Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Ruché, often just adding small amounts to other
wines such as barbera or grignolino to make
them more perfumed, thanks to Ruché's
strongly aromatic personality. For the longest
time, people made only sweet wine with the vari-
ety; it was the town priest, Don Giacomo Cauda,
who fi rst understood the potential of making a
dry wine. His wine, the Vigna del Parroco (vine-
yard of the priest) was the best ruché made for a
very long time. That wine is now being made by
Francesco Borgognone, who told me, “I think
Ruché needs cool sites, and that's why many of
us like northern exposures; the goal is never to
maximize all of its aromatic potential, by not
running the risk of baking the grapes.” Interest-
ingly, Borgognone remembers that between
1995 and 1998 university personnel scoured the
local vineyards and identifi ed thirty-fi ve biotypes
of Ruché, eventually choosing four with the best
apparent fi ne wine-making potential. Ruché is
a fairly resistant variety, though oidium can be a
problem. It is early ripening.
Typical of Piedmont, wines are produced
mainly around the two small towns of Casta-
gnole Monferrato and Scurzolengo (vines are
also planted, if in smaller amounts, in nearby
Viarigi, Portacomaro, Montemagno, Grana,
and Refrancore, in the province of Asti). Ruché
does best in calcareous soils that are dry and
well exposed, but lighter soils help enhance the
wine's natural fragrance.
Annual output of Ruché wine, which in the
past was almost entirely consumed by local
families, is still modest although steadily
expanding. When well made, ruché is a thing
of beauty: delicately fl oral (rose, iris, lavender),
spicy (black pepper, mint, coriander, cinna-
mon, nutmeg), with a red-berry cocktail quality
to its aromas and fl avors. One taste may remind
the inexperienced of Lacrima di Morro d'Alba,
but the two wines are recognizably different
and should not be confused. Ruché is spicier
and less fl oral, and the red-fruit aromas and
fl avors are very different from the black ones
more typical of lacrima, which is a bigger,
creamier wine.
wines to try:
Dacapo*** (Majoli; in good
years, so pure and fragrant it can be one of Ita-
ly's thirty or so greatest wines), Crivelli***,
Cantina Sant'Agata*** (Na'vota), Montal-
bera*** (La Tradizione), Cascina Tavjin**, and
La Miraja** (harder to fi nd but absolutely pure,
delicious wines; if you visit, you can drink them
at the local restaurant).
Ruggine
where it's found:
Emilia-Romagna.
national
registry code number:
431.
color:
white.
The Ruggine name derives from the fact
that, when fully ripe, the berries have a brown-
ish rusty color (
ruggine
means rust). Also called
(rarely) Ruginoa or Ruzninteina, Ruggine is a
high-quality but until-now forgotten native
grape of Emilia-Romagna, single-handedly
brought back to life by a restaurant owner (as if
we didn't owe these wonderful people enough).
Italo Pedroni, who loved the wine and did much
to extol its virtues, kept producing the variety
for his own joy and that of his clientele. Pedroni
found abandoned vines of Ruggine in the fl at-
land vineyards between Manzolino and Bagaz-
zano near Modena (in the direction of Bolo-
gna); by the 1970s, the grape had been
essentially abandoned. His wine was so famous
that scientists of the agriculture and enological
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Ruché has always been held in high esteem
locally; the wines made from it were reserved
for special occasions, such as children coming
home from abroad, birthdays, or graduations
(admittedly, the latter were rare in rural Pied-
mont for the longest time). The best wine to try
is the DOC Ruché di Castagnole Monferrato.
The ruchés of Scurzolengo and those of Casta-
gnole Monferrato are very different: the former
are more fruity, lighter, and more purple in
color; the latter are more fl oral, bigger, and
richer. This is not surprising given, for exam-
ple, the lighter, white-colored and chalky soils
of Scurzolengo.
