Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The name Grechetto clearly denotes this
variety's presumed Greek origin. But due to the
popularity of “Greek” wines in ancient Rome,
many different, unrelated grapes were called
Grechetto and Greco. Grechetto has always
been an extremely important variety in Umbria
and has long been the subject of studies there.
In 1975, the University of Perugia's Depart-
ment of Plant Cultures (Istituto di Coltivazioni
Arboree) tackled the issue of what Grechetto is
and determined there to be two varieties: Gre-
chetto di Orvieto (or Grechetto G109) and the
Grechetto di Todi (or Grechetto G5). Both are
occasionally and improperly referred to as
“clones” (for example, Grechetto di Todi clone
G5). But the two are not clones at all. In fact,
they're not even related. Filippetti, Intrieri, Sil-
vestroni, and Thomas (1999) and others have
shown that Grechetto di Todi, which some
would prefer to call Grechetto Gentile (more
correctly reserved for a specifi c clone of Gre-
chetto di Todi, I G5 ICA-PG), is in fact Pigno-
letto (a native variety of the Emilia portion of
Emilia-Romagna; it's also called Rébola in the
Romagna portion of the region; see PIGNO-
LETTO entry). Other research has indicated
that some of the Grechetto grapevines of north-
eastern Lazio are also identical to Grechetto di
Todi, that is, Pignoletto, while Grechetto di
Orvieto is most likely related to the
Trebbiano
family. For what it's worth, when I look at Gre-
chetto di Orvieto, with its long bunch and small
berries, I think of the
Trebbiano
s right away,
while Grechetto di Todi, with its stocky, short
bunch and fat round berries, does not call to
mind any
Trebbiano
variety I can think of. The
Grechetto
varieties also have numerous syn-
onyms, such as Pulcinculo, Strozzavolpe,
Occhietto, and Montanarino Bianco (some
experts believe all of these to be Grechetto di
Tod i on ly ) .
When we speak of “Grechetto” today, it is
Grechetto of Orvieto we mean: ampelographic
and viticultural descriptions should not be con-
taminated with observations more pertinent to
Pignoletto. Still, there are a number of other
interesting and vexing issues concerning the
correct identifi cation of
Grechetto
s. First, the
National Registry contains numerous redun-
dancies pertaining to clones of the
Grechetto
s
and Pignoletto (clones listed for the two varie-
ties have different labels but are the same
grape: Grechetto G5 ICA PG is identical to Pig-
noletto ICAB 5, while Grechetto VCR 2 is iden-
tical to Pignoletto VCR 3, yet these are all listed
separately under the respective Grechetto and
Pignoletto headings). In the past a Grechetto
clone R3 was known as biotype Ribolla, a silly
situation, since it is not related to Ribolla Gialla
at all, and so allowing this name for the clone
only led to more confusion. In any case, the
ICA PG clone is especially resistant to oidium
and botrytis, though according to Borgo, Carte-
chini, Lovat, and Moretti (2004) it drops acidity
quickly when overripe (notably tartaric acid),
especially in hot, humid years.
Sergio Mottura's estate in Lazio is blessed
with some very old vines of many different Gre-
chetto biotypes (some planted as early as the
1930s), differences now believed to be due to
the different
terroir
of northeastern Lazio com-
pared to that of nearby Orvieto in Umbria,
though some of the vines there are most likely
of Pignoletto. The different Mottura biotypes
include Grechetto Grappolo Piccolo and Gre-
chetto Perazzeta, resembling Grechetto Caci-
olla (reportedly identical to Grechetto Mecone)
and different from Bianchetta Castelli, which
presently remains an unknown variety of this
corner of Lazio. Sergio Mottura told me that
they are apparently all genetically identical to
Grechetto di Todi, hence to Pignoletto, but I
have not yet seen any published study confi rm-
ing this.
Grechetto di Orvieto is most abundant in
Umbria (especially in the countryside around
Orvieto, in the western part of Perugia, and
Terni) and Lazio.
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Of DOC wines that can be supposedly 100 per-
cent
Grechetto
(though producers are not obli-
gated to specify the variety present: the wines
are usually a mixture of the Orvieto and Todi
