Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
though it has also been described in Sicily (or at
least, a grapevine also called Marsigliana Nera,
or Marcigliana was described there). In its
native Calabrian home, Marsigliana Nera grows
mainly along the Tyrrhenean (western) side of
the region, especially near Lamezia Terme, as
well as around Pianopoli, Belmonte Calabro,
and San Pietro a Maida.
aromas and fl avors, and slightly herbal at the
back).
Marzemina Bianca
where it's found:
Veneto, Lombardy.
nation-
al registry code number:
329.
color:
white.
Also known as Sciampagna, Marzemina
Bianca is a native of Veneto, though it is also
grown in and around Pordenone, in western
Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is mentioned for the
fi rst time in 1679 by Giacomo Agostinetti and
subsequently by other authors such as Piero
Caronetti, all of whom thought it was a high-
quality variety. The modern-day importance of
Marzemina Bianca as a wine grape is inversely
proportional to its historical importance: being
a very old variety, it has close genetic ties with a
number of famous grapes. Molon (1906)
believed it to be identical to Switzerland's Chas-
selas, but we have no modern evidence of this.
Instead, in 2008 Salmaso, Dalla Valle, and Luc-
chin reported that Marzemina Bianca has a
parent-offspring relationship with Marzemino
(the latter is most likely one of Marzemina
Bianca's parents), and Crespan, Calò,
Giannetto, Sparacio, Storchi, and Costacurta
(2008) found the same between it and Gar-
ganega. Therefore, the relationship with Gar-
ganega (see GARGANEGA entry) makes it a
half sibling or grandparent of Albana, Cataratto
Bianco, Dorona, Malvasia Bianca di Candia,
Marzemina Bianca, Montonico Bianco,
Susumaniello, and Trebbiano Toscano. Fur-
thermore, thanks to the 2008 study by Sal-
maso's group we know that Raboso Veronese is
the product of a natural crossing between Mar-
zemina Bianca and Raboso Piave. Despite this,
Marzemina Bianca eventually fell out of favor
due to low productivity.
Marzemina Bianca has a large, pyramidal,
usually winged bunch with medium-large ber-
ries and a good amount of bloom. Obviously, it
cannot be confused with Marzemina Grossa or
one of the many other
Marzemina
s, which are
dark-berried varieties.
Which Wines to Choose and Why
DOC Lamezia is the DOC wine containing
various percentages of Marsigliana Nera, but
the variety can be included in DOC Scavigna
blends too. IGT wines in which it can be found
as part of the blend are Costa Viola, Locride,
Palizzi, and Scilla. Historically, Marsigliana
Nera has been used as a coloring agent for
blends of sorry-looking red wines, as it is
endowed with anthocyanins and a small dose
goes a long way in spiking color. According to
Scala, the problems with Marsigliana Nera
begin in the cellar: “It's a very tannic and dark
wine: we have decided to macerate it on the
skins for only sixty hours, treating it almost like
a
rosato.
Still, it comes out tannic and struc-
tured, a red wine in
rosato
clothing.” He has
also recently been experimenting with an air-
dried, sweet version. I'm happy to see this dedi-
cation to a native grape from a winery that has
been in the same family since the 1600s (they
also breed of racehorses and Charolais cattle). I
have already told Federico that my glass is ready
and waiting for their new wine.
You could also ask to try the monovarietal
wines that local farmers and growers make for
home use (many just blend all their grapes
together, often picked at different levels of ripe-
ness). You might discover a deep red wine with
bright red berry and tobacco fl avors that is ideal
for short-term drinking, though tannic clout is
such that one could imagine Marsigliana Nera
giving ageworthy wines too. However, there are
too few producers of monovarietal wines to
draw any clear-cut conclusions.
wines to try:
Santa Venere ** (Speziale; fresh,
bright yet chewy, with lovely small red-berry
