Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
something more than workhorse grapes, and
different subvarieties began to be distinguished
with an eye to quality.
Historic Sicilian varieties, fi rst described by
Cupani in 1696, the
Cataratto
s are also called
Catarattu Vrancu, Catarratteddu, Catarrattu Lu
Nostrum, and very confusingly, Carricante, in
areas other than Etna (where the real Carri-
cante is historically grown). The
Cataratto
name covers many similar-looking biotypes
that give different enological results. Therefore
it is best to write
Cataratto
s, or to refer to the
variety as Cataratto Bianco
tout court
(Di Vecchi
Staraz, Bandinelli, Boselli, This, Boursiquot,
Laucou, Lacombe, and Varès 2007) and then
specify which biotype one is discussing. The
most insightful classifi cation of
Cataratto
bio-
types was that of Pastena (1971), who character-
ized them on the basis of the appearance of the
grape cluster and the berries into Comune,
Lucido (further subdivided into Serrato [com-
pact] and Lucido Spargolo [sparse]), and Extra-
Lucido or Lucidissimo.
Lucido
refers to the
brightness of the berry, with
lucidissimo
or
extra-lucido
indicating a virtual lack of bloom.
The most important of these biotypes are
Comune and Lucido, and the fi rst to distin-
guish between them was Macagno in 1883.
These
Cataratto Bianco
s have been determined
to be identical, fi rst on ampelographic grounds
(Di Vecchi Staraz, Bandinelli, Boselli, This,
Boursiquot, Laucou, Lacombe, and Varès 2007)
and by SSR profi ling (Crespan, Calò, Gian-
netto, Sparacio, Storchi, and Costacurta 2008;
Carimi, Mercati, Abbate, and Sunseri 2010).
There appear to be many other less-common
biotypes such as Cataratto Ammantiddatu, Ca-
taratto Bagascedda, Cataratto Fimminedda,
and Catareddu Mattu, though in the absence of
accurate ampelographic descriptions accompa-
nied by genetic testing, it's impossible to know
if there are distinct varieties among them. Most
often, all these grapevines are interplanted
together in the same vineyard, making their
study especially diffi cult. Recent parentage
analyses have determined that the natural
crossing of Cataratto Bianco Lucido and
Moscato di Alessandria gave birth to Grillo, a
very important and high-quality Sicilian native.
Furthermore, the
Cataratto Bianco
s share a
parent-offspring relationship with Garganega,
making Cataratto Bianco either a grandparent
or half-sibling of eight other varieties (see GAR-
GANEGA entry).
Not surprisingly, not everyone is convinced
that Cataratto Bianco Comune and Cataratto
Bianco Lucido ought to be considered inter-
changeably; though they are synonymous, they
exhibit enough different traits (morphological,
behavioral, and enological) that an argument
can be made to keep the two varieties separate,
as they are in the National Registry. Other
experts believe that the National Registry hasn't
gone far enough, and ought to list Extra-Lucido
separately as well. Those who support the latter
view suggest that Lucido and Extra-Lucido give
the most refi ned wines (in particular Extra-
Lucido)
.
Of these biotypes, Comune tends to
have higher sugar and lower acidity levels (and
therefore is prized for Marsala production);
Extra-Lucido has even higher acidity and lower
sugar levels than Lucido
.
Comune has better
oidium resistance than Cataratto Bianco Luc-
ido, which has more compact bunches. All are
very regular, dependable yielders. Offi cial Ca-
taratto Bianco Comune clones are CS 1, VCR 7,
VCR 8, Regione Siciliana 60, and VFP 31, while
there are none listed for Cataratto Bianco
Lucido
.
The
Cataratto
s are grown everywhere in Sic-
ily, most abundantly around Trapani and Pal-
ermo; only in the island's northeastern corner
are they less common. At over thirty-three
thousand hectares in 2010, or roughly 29 per-
cent of the island's total vineyard surface, Cat-
aratto Bianco Comune is still Sicily's number-
one grape variety. In fact, it's Italy's second
most-common white grape variety, after Treb-
biano Toscano. Cataratto Bianco Lucido is
planted on more than six thousand hectares (or
5.3 percent of the total surface area under vine)
which means that by themselves, the
Cataratto
varieties account for close to 35 percent of the
land devoted to grapevines in Sicily. Though
