Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
dark blue-purple berries. In contrast, Rossese di
Campochiesa has similarly sized bunches and
berries, but the bunch is more compact and
cylindrically shaped, with as many as three
wings and berries of a lighter reddish-blue hue.
It also looks like it has a longer bunch, but vari-
ous growers don't fi nd this is true, and I defer to
them. What helps me distinguish between the
two
Rossese
s are the leaves: Dolceacqua's leaf is
pentagonal and has seven lobes; Campochiesa's
is orbicular (round), with only three lobes.
Of the two, Dolceacqua is especially hard to
grow, with both berry shatter and chlorosis as
potential problems. Alessandro Anfosso, one of
the better local producers, concurs: “It's a very
fi nicky cultivar that seems to do well only in
specifi c
terroirs.
Well-draining soils seem to be
most suitable, but things aren't quite so cut and
dried. Even in Liguria, when the variety has
been planted elsewhere than its home prov-
inces of Imperia and Savona close to the French
border, results have been poor at best. So, for
reasons that are still unclear, the
Rossese
s seem
to do particularly well only in this small section
of Liguria.” Filippo Rondelli of the high-quality
Terre Bianche estate believes that “Rossese di
Dolceacqua is an early ripening variety that
needs water-retaining, better ventilated hillside
vineyard locations in order to reach the best
possible equilibrium between sugar buildup,
freshness, and potential alcohol. That combina-
tion is never achieved, however, if vines are
planted too close to the sea.” In fact, Rossese di
Dolceacqua does best in almost mountainous,
subalpine territory, though it has diffi culty rip-
ening fully if planted at higher than six hun-
dred meters above sea level. Maurizio Anfosso,
another young, up-and-coming producer, cau-
tions that the variety's thin skin is its biggest
problem: “From a viticultural perspective, it's
easily attacked by botrytis bunch rot and hence
I deleaf twice a year to ensure adequate
ventilation.”
In Italy,
Rossese
diffusion is limited to about
280 hectares, not an altogether small amount
given where it grows, but statistics don't distin-
guish between the two main red-berried
Ross-
ese
varieties. Producers have told me that Ross-
ese di Campochiesa is now much harder to fi nd
but is more common in the area around Savona
in Liguria, east of Imperia. In France, the vari-
ety is grown in Provence, most typically in the
Var, where cultivation extends over roughly
420 hectares.
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Rossese
wines are labeled in many different
ways. Rossese di Dolceacqua is the most
famous, but there is also Rossese di Riviera Lig-
ure di Ponente, Rossese di Albenga, and even
some bottles simply labeled Rossese. They are
all made mainly in western Liguria, toward
France, not far from Imperia: specifi cally, in
the countryside around the towns of Dolceac-
qua, Apricale, Baiardo, Camporosso, Castelvit-
torio, Isolabona, Perinaldo, Pigna, Rocchetta
Nervina, San Biagio della Cima, and Soldano,
as well as in part of the townships of Vallecro-
sia, Ventimiglia, and Vallebona (the latter lim-
ited to the right side of the Borghetto stream).
For Rossese di Dolceacqua, the
grand cru
areas
today are generally considered to be Galeae
(near Soldano), Beragna (Soldano), Luvaira
(near San Biagio della Cima), Pini (Soldano),
Posaù (San Biagio della Cima), and Arcagna
(near Dolceacqua). Luigi Veronelli (1995)
believed there were other worthy, very specifi c
crus
for
Rossese
wine production. For example,
he also liked Terre Rosse, Terre Bianche, and
Tramontina in Camporosso; Addolorata and
Rocchini, as well as the previously mentioned
Arcagna, in Dolceacqua; Posatoio, Garibaudo,
and Abrigheto at San Biagio della Cima;
Fulavino at Soldano, besides Pini and Beragna;
Curli, Möglie, and Massabò at Perinaldo. He
also always repeated that a great
Rossese
wine
was
vino di latte,
or “milk wine,” a wine pro-
duced in the vineyards of Latte, specifi cally Pie-
mattone, Trinchi, and those of the Marchesi
Orengo. I don't think I ever tasted one, twenty
or thirty years ago, but then, I don't remember
where I parked my car last night.
There are two DOC wines, the Rossese Rivi-
era Ligure di Ponente (RLP) and the Rossese di
