Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Calabria (only in limited quantity in the prov-
ince of Reggio Calabria), mainly on the western
side of the region, facing the Tyrrhenian Sea.
If we can talk about Malbo Gentile today,
and taste wines made from it, it is thanks to the
efforts of, among others, the Istituto di Stato
per l'Agricoltora e l'Ambiente-Persolino, a state-
run and -funded teaching and winemaking
facility in Faenza with its own experimental
vineyard. In the 1960s, researchers noticed
three very different-looking and lonely vines
from all the others planted; a dirty old tag indi-
cated they were Amabile di Genova. Little else
was known about the cultivar. Nothing was
made of the vines for a long time, but research-
ers became impressed with the cultivar's
loosely packed but large bunches and notewor-
thy sugar concentrations. The logical next step
was to attempt experimental microvinifi ca-
tions, and so plantings were increased in 1988
by grafting Malbo Gentile onto thirty-nine San-
giovese vines. In 1990 roughly 140 kilograms
of grapes were harvested and air-dried for thirty
days; the wine went on sale in 1992, meeting
with resounding success. This led to a genetic
workup in collaboration with the Experimental
Viticultural and Winemaking Station (ESAVE)
in Tebano that determined the cultivar to be
Malbo Gentile. Interestingly, Emilia's Malbo
Gentile behaves and looks morphologically dif-
ferent than Romagna's, ostensibly a conse-
quence of the former region's more fertile soils
in which the variety becomes overproductive
and assumes a different phenotype. Therefore,
different biotypes of Malbo Gentile exist. For
example, the Brisighella biotype of Romagna
(Brisighella is a town near Faenza) is loosely
packed and almost rachitic looking; though a
high-quality subvariety, it was disappearing
due to its low production. Because its morpho-
logic aspect was so different from that of the
Malbo Gentile of Emilia no one at the state
institute realized that Amabile di Genova was
in fact Malbo Gentile. Instead, the most com-
mon Malbo Gentile biotype grown in Emilia
resembles Ancellotta and some Lambrusco s. In
a 2005 study that I fi nd controversial, Boccacci,
Torello Marinoni, Gambino, Botta, and Schnei-
der claimed that Malbo Gentile has close
genetic ties to Fortana and is identical to Foglia
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Savuto and Terre di Cosenza are the DOCs that
specifi cally mention Magliocco Canino as one
of the allowed grape varieties. There are also
numerous IGT wines that allow Magliocco
Canino in the blend such as Locride, Pellaro,
Scilla, Valle dei Crati, and Val di Neto.
wines to try: Casalnuovo del Duca** and
Tenut a Ter re Nobi li* ( Ca r ig lio, repor ted ly a
blend of 80 percent Magliocco Canino and 20
percent Magliocco Dolce). Many so-called
Magliocco wines contain Cabernet Sauvignon:
recognizing Magliocco Canino's contribution
in such wines becomes impossible, or close to
it. This is true even when less than 20 percent
of a similarly powerful grape is said to have
been added; to make matters worse, in Italy
such percentages are most often aspirations,
rather than exact fi gures.
Malbo Gentile
where it's found: Emilia-Romagna. national
registry code number: 333. color: red.
Malbo Gentile looks and behaves very much
like a wild grapevine and its exact origin is
unknown. It is also known as Amabile di
Genova, which has led some in the past to pos-
tulate a Ligurian origin. Today's majority view
is that the variety hails from Emilia-Romagna,
the result of either a domesticated native wild
grapevine or of natural cross-pollination
between a wild species and a cultivated one,
though specifi c evidence in support of this
hypothesis is lacking. The variety has been
documented in the Emilia part of the Emilia-
Romagna region since at least 1800, where it
was used to add power and sweetness to the
various Lambrusco wines made there. Centu-
ries ago, going the monovarietal route had not
been considered.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search