Agriculture Reference
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tured further. One noteworthy exception is
Elvio Cogno's Barolo Bricco Elena Riserva, a
pure Nebbiolo Rosé made from clone CN 111. It
is archetypal for the variety: pale ruby in hue,
penetratingly perfumed (rose petal, red cur-
rant, sour red cherry, marzipan, white pepper,
violet, iris), austere, and mineral; years of
patience are required for it to smoothen out
completely, but even then it never displays the
creamy charm and power of other Nebbiolo
Lampia-dominated Barolos and Barbarescos.
Trying to choose between Nebbiolo Rosé's per-
fumed steely resolve, or Nebbiolo's fl eshier,
sweeter mouthcoating texture is really tanta-
mount to deciding who is fi rst among equals.
The best (and only producer) of pure Nebbi-
olo Rosé is Elvio Cogno. The Barbaresco Mar-
tinenga of Marchese di Gresy contains at least
20 percent Nebbiolo Rosé (which explains its
much lighter hue). Brovia owns two small par-
cels of vines entirely planted to this variety but,
alas, makes no monovarietal wine. In the
1970s, Vietti used to make a Barolo Briacca that
was reportedly entirely Nebbiolo Rosé and I can
vouch that it was a thing of beauty. Reportedly,
the famous Barbaresco Podere del Pajoré by
Giovannino Moresco (now owned by Gaja;
those grapes are blended into his regular Bar-
baresco bottling), another of the truly great Ital-
ian wines of the past, was also monovarietal
Nebbiolo Rosé, but, as I mentioned earlier in,
Gaja disputes this, and has told me repeatedly
that when he bought the vineyard there was no
more than 30 percent Nebbiolo Rosé present.
hued, the wine isn't, or shouldn't be). Some
still use the old name of Negrettino and label
their wines thus (which is actually illegal, as
the registered name of the variety is Negretto).
Negretto was first mentioned by Pier de'
Crescenzi in 1495 (who called it Maiolus). Cen-
turies later, the twelfth volume of the ampelo-
graphic bulletin of 1879 listed it as an oidium
resistant variety and therefore very popular in
Emilia-Romagna, and according to Marzotto
(1925), Cavazza wrote that it was the most
abundantly planted variety in the province of
Bologna (of twenty thousand total hectares,
fourteen thousand were Negrettino). Still, it
risked extinction in the latter half of the twenti-
eth century. A big problem in grasping just
how cultivated this variety really was at any
point in time is that Negretto was always con-
fused with other varieties such as Negratto,
Negrettino, Moretto, Maiolo, and a Negretto
Dal Raspo Rosso. As recently as 2000, it was
misidentifi ed as Uva Longanesi (Marangoni,
Venturi, and Fontana 2000). Credit for its
resurgence is due both to large estates such as
Consorzio Vini Colli Bolognesi that have
actively worked to save the variety and promote
its merits, and to small producers such as Erioli
that searched out old vineyards and selected the
best-looking grapevines worthy of propagation.
Giorgio Erioli sourced vineyards planted before
World War II and some even in 1915-18; this
material, and vines from Tenuta Bonzara and
Vallona too, were then used by the large nur-
sery Rauscedo to multiply and propagate
Negretto, making it available to any other inter-
ested producers.
Ampelographically, Negretto has medium-
large bunches and berries, the former cylindri-
cal-conical (with one to two wings) and the lat-
ter round-oval in shape (with thin blue-black
skins). However, Negretto's morphology can
vary substantially, not because of clonal varia-
tions (no clones are available to date), but
because of some intravarietal variability (at
least seven biotypes are recognized, and based
on the many weird-looking Negretto vines I
have seen, there are probably many more). This
wines to try: Elvio Cogno*** (Barolo Riserva
Bricco Elena).
Negretto
where it's found: Emilia-Romagna. national
registry code number: 162. color: red.
Negretto is also known as Maiolo or Morina
and by the less accurate name of Neretta (best
avoided, as there are many other Neretta varie-
ties in Italy; also, while the grape is darkly
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