Agriculture Reference
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yards) but I wonder if they weren't all just
describing a Corvina biotype. It was only with
the isoenzymatic analysis by Cancellier and
Angelini (1993) that Corvinone and Corvina
were fi nally distinguished as two distinct culti-
vars. For this reason, Corvinone is a relatively
late addition to the National Registry, listed at
number 328 only in 1993 (for comparison's
sake, Corvina is number 70, and was included
in 1970). I distinctly remember that in the
decade following Cancellier and Angelini's
study, every producer I talked with believed that
Corvina and Corvinone, though separate vari-
eties, were closely tied, possibly by a parent-
offspring relationship. Only with a 2003 study
by Vantini, Tacconi, Gastaldelli, Govoni, Tosi,
Malacrinò, Bassi, and Cattivelli did everyone's
understanding of Corvinone deepen: it turns
out that the two varieties are not even closely
related and that Corvinone is not related to any
other Veronese variety.
Corvinone grows well in both fl atland and
hillside vineyards: in the latter sites it produces
very little due to the development of more-
loosely packed bunches. It's typically character-
ized by asynchronous maturation of berries,
both within the same bunch as well as in differ-
ent bunches growing on the same grapevine.
This means that Corvinone is a lot of work
come harvesttime because the green berries
have to be picked out by hand and discarded. In
what is a testament to Corvinone's burgeoning
popularity among growers, there are seven dif-
ferent clones to choose from, all developed in a
relatively short period of time.
increased popularity means Valpolicella and
Amarone are less and less characterized by the
presence of Molinara, another grape that was
historically an important part of these blends,
to which it contributed acidity and a certain
lightness of being. By reducing Molinara's role
and increasing Corvinone's, these wines have
all become much meatier and structured,
which is a shame; at least, I do not believe that
Amarone should be reduced to a wine drunk
out of a liqueur glass, or that Valpolicella should
be yet another bodybuilder-wannabe wine. In
those rare cases where there is enough Cor-
vinone harvested to make small, usually experi-
mental batches of monovarietal wines, I have
found it reveals a very intense red-cherry fl avor,
even stronger than that of Corvina wines, and
of course much more obvious tannins. Given
the “bigger is better” mantra that has often
accompanied fi ne wine, I am actually surprised
that no one has yet tried to make a monovarie-
tal corvinone.
Croatina
where it's found:
Lombardy, Piedmont,
Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Sardinia.
national
registry code number:
71.
color:
red.
Looking for a headache? Here goes, Italian
style, and without drinking any wine. Croatina
is the name of a grape and also a wine. Croatina
is the main variety used to make a DOC wine
called Bonarda in the Oltrepò Pavese of Lom-
bardy, but there is a Bonarda grape variety too
(different than Croatina; actually, there are at
least six grapes in Italy all sporting a Bonarda-
Something moniker), which is used to make a
wine also called bonarda (but note the lower-
case “b”!). To simplify matters, the grape name
Bonarda has now been changed to Bonarda
Piemontese but the wine is—wouldn't you
know it—still called just bonarda (see
BONARDA PIEMONTESE, chapter 5). Don't
look now, but there is a Bonarda Novarese as
well, though that's a synonym of Uva Rara,
another distinct grape variety. And then there
is also the matter of a particularly high-quality
Which Wines to Choose and Why
There are no pure Corvinone wines, since it is
always blended with small to large percentages
of Corvina: the two varieties are planted
together in vineyards. This is not surprising,
since the two varieties really do complement
each other: Corvinone supplies Corvina with
the tannins it is missing, and the end result is
really much better than the single components
on their own. If I have one quibble about Cor-
vinone's modern success, it's that the variety's
