
Phoenicians during their trading travels, but
admittedly, this is very hard to prove. Further-
more, while there exist color mutations of Cari-
gnano (Cariñena Blanca grows in Spain and
France, while a very rare Carignano Gris is
found in France), I am not aware of their exis-
tence in Sardinia. The lack of these color muta-
tions makes it even less likely that Sardinia is the
birthplace of Carignano, as the richest amount
of biodiversity (according to the teachings of
Vavilov) is found in a variety's original home.
Therefore, it seems more likely that Carignano
arrived courtesy of the Spanish, who ruled Sar-
dinia for centuries. Its synonyms in Sardinia,
Uva di Spagna (“grape of Spain”) and the less-
frequent Axina de Spagna, also suggest a Span-
ish origin; certainly De Astis believed so.
Thanks to Martin, Borrego, Cabello, and Ortiz
(2003) we know Cariñena and Mazuelo to be
identical, but surprisingly, more recent data pub-
lished by Nieddu, Nieddu, Cocco, Erre, and
Chessa (2007) has also suggested the identity
between Carignano and Bovale Grande, while
distinguishing it from Nieddera, another island
grape variety. As I have illustrated earlier, I think
the presumed Bovale Grande / Carignano syno-
nym is not a cut-and-dried issue, though this is
one instance in which the proposed synonymity
Which Wines to Choose and Why
It's rare but not impossible to fi nd a monovari-
etal Carica L'asino, as the variety is usually
blended with Cortese, Timorasso, or Favorita.
However, Patrizia Marenco decided it was time
to bring the variety back to everyone's attention,
and after having identifi ed a local farmer who
grew Carica L'asino in the Valle Bagnario near
Strevi (Alessandria), she propagated three thou-
sand vines with the help of a local nurseryman.
However, I know that Marenco has a low-yield-
ing, not very productive Carica L'asino, which
fl ies in the face of what we know about the vari-
ety and its tendency to be generous in its yields;
furthermore, her wine is delicately aromatic,
which other supposedly monovarietal Carica
L'asino wines I have tried are not. Still, the wine
is excellent. Marenco's example was followed by
Luigi and Bruna Ferro of the Carussin estate:
their wine is mineral and fresh, with aromas
and fl avors of dried herbs, pear, and apricot, but
it contains 20 percent Cortese because, as
Bruna says, “as a monovarietal, we fi nd it too
mineral and saline, a consequence of the clay-
rich soils in our area, while the variety does bet-
ter in drier, less water-retentive soils.” It is less
aromatic than Marenco's, though this may have
more to do with the organic winemaking Ferro
employs, and her use of very low doses of sulfur
dioxide (a technique which, in my experience,
can “fl atten” aromas somewhat). Until the vines
owned by Marenco and Ferro are genetically
profi led, we won't know if these are different
biotypes of Carica L'asino (more and less aro-
matic), or if the grapevines grown by these two
pioneering estates are even the same variety.
wines to try:
Marenco** (Carialoso) and
Carussin** (Caricalasino).
Carignano
where it's found:
Sardinia.
national
registry code number:
54.
color:
red.
