Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Casetta
in Trentino's cooler northern habitat, so pro-
ducers would have done much better, in my
opinion, to stick with their local native, a high-
quality variety. Today there are less than fi fteen
hectares planted, but I am happy to report that
interest is mounting among local producers.
Most of the Casetta plantings belong to the
Albino Armani estate, as Armani was the fi rst
to believe in the variety and to do something to
help save it. In 2003, he created the Conservato-
ria, a small experimental vineyard at Dolcè,
planted to a number of typical Vallagarina cul-
tivars that risked extinction (among them
Casetta, of which he had discovered a few one-
hundred-year-old vines). In the 1990s, Armani
worked successfully with the Istituto di San
Michele all'Adige and with Tiziano Tomasi,
winemaker and owner of the Cadalora estate
(who was then doing research at the Istituto
Agrario di San Michele all'Adige) to bring this
variety and wine back from the dead.
Casetta was fi nally allowed for cultivation
only in 2002, and is grown mainly on the right
bank of the Adige River, around the towns of
Avio, Ala, and Rovereto. It also grows in Veneto,
near Verona, and in the countryside around
Brentino and Belluno.
where it's found:
Trentino, Veneto.
national
registry code number:
369.
color:
red.
Casetta's name, which means little house,
probably derives from the typically human
endeavor of growing wild grapes near one's
home in an attempt at domestication. It also
goes, rarely, by Maranela, a name probably
stemming from the eighteenth-century noble
family called Marani, hailing from Ala, who
were the fi rst to try growing it in their vine-
yards. Casetta is also known in the local dialect
as Foja Tonda, not to be confused with Foglia
Tonda, a distinct variety that grows in Tuscany.
Other less common synonyms include
Ambroasi, Lambrusco a Foglia Tonda, and
Lambrusc'Avio. Though it was long been con-
sidered one of the many
Lambrusco
varieties, it
has been proven genetically distinct from other
members of that family. Phenotypically, it
resembles Enantio, also known as Lambrusco a
Foglia Frastagliata, a similarity remarked upon
by Acerbi in 1825.
Casetta has medium-small bunches and
small, almost oval berries; clearly, its distin-
guishing feature is its round leaves, which
present little in the way of indentations or
sinuses. There are no offi cial clones available.
The variety is characterized by good vigor and
productivity. Budbreak is early, subjecting
Casetta to the vagaries of spring frosts, though
it's very resistant to cold weather; it's also sensi-
tive to grey rot, but is resistant to peronospora
and oidium. It is an interesting cultivar in that
it manages to accumulate high sugar concen-
trations in combination with high total acidity
levels, and because its wines have a pretty, deep
hue. Once very common in Trentino's Vallaga-
rina, south of the city of Trento (by the end of
the 1800s, annual production was roughly fi ve
thousand hectoliters), its susceptibility to grey
rot and the late twentieth-century craze for all
things international saw the old vineyards
uprooted in favor of Cabernet Sauvignon, Car-
menère, and even Syrah. As irony would have
it, none of those varieties ripens especially well
Which Wines to Choose and Why
The wine has always been highly thought of;
recent examples I have tasted are impressive,
characterized by high, very juicy acidity and
bright red fruit, with vinous and grapey fl avors
and aromas. With two or three years of age it
picks up increased notes of tobacco and miner-
als, though it is a wine not meant to age.
Though there's plenty of tannin and structure,
the wine seems medium-bodied and fresh,
lighter than it really is, because of copious
amounts of vibrant acids. It can stand up to
judicious amounts of oak to give a smoother,
richer wine. Without that extra touch of buttery
oak, whether you'll appreciate what casetta has
to offer depends on how you feel about high-
acid red wines. My only question is the depth of
complexity the wine can develop. Time will tell,
as commercially available wines age: their suc-
