Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
issue. The study analyzed 114 accessions puta-
tively corresponding to sixty-nine local cultivars
of Campania with eight microsatellite markers,
evaluating degrees of genetic relationships. The
researchers concluded that Sciascinoso is iden-
tical to Livella di Battipaglia, but not to Livella
d'Ischia or to Livella di Mirabella, the latter two
said to be no longer cultivated. Actually, reading
the study carefully, I failed to fi nd evidence of
Livella di Battipaglia's identity as Sciascinoso,
as the tabulation of the allele sizes at the eight
loci for the two varieties (which should read the
same) is not listed in the paper. The study refers
the reader to table 1, but this table does not
describe the allele sizes; it just lists the grape
varieties studied. So I'm not sure what to think.
In any case, the study results clearly determine
that Sciascinoso is not identical to every
Olivella
out there, as two of the Livella varieties are said
to be distinct. I would add to these considera-
tions that the Olivella Nera of Ischia differs
from the others in that it has round berries, a
feature that to my way of thinking would seem
to exclude it automatically from the
Olivella
group of cultivars (Migliaccio, Monaco, Fer-
ranti, Nasi, De Gennaro, Granato, et al. 2008).
Yet both Froio (1878) and Nesbitt (1884)
described an Olivella variety of Ischia but failed
to report a Livella there with olive-shaped ber-
ries. This might indicate that in the nineteenth
century, even the
Olivelle
and
Livelle
were
viewed as two different groups of grapes,
though I have no hard proof of this. After all
this, be warned that topics, websites, and locals
continue to refer to the Olivella Nera and the
Sciascinoso varieties interchangeably.
I view written ampelographic descriptions
of Olivella Nera (that is, what you'll read in wine
topics other than this one) with skepticism, as
most get the variety confused with Sciascinoso,
so you don't know exactly which grape is being
described. Based on my own observations of the
Olivella Nera grown in Lazio vineyards, it has
small, conical-pyramidal, loosely packed,
winged bunches and small dark berries covered
with bloom. It's sensitive to peronospora and is
extremely vigorous, but most of the vigor is
directed to the leaves and the shoots, rather
than the grapes, and so productivity is low. In
my experience, the Sciascinoso of Campania
has compact bunches and is more prone to bo-
trytis bunch rot than to peronospora.
Olivella Nera seems to have fallen on hard
times in Campania, where it has been relegated
to a secondary role. Not so in Lazio, where Paolo
Perinelli, owner of Casale della Ioria (Lazio's
best producer of Cesanese del Piglio), has bet
that Olivella Nera has a future. Years ago,
Perinelli was fl abbergasted by an excellent Oli-
vella Nera wine made by a farmer near Esperia,
a small town in the province of Frosinone
where Olivella Nera was never abandoned. He
proceeded to ask around and ultimately selected
old vines for propagation. Olivella Nera grows
only in Lazio and Campania, and there are no
offi cial clones available.
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Much less common than Sciascinoso in Cam-
pania, the National Registry makes it clear that
Olivella Nera is a distinct variety from Sciasci-
noso, as Olivella Nera is allowed only in Lazio
IGT wines such as Colli Cimini, Frusinate, Civ-
itella d'Agliano, and Lazio. I believe that there
are certainly some
Olivelle
growing in Campa-
nia too, and they are probably used unknow-
ingly in the area of Vesuvius (in the DOC
Lacryma Christi blends), Ischia (DOC Ischia
Rosso), and along the Sorrento coast (DOC
Penisola Sorrentina), but more often than not,
it's Sciascinoso they are using there. The wine
has a deeply colored must that adds considera-
ble depth of hue to any wines it is blended with.
It's fresh and fruity, with bright red berry and
delicate herbal fl avors and a saline twist at the
back. This wine's sine qua non, though, is lots
of fruit, with only medium alcohol and tannin
levels. In fact, this is a red wine that can be
slightly chilled and matched with grilled
salmon steaks and similar fatty fi sh.
wines to try:
Casale della Ioria*** (the bench-
mark monovarietal by which all others will be
measured).
