Major Native and Traditional Grape Varieties - Native Wine Grapes of Italy - page 250

(Minaia, an oaked Gavi, too oaky for me), La
Toledana* (Raccolto Tardivo), Nicola Ber-
gaglio*, Villa Sparina* (Monte Rotondo).

ably fi rst described in detail only in 1824 by Pol-
lini; the fact there were (and are) many Corvine
grapes believed to be distinct varieties only
made things more diffi cult. Among the fi rst to
distinguish between the many varieties sport-
ing similar names was Bertani (1886), who
listed a Corvina Comune (which he also called
Corba and Corva, but we know today that the
latter is most likely a distinct variety), Corvina
Rizza, and Corvinon, while Sormani Moretti
(1904) cites a Corvina Gentile, Corvina Nera,
Corvina Nostrana, Corvina Pelosa, Corvinella,
Corvinetta, and Corvina Rizza. A probably
more accurate list was drawn up by Cosmo and
Polsinelli (1960) that mentioned only Corvina
Veronese, Corvina Gentile, Corvina Rizza and
Corvinone. Many of these Corvina s were either
biotypes or distinct varieties, and not all are
blessed with high fi ne-wine potential. For
example, while Corvinella (or Corbinella) was
considered a low-quality wine grape grown in
fl atland vineyards around Padova, Corvina was
instead always grown on hillsides. It is worth
noting that a profound connoisseur of Veneto
grapevines, Leonildo Pieopan (of the world-
famous Pieropan estate in Soave) believes Cor-
binella to be nothing more than a virus-affected
Corvina. Corvina Rizza is another, now rare,
Corvina biotype, the morphology of which is
most likely the result of a viral infection. Cor-
vina Gentile is still another biotype, apparently
unaffected by viruses, that has considerable
winemaking potential according to many old-
timers I have talked to over the years; unfortu-
nately its presence is now limited to old vine-
yards planted at higher altitudes. Calò,
Costacurta, Cancellier, and Forti (1991) also
described Corvina biotypes Piccola, Media, and
Grossa, distinguished by the size of their ber-
ries and bunches.
Of all these Corvine grapes, Corvinone is
especially important: long considered either a
mutation or biotype of Corvina, Cancellier and
Angelini (1993) proved it a separate variety by
isoenzymatic studies, fi ndings later confi rmed
by Vantini, Tacconi, Gastaldelli, Govoni, Tosi,
Malacrinò, Bassi, and Cattivelli (2003). This

Corvina

where it's found: Veneto, Lombardy. national
registry code number: 70. color: red.
One of the many “bird-grapes” of Italy, Cor-
vina's name means little raven ( corvo is raven).
Whether this stems from the fact that the ripe
grapes have always been an attraction for the
gourmet birds, or whether the dark Corvina
berries reminded people of the birds' dark
plumage is not known (in any case, though the
grape's name may refer to a dark color, the wine
should never be inky or especially deep in hue).
The name corvina/corbina can also derive from
crova/croà (dark berries), from corba/corbera
( corba, or large basket, indicating large quanti-
ties of grapes), or from cruina (unripe, a refer-
ence to it being a late ripening variety usually
harvested in early October).
Corvina is the most important variety in the
blend of the world-famous wines Valpolicella
and Amarone; however, for such an important
variety, there is surprisingly little historical
documentation available. Some believe that
Corvina has been used to make wines in Veneto
since 1627, when Alessandro Peccana wrote of
vini corvini in his curiously titled opus, The
Problem with Drinking Cold Beverages (a medi-
cal doctor, Peccana believed that drinking cold
wine, perhaps with a little snow added for good
measure, helped facilitate digestion). In truth,
we don't know if Corvina was the variety he was
recommending, as these corvini could have
been any number of similarly named Corvine
varieties (there are numerous, not necessarily
synonymous cultivars with Corvina-like
names). In 1755, Guglielmo Marani wrote that
planting Corvina in less-fertile soils would give
the best results (Calò, Paronetto, and Rorato
1996), while in 1810 Moro mentioned that the
Corvine Gentili were among the best red grapes
of the Veronese area. Corvina itself was prob-