Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
bought the famed Podere del Pajoré vineyard
from Giovannino Moresco back in the seven-
ties, said to be planted to Nebbiolo Rosé.
Though we still have a large parcel of those old
vines, we don't think it's Nebbiolo Rosé at all;
but if you come up and show us around, maybe
we'll learn something new.” There's nothing
like a world-class winemaker/producer who
doubles effectively as a comedian, but Angelo, a
man of uncanny intelligence, can get away with
it, for his ideas and impressions are always
worth listening to. Besides, I've seen reports of
the Podere del Pajoré having been planted
mostly or all to Nebbiolo Rosé, so fi nding out
otherwise from the man who now owns it is a
wine writing scoop.
In any case, all of the above negativity is
enough to make a Nebbiolo Rosé lover like
yours truly start to have doubts. Well . . . almost.
Thanks to work by Botta, Schneider, Akkak,
Scott, and Thomas (2000), we now know that
Nebbiolo Rosé is a variety genetically distinct
from Nebbiolo, though the two are closely
related (fi rst-degree parentage), according to
studies by Anna Schneider and her colleagues
(2004). In this respect, the situation between
Nebbiolo Rosé and Nebbiolo is not unlike that
of Glera, of which there is a Glera (or Glera
Tondo) and a Glera Lungo, differentiated
mainly by the characteristics of the berry (Calò,
Costacurta, Cancellier, Crespan, Milani, Car-
raro, et al. 2000).
Surveys carried out in diverse viticulture
areas such as Valtellina also confi rmed Nebbi-
olo Rosé to be synonymous with Chiaven-
naschino, previously held to be Grignolino. In
Valtellina, Nebbiolo Rosé has always been wel-
come, for in potentially hot summertime viti-
cultural areas such as Inferno (the name says it
all) and especially Sassella, Nebbiolo Rosé holds
the advantage of greater drought resistance
over Nebbiolo. Documents such as those of the
Ampelography Commission of the province of
Sondrio (Gerini 1882) mention a Chiavenasca
Piccola (Nebbiolo Rosé) cultivated over a not
small surface of fi ve hundred hectares, com-
pared to the only one thousand hectares of Chi-
avenasca Comune (Nebbiolo) and the two hun-
dred hectares of Chiavenasca Intagliata
(Nebbiolo Michet). Note that
chiavenasca
is cor-
rectly spelled in these two cases; this was the
spelling (with only one
n
) used back then, while
it's
chiavennasca
today.
It's not clear if Nebbiolo Rosé is the result of
a natural crossing between Nebbiolo Lampia
with an as yet unknown other variety, or if Neb-
biolo Rosé is one of the two parents of Nebbiolo;
and though the latter hypothesis seems less
likely given that Nebbiolo has always been more
abundant than Nebbiolo Rosé, the possibility
can't be excluded. Nebbiolo Rosé ripens slightly
earlier than Nebbiolo, so much so that it's also
called Nebbiolo Matiné by local producers (as in
mattino,
or morning, the early part of the day),
but it also differs from Nebbiolo due to its
greater vigor, a larger leaf with a characteristi-
cally bulbous upper surface and deeper lateral
sinuses, a slightly smaller and more compact
bunch, with a lighter, more violet (rather than
dark-blue) tinge to its berries. The berries are
certainly less endowed with anthocyanins and
polyphenols, almost translucent when held up
to the light; say what you will, but I think their
pinkish-red color is utterly beautiful. It is a very
vigorous and fertile cultivar, less affected by
millerandage
and berry shatter, and has fewer
fl owering problems during cold and rainy
springs than Nebbiolo.
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Everywhere Nebbiolo grows, Nebbiolo Rosé is
also present and diffusely cultivated, though
never abundant. Clone CN 111 was one of the
fi rst Nebbiolo clones to be made available, and
growers planted it. It is also found in the Asti-
giano area of Piedmont, where Nebbiolo is very
rare. Pure Nebbiolo Rosé wines have always
been exceptionally rare, and this is even more
true today. Historically, Nebbiolo Rosé was
always planted alongside the other Nebbiolo
biotypes, but usually in smaller numbers; pro-
ducers liked to include 10 to 20 percent Nebbi-
olo Rosé in their Nebbiolo wine blends in order
to increase their wine's perfume, but few ven-
