Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
other reason than that it is easily bred and used
to repopulate countrysides. The third bird's
main characteristic, besides being excellent on
the dinner table, is the bright red legs that give
it its name, and provide the name for this grape
variety as well. Gamba Rossa (red leg), better
known as Gamba di Pernice (leg of partridge) is
just one of the many grape cultivars named
after their red stalks (for example, Piedirosso
and Refosco del Peduncolo Rosso), which are
reminiscent of the red legs of partridges,
pigeons, and other birds. I fi nd that Gamba di
Pernice is characterized not only by its red stalk
but also by its yellowish leaves in the fall.
Though similarly named, Gamba di Pernice (or
Gamba Rossa) is a distinct variety from the oth-
ers, and is also different from Malbec, which in
France is also called Pied de Perdrix or Oeil de
Perdrix.
Gamba Rossa was only recently chosen by
the powers that be as the offi cial name of the
cultivar, and it now appears under this name in
the National Registry of grape varieties. This is
surprising, since the grape has always been
better known, in academic and local circles, as
Gamba di Pernice. It is also called Pernicine
and, in the Salluzzese area of Piedmont, Ner-
etto di Alteno, where
“alteno”
means trained to
living supporting structures such as trees.
According to Berta and Mainardi (1997), this
system of cultivation was surprisingly common
around Alba, Pinerolo, Saluzzo, and Turin in
Piedmont between the sixteenth and eigh-
teenth centuries. Perhaps for this reason
Gamba di Pernice was never considered a pre-
mier variety, as it could hardly have ripened
properly with trees hiding it from necessary
sunlight. In 1798 Nuvolone even wrote that
Gamba di Pernice belonged to what he called
second-tier grapes, those best blended with the
better, fi rst-tier wine grapes.
The cultivar is characterized by moderate
anthocyanin concentrations: malvin accounts
for 25 percent of the total anthocyanins and the
acylated forms are low too. The fact that these
two very stable forms of anthocyanins are low
compared to cyanin and delphinin, which are
much less stable, accounts for the only medium
hues of the wines. As a late ripening variety
with a compact bunch, Gamba di Pernice is
easily subject to botrytis bunch rot, especially
in rainy autumns: airing out the bunches ear-
lier in the season is key to producing better,
cleaner wines. Currently, the few specialized
Gamba di Pernice vineyards are planted with
massal selections, but Valter Bosticardo of
Tenuta dei Fiori (one of the two most important
producers of Gamba di Pernice wine), has
selected ten different clones over the years that
are now being evaluated for viticultural charac-
teristics and winemaking potential. Today, the
variety grows mainly in the Asti province, espe-
cially around the towns of Calosso and Costigli-
ole d'Asti, and in small quantities in the coun-
tryside of Costigliole Saluzzo, in the Salluzese
part of Piedmont.
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Young wines have a pretty, bright, medium-
ruby color, very fresh fl oral and red-berry aro-
mas, and are medium bodied; wines fi ve years
and older have amber-red hues, and more spicy-
peppery, tarry, and balsamic aromas and fl a-
vors. All well-made Gamba di Pernice wines
are medium bodied, balanced, and refi ned;
never blockbusters, they match well to most
foods, from lighter white meat preparations to
slow-cooked, concentrated beef stews. The wine
has an uncanny knack for aging: for example,
the 1990 Tenuta di Fiori gamba di pernice is
still splendid today. In general, as Gamba di
Pernice is a variety high in malic and low in
tartaric acids, malolactic transformation risks
leaving a wine low in acidity, though locals wel-
come gamba di pernice's softer mouthfeel in
contrast to barbera's almost eye-watering shrill-
ness. The wine made by Tenuta dei Fiori and
other producers in the Calosso area is called
Calosso, rather than gamba di pernice, in an
effort to shore up a link with this variety's his-
toric zone of cultivation (and because these pro-
ducers understandably were miffed at the
choice of Gamba Rossa as the offi cial name of
the variety).
