Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
as Comune is easier to work with, it is, appropri-
ately enough, the more common of the two. Of
course, were you to listen to what producers say,
you couldn't be blamed for concluding that
Cesanese Comune has gone the way of the
dodo, since everyone and their sister seem to be
growing, perhaps not surprisingly, only the
higher-quality d'Affi le variant. A simple walk in
the vineyards will reveal to all those who know
a little bit of the variety that this is in fact not so:
Cesanese d'Affi le's much smaller berries are a
clear giveaway to its presence—or not—in the
vineyards. Yet another variety called Cesanese
Velletrano has been described to me by local
farmers, but has never been studied on a genetic
level. If it really is separate from the other two
(Mancini in 1893 wrote that it was synonymous
with Cesanese Comune), then my guess is that
it's just another
Cesanese
biotype. Certainly it's
rare to fi nd anyone talking about it anymore,
and the last time a producer showed me some
Cesanese Velletrano was in 2001 or 2002—
though it really didn't look all that different to
me from Cesanese Comune, he poetically went
on and on, about biodiversity in the vineyards
and all the usual suspects.
Cesanese Comune is morphologically dif-
ferent from Cesanese d'Affi le: though both
have winged, compact bunches, Comune's are
cylindrical or conical in shape, while d'Affi le's
are pyramidal, and medium-sized (280 grams
on average, to d'Affi le's average of 220 grams).
Comune's round berries are also medium-large
(average weight 2.25 grams) compared to
d'Affi le's medium-small ones (1.8 grams). Fur-
ther, there are three different biotypes of Cesa-
nese Comune: biotype 1 has a fi ve-lobed leaf, a
large, compact bunch, and large berries, while
biotype 2 has a leaf with three lobes, and small,
compact bunches and berries; the leaves of
both have shiny smooth undersides. In con-
trast, biotype 3 not only has leaves with a downy
underside, but also has larger berries and more
loosely packed bunches. Due to the quality that
the
Cesanese
s are undoubtedly capable of,
improving available clonal selections is a recent
objective. In the early twenty-fi rst century,
Ciolfi and Garofalo at the Istituto Sperimentale
per l'Enologia at Velletri developed a series of
new Cesanese d'Affi le clones, labeled A5, A8,
A9, A10, A19, A20, and A21; of these, A9 and
A20 seem best suited for making wines of early
appeal, while A8, A19, and A21 are the choice
for slightly more ageworthy wines. The list of
Cesanese d'Affi le clones is completed by the
more recently developed ARSIAL-CRA 228 and
ARSIAL-CRA 232. The ARSIAL clones have
the advantage of ripening earlier (in the last
part of September, as opposed to October like
all the other clones), which is a big advantage;
but their wines are said to have a slightly more
obvious bitter note on the fi nish. The 232 clone
is characterized by darker color and lower total
acidity levels. The only offi cial clone of Cesa-
nese Comune available is ARSIAL-CRA 838;
it's not very productive, which is strange con-
sidering it's a Cesanese Comune. Usually,
Cesanese Comune is both vigorous and pro-
ductive, while Cesanese d'Affi le is neither vig-
orous nor a regular producer. Both Cesanese
Comune and d'Affi le are peronospora sensitive.
All
Cesanese
biotypes are characterized by
anthocyanin concentrations of roughly 25-30
percent peonin and cyanin, with acylated forms
hovering below 8 percent, meaning that,
despite what some people may tell you, the
wines aren't going to be the darkest around.
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Cesanese
s are found mainly in Lazio, though
they have also been planted in Tuscany, Umbria,
and Sicily. With few exceptions, the most impor-
tant wines are those of Lazio, where one DOCG
and two DOC wines are made; the former is
Cesanese del Piglio, the latter are Cesanese di
Olevano Romano and the somewhat confus-
ingly named Cesanese d'Affi le, a wine theoreti-
cally made only from Cesanese d'Affi le. Cesa-
nese del Piglio is made in the southern province
of Frosinone (around the hilltop towns of Acuto,
Anagni, Paliano, Piglio, and Serrone) and Cesa-
nese d'Affi le around Affi le (and a small amount
around Serrone), while Cesanese di Olevano
Romano is made around the town of the same
