Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
called Rèbola there. Though the excellent wines
of Colli Martani are labeled as Grechetto, in my
experience they are most often made with Gre-
chetto di Todi, or Pignoletto. The best wines to
try are the DOC Colli Bolognesi Pignoletto; his-
torically the wines of the San Pietro area were
considered best, and they set the prices for all
others. The wines of the DOC Reno Pignoletto
can also be 100 percent Pignoletto. Pignoletto
makes uncomplicated, light, lemony wines that
are easygoing, with hints of white fl owers, ani-
seed, chamomile, and Golden Delicious apples
and high acidity and delicate textures. Thanks
to high natural acidity, the variety can yield
pleasant sparkling wines as well; when har-
vested late, it can give concentrated wines of
real depth. At high yields, though, the wines
are tart and neutral, with little in the way of
redeeming qualities. Interestingly, though, the
variety has highly tannic skins, meaning that if
they are pressed lightly, the wine will still have
a chewy, pleasant mouthfeel. In Romagna,
there are some very interesting, though now
rare, sweet wines made from air-dried grapes.
1950s. Almost no one knew anything about the
variety or grew it, despite what people might
tell you today. Pignolo's story is different than
other Friuli Venezia Giulia native varieties such
as Schioppettino or Ucelut, which for most of
the twentieth century were little known and not
made into monovarietals; but this was a choice,
for estates preferred to use them in blends.
Pignolo was different: simply put, nobody
owned vines in any commercially signifi cant
number. The cultivar's plight began in the early
twentieth century, when most experts recom-
mended against its cultivation (not the only
example in Italy's history of so-called luminar-
ies wreaking havoc on the country's viticul-
ture). Others were more hopeful (for example,
Poggi 1939), which only seems logical, since
documents from the twelfth century show that
the city of Udine thought enough of Pignolo
wine to use it as a welcoming gift for visiting
notables. In the seventeenth century, Abbot
Giobatta Micheli lauded Pignolo in the dithy-
ramb “Bacco in Friuli,” and Claudio Fabbro,
one of Friuli's most knowledgeable grape and
wine historians, told me that no less an expert
than Dalmasso believed Pignolo could make a
wine as good as those made from the
Cabernet
s
or Merlot and that he had written a very com-
plementary tasting note on a 1930 Pignolo
wine.
One of the Pignolo heroes was an Abbazia
di Rosazzo vineyard worker called Casasola,
who helped preserve the grapevine when it was
on the brink of extinction. The other two heroes
are Silvano Zamò, now the owner of the Le
Vigne di Zamò estate (located close to the
abbey), and winemaker Walter Filiputti, who
worked together to save the variety and make a
monovarietal wine from it again. Thanks to
them we know there are at least three different
Pignolo biotypes: one with a heavily indented
leaf (a scantily productive biotype), one with a
lobed leaf, and one with a leaf that shows a
degree of indentation in between the other two
(and is slightly more productive). All three are
sensitive to extreme temperatures but need
heat units to ripen completely; due to the very
wines to try:
Vallona*** (Primedizioni Cuvée
and Amestesso, which are simply exceptional
wines, and a very good late-harvest Permar-
tina), Isola** (Frizzante Cuvée Picri), Corte
d'Aibo* (Montefreddo), Tenuta Bonzara* (Friz-
zante Vigna Antica), and Tizzano* (Spumante
Brut, Frizzante, and Superiore). For Rèbola,
try: Podere Vecciano*** (Vigna La Ginestra).
Pignolo
where it's found:
FVG.
national registry
code number:
285.
color:
red.
If it hadn't been for the Abbazia di Rosazzo
(the ancient
monasterium rosaceum
) and the
intelligence, passion, and foresight of at least
three different men, I would not be writing
about Pignolo. Nor would anybody else, for that
matter. Pignolo is one of many Italian varieties
named for its very small and compact bunch,
reminiscent of a pine cone
(pigna),
but it was
practically an extinct variety as recently as the
