Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Nocera
studied. Pascale is also said to be identical to
Nieddera: however, recent fi ndings by Nieddu
(2011) show that Nieddera and Nieddu Mannu
are not one and the same.
Nieddera is characterized by medium-large,
conical, winged bunches and medium-large
berries. It's vigorous, grows erect, and so is easy
to work with in the vineyard. And while bud-
break is late, it's usually an early ripener (Sep-
tember). Found mainly in the Sinis area, on the
western side of the island, Nieddera grows in
the countryside around Cagliari, Nuoro, and
especially Oristano, on the right bank of the
Tirso River, where most of the 113 hectares
under cultivation are located.
where it's found:
Sicily.
national registry
code number:
172.
color:
red.
Nocera is originally from northeastern Sic-
ily but nowadays is also found in Calabria.
According to Mas and Puillat (1874-79), it was
brought to France (Provence and Beaujolais) as
well, where it is called Suquet and Barbe du Sul-
tan. Some experts believe it may have been the
main grape of mamertino, the famous wine of
antiquity produced as early as 289
B
.
C
.
E
. and
known to be a favorite of Julius Caesar. Pliny
the Elder considered it the fourth best wine in
his classifi cation of 195 wines. In more recent
times, Nocera was an important cultivar of
northeastern Sicily: in fact, it used to be the
main ingredient of Faro wine blends, while it
plays only a minor role in this wine today. No-
cera-based wines were also sought after as
vini
da taglio,
bulk wines used to perk up anemic
red wines made elsewhere, due to Nocera
wines' astringency, color, and acidity. The most
famous such wine was Milazzo, named after
the northeastern Sicilian town where the wine
was produced. Curiously, there's not much in
the way of documented references to this grape:
the fi rst mention I was able to fi nd dates back
only to 1896, in the
Notizie e studi intorno ai vini
ed alle uve d'Italia,
published by the Italian Min-
istry of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce.
Modern-day producers are looking at Nocera
with interest.
Morphologically, Nocera is characterized by
medium-sized (up to 320 grams in weight on
average), cylindrical-conical or more often pyr-
amid shaped, and loosely packed bunches, with
one to two very large wings and often a two-
pronged appearance. The berries are large and
blue-black. There is one clone (I-NV1), but
there are at least two biotypes, Nocera Milazzo
and Nocera Vulcanica. Nocera is rich in malvin
and stable acylated anthocyanins, explaining
the wine's deep and stable color. Though it is
most often reported to be a vigorous and dis-
ease resistant (but at times affected by
mill-
erandage
and berry shatter) variety, Emiliano
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Nieddera is usually a lightly tannic wine that
matches well with most foods; it does not ben-
efi t from long maceration times (eight to ten
days are usually suffi cient). Wines are deli-
cately fl oral (notes of rose, buttercup, and iris
are common) and fruity (red currant and red
cherry), with an obvious saline element that
makes them seem more acid than they really
are. Nieddera is usually blended with other
varieties in IGT wines such as Barbagia, Oglias-
tra, Trexenta, and Valle del Tirso.
Contini is one of the few producers of mono-
varietal (or very close to it) Nieddera wines and
by far the largest and best. Granted, at close to
30 grams per liter of dry extract, it's diffi cult to
think of his version as a light wine, and yet it
comes across just so, with medium levels of
acidity (usually around 5.5 grams per liter) and
despite aging in once- and twice-used small oak
barrels. Due to the variety's penchant for yield-
ing light-bodied, fruity wines, it is excellent for
making
rosato
wines, indeed some of the least
known but most interesting
rosati
in Italy.
wines to try:
Contini*** (IGT Nieddera Valle
del Tirso, Rosso and Rosato, both made with
90-95 percent Nieddera and other local varie-
ties depending on the vintage; the Rosato is
absolutely outstanding) and Cantina Sociale di
Oristano** (Rosato Seu and Montiprama).
