Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
wines to try:
Dora Renato* (a white sparkling
wine made by avoiding skin contact with the
must), Fratelli Berger* (a
rosato
), La Rivà*,
Terre del Pinerolese* (formerly Il Tralcio; they
used to also make an air-dried version called
Curbaran, but I haven't seen or tasted it in
years), and Daniela Bruno*.
Durella grows mainly in Veneto, between
Verona and Vicenza, but is also found in north-
western Tuscany near Massa Carrara (where it
is called Durella Gentile) and in Lombardy.
Which Wines to Choose and Why
The name of the grape is Durella, the name of
the wine is Durello—more precisely, the DOC
wine is Lessini Durello (from the region
between Verona and Vicenza). For the greater
part of the last thirty years, Durella wines were
an afterthought on the Italian fi ne white wine
scene, when the race was on to see who could
make the biggest and oakiest wines around. In
those sorry times, there was little place for a
high-acid wine blessed with delicate aromas
and fl avors, so Durella and its wines survived
mainly as local phenomena. Things are very
different nowadays, with crisp, low-alcohol
wines all the rage—admittedly, they match bet-
ter with most foods and are easier in today's
hectic, work-intensive lifestyle. Recent Italian
sales fi gures have shown that consumers out-
side Durella's immediate production areas are
once again paying attention. After a period of
diffi culty, it looks as though Durella and its
wines happen to fi nd themselves in the right
spot at the right time. The Lessini-Durello
DOC requires no more than 85 percent Durella
in this blend, but there are producers making
100 percent Durella wines. Other DOC wines
that include small percentages of Durella are
Monti Lessini, Breganze, and Gambellara;
there are numerous IGT wines to choose from
too, but Durella often plays only a marginal
role.
Durella can be used to produce sparkling,
still, and sweet wines, and most producers will
have at least still and sparkling versions, so you
have a spectrum of possibilities to choose from.
The aroma and fl avor profi le speaks of miner-
als, white fl owers, and fresh fruit (especially
green apple and lemon), coupled with low alco-
hol concentrations (rarely exceeding 12 percent,
and most 10.5-11 percent). Its very high acidity
makes sparkling wines an ideal vehicle for
Durella's charms, and usually precludes the
Durella
where it's found:
Veneto, Tuscany, Lombar-
dy.
national registry code number:
77.
col-
or:
white.
Durella takes its name from its rather tough
skin (
durella
means hard or angry), something
that older synonyms no longer much in use, like
Cagnina, Duroncino, Durello, and Rabbiosa also
point to. However, since Durella is also a very
high-acid variety, some experts believe its name
refers to this feature, which can make for some
tough drinking moments. That same acidity
explains why Durella is often used to make spar-
kling wines. According to Guerrino Fongaro of
the excellent Fongaro estate, Durella is an
ancient variety native to the Monti Lessini, where
it was known as Uva Durasena starting in the
thirteenth century. Others believe it is the Dura-
cina variety described by the ancient Romans. In
1825 Acerbi described a Durella grown near
Vicenza, while Di Rovasenda (1877) and Perez
(1900) described a Durella growing near Verona.
In fact, Durella was so well thought of that Mon-
tanari and Ceccarelli (1950) recall that it was
recommended for replanting and cultivation in
the post-phylloxeric period by the Consiglio Pro-
vinciale di Economia di Vicenza (specifi cally in
the areas of Arzignano and the lower Chiampo
Valley), and that later other luminaries recom-
mended it for cultivation in many other areas of
Veneto as well. Durella was once confused with
Nosiola (a variety that produces lovely, fragrant
white wines), though Cosmo stated the two vari-
eties were distinct as early as 1960. Cipriani,
Spadotto, Jurman, Di Gaspero, Crespan,
Meneghetti, et al. (2010) have recently suggested
that Durella is one of the parents of another
Veneto native, Bianchetta Trevigiana.
