Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
or six great cultivars. Barolo and Barbaresco are
the two best-known wines made from Nebbiolo
grapes—internationally famous monovarietal
Nebbiolo wines that are extremely ageworthy (a
good, well-kept Barolo from 1947 or 1961 is still
a thing of beauty). But Nebbiolo is also at the
core of other fantastic Italian wines such as
Gattinara, Lessona, Ghemme, Boca, Sfursat,
and many more. In these wines, Nebbiolo is
usually blended with small percentages of local
varieties (such as Croatina, Pignola, Vespolina,
or Brugnola).
Nebbiolo, one of Italy's oldest cultivars, is a
native variety for which we have some of the
earliest available documentation. Apparently
Pliny the Elder referred to it as
nubiola,
the
Latin word for “fog”
(nebbia),
as Nebbiolo rip-
ens late in the fall season, when fog in the vine-
yards of Piedmont is common. Another theory
holds that Nebbiolo's name derives from the
abundant bloom of its grapes, making them
look like they're bathed in fog. The name
nibiol
fi rst appears in the literature in the mid-thir-
teenth century (according to one producer, as
early as 1268), after which the variety was
increasingly mentioned: in 1292, “
fi l a g n o s d i
vitibus neblorii”;
in 1295,
“nebiolo”;
in 1340,
“nebiolus”;
and many more instances after that.
That Nebbiolo was held in high esteem by our
ancestors is well exemplifi ed by the town of La
Morra passing laws in 1402 handing out stiff
penalties to all those caught damaging Nebbi-
olo vines. In 1799, Count Nuvolone described
and addressed the many subtypes of Nebbiolo.
After this, the greatness of Nebbiolo and the
excellence of its wines are lauded by all of Italy's
greatest “grape minds,” from Incisa della Roc-
chetta to Di Rovasenda. Already by the nine-
teenth century, there was no doubt that Nebbi-
olo was truly a Piedmontese grape asset.
ings outside Italy have been increasing of late.
Not that it, or Pinot Nero, can't adapt elsewhere:
it's just that the resulting wines are almost
nothing like those made in Italy. Even in Italy
Nebbiolo's diffusion is limited to the Valle
d'Aosta, Lombardy, and Piedmont (and in fact,
only in specifi c parts of these regions). As Neb-
biolo is, and has been, intimately linked to only
a few viticultural zones over the centuries,
locals have strongly identifi ed with the variety
and its wines, which explains the variety's
many synonyms, specifi c to its areas of cultiva-
tion. In centuries past, many different
Nebbio-
lo
s were described: for example, Nebbiolo Mas-
chio, Nebbiolo Femmina, Nebbiolo Fino,
Nebbiolo Gentile, Nebbiolo Piccolo, and Nebbi-
olo Grosso, though these synonyms were nei-
ther commonly used nor of particular impor-
tance. However, three synonyms were and are
still important today: Spanna, Picotener, and
Chiavennasca. In northeastern Piedmont,
toward Novara and Vercelli, Nebbiolo has
always been called Spanna. Farther north, in
Valle d'Aosta, Nebbiolo has always been known
as Picot Tendre (this region's French roots are
obvious), modifi ed over time to the modern
Picotener or Picotendro. Finally, in Lombardy,
Nebbiolo has historically been called Chiaven-
nasca, not to be confused with Chiaven-
naschino (which is not Grignolino, as you'll
read elsewhere, but Nebbiolo Rosé, distinct
from Nebbiolo). These three synonyms have
been used by locals for centuries, another sign
that Nebbiolo has been hanging around Italian
soil for a very long time; use of the word Spanna
was fi rst documented in 1466, that of Chiaven-
nasca dates to 1595, and of Picotendro to the
nineteenth century. According to Berta and
Mainardi (1997) all three are predated by Prü-
nent (from
pruina,
or bloom), another Nebbiolo
synonym used in Piedmont's Val d'Ossola since
1309. Still other Nebbiolo synonyms include
the Canavese's Pugnet, because the Nebbiolo
there is often characterized by a very small
cylindrical bunch (rather than the more typical
pyramidal shape) resembling a small closed
fi st (
pugno
in Italian and
pugnet
in local dia-
Phenotypic and Genotypic Variability of Nebbiolo
Nebbiolo has always lived in a very circum-
scribed area of Italy, and practically nowhere
else. Much like Pinot Nero, it is a servant of its
environment and has not spread in any quan-
tity to new vine regions, though Nebbiolo plant-
