Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Ronco delle Betulle*** (Vigna Citronella),
Ronco dei Tassi***, Thomas Kitzmüller**, Col-
lavini** (Turian; they were also the fi rst to
believe in sparkling ribolla, and theirs is the
best), La Sclusa**, La Viarte**, Paolo Rodaro**,
Valentino Butussi**, Venica & Venica**
(L'Adelchi), Attems**, Borgo Conventi**, Can-
tarutti**, Isidoro Polencic**, Livio Felluga**,
and Villa Russiz**. The only macerated ribollas
I recommend are by Damijan Podversic* and
Renato Keber* (Extreme).
spiciness and freshness; plus, it appeals to
growers because of its regular, dependable pro-
duction volume. Rossara is a very vigorous vari-
ety that is precocious in all its phenological
phases except for ripening, as it's harvested in
October.
Rossara is today found exclusively in Tren-
tino, close to the border with Alto Adige. It was
once common in the Piana Rotaliana and in the
Val di Non as well (where at the end of the
1800s a reported thirty-eight thousand hectolit-
ers of rossara were made).
Rossara
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Very common in Trentino as recently as thirty
years ago, Rossara is now mostly grown only in
sporadic rows. There are clearly no DOC wines
and few monovarietal wines, as Rossara is
almost always blended with Teroldego and/or
Negrara Trentina. Thanks however to Roberto
Zeni, we now have the opportunity to taste a
monovarietal rossara labeled as an IGT Vigneti
delle Dolomiti. He initially sourced grapes
from an old vineyard near Giare and then
selected vines and propagated them on his own
estate. The wine has a very pretty, clear, dark-
pink hue and exudes aromas of fresh small red
berries, lemon apples, plus hints of iris and jas-
mine. Though I wouldn't say the wine has
nostril-piercing aromatic intensity, it's vibrant
and uncomplicated, with a defi nite saline tinge
and plenty of acidity, and I quite like it. It's an
ideal aperitif and a perfect match with slightly
fatty
charcuterie
and white-meat dishes. Zeni's
2011 vintage showed 11.5 percent alcohol, 24
grams per liter extract, and 5.4 grams per liter
total acidity, and those numbers are more or
less typical for the wine every year, virtually
guaranteeing Rossara wines to be refreshing
and easygoing. I know of no other monovarietal
examples of Rossara commercially for sale,
though I have tried some artisanally made
potables over the years that still linger in my
memory (unfortunately, not always for their
high quality).
where it's found:
Trentino.
national regis-
try code number:
287.
color:
red.
Rossara is also called Rossera, Rossar, and
Rosa Ciàr (meaning light red). Most people
believe that it's the same grape as the
Schiava
s
(or one of them, at least), which is not true.
Interestingly, the German name for Rossara
(Geshlafene)
recalls the medieval name for
Schiava used in Trentino
(sclaf),
but back then
there was a widespread tendency to consider
many grapes to be part of the
Schiava
group,
such as Cimesara, Zaccola, Rossanella, and
Cagnara. Certainly, Cimesara is not identical to
the
Schiava
varieties, and neither is Rossara.
However, some important Italian researchers
still believe that Rossara may be a subvariety of
one of the
Schiava
s, as it appears to be geneti-
cally related to that family. Others have sug-
gested a relationship with Sgavetta, a variety
typical of Emilia-Romagna; but Rossara is
unrelated to another Emilia-Romagna variety,
the similarly named Rossara or Rossèra culti-
var, now practically extinct (Boccacci, Torello
Marinoni, Gambino, Botta, and Schneider
2005).
Rossara has always had to share the spot-
light with Teroldego, the most important red
grape of Trentino, as the two have always been
grown side by side in the vineyards of the Piana
Rotaliana. This is not by chance, as Rossara is
to Teroldego as Canaiolo Nero is to Sangiovese.
Rossara provides the somewhat rustic and
heavy Teroldego wines with a touch of aromatic
wines to try:
Zeni***.
