Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
to Schioppettino and other native grapes. Their
schioppettino had already started turning heads
in the late 1970s, and today there are over thirty
producers of a wine that only fi fteen years ago
had been reduced to a local curiosity. The estate
is now actively studying (in collaboration with
the University of Udine) Curvin and Cividin,
two other forgotten varieties, hoping to make
new monovarietal wines soon.
At other times, the relationship between
estates and government institutions has evolved
in a more creative manner. The world-famous
house of Mastroberardino has entered into a
long-term agreement with the Campanian
regional government to cultivate vines at Pom-
pei in the manner of the ancient Romans and to
make wines from varieties used in those times.
It is a thrilling experience to walk the little
vineyard plots deep within the ruins of Pompei,
your gaze falling on forgotten grapes such as
the scrawny-looking “Coda di Volpe Rossa” and
on marble ruins that, like the grape varieties,
have reached us from across millennia.
In Sardinia, a consortium (Convisar or Con-
sorzio Vino e Sardegna) was created in 2006
with the objective of gaining further knowledge
about locally important varieties and improving
the wines. In collaboration with local universi-
ties and the regional government, eleven differ-
ent Sardinian natives, including Nuragus and
Nasco, have been cultivated and compared
using different viticultural techniques in stand-
ard and control conditions. Mariano Murru of
the world-famous Argiolas estate, the consorti-
um's technical director, told me that “over one
hundred different wines have been produced to
date, providing a better understanding of these
native grapes. We have looked to improve the
aroma expression of wines made with Monica
and Carignano, to increase depth of color in
those made with Cannonao, and to increase
balance while diminishing alcohol levels in
Bovale Sardo wines.”
Back in 2000, practically no one ever men-
tioned the likes of Malvasia Puntinata or the
wines that were made with it. Considered a
blending variety at best, Puntinata came to my
attention during my vineyard visits and cellar
tastings: the variety was wildly better than the
other
Malvasia
s used to make wines in Lazio. I
began talking with vineyard managers and estate
owners about the need to be more attentive not
just to how their wines were labeled, but also to
their exact makeup. For instance, I recall speak-
ing with Pallavicini winemaker Carlo Roveda
and marketing manager Giovanna Trisorio—
now the marketing manager at the Cincinnato
estate at Cori in Lazio but who held the same post
at the Pallavicini winery near Rome for most of
the fi rst decade of the new century—about pro-
ducing a pure Malvasia Puntinata sweet wine,
and relabeling their dry wine to show it was spe-
cifi cally Malvasia del Lazio (also known as Malva-
sia Puntinata). Trisorio remembers:
Up until 2000 we had planned to release our
new sweet wine as a Frascati Cannellino, but
after discussing and tasting together in the cellar
with you, we started thinking that perhaps there
was something to your idea. Certainly your
enthusiasm for the variety got us thinking that
we were missing out by not bottling a pure Mal-
vasia Puntinata wine. Ultimately, we decided to
name our sweet wine Stillato, with “Malvasia
Puntinata” clearly written on the label. We redid
the 2001 label of our dry Malvasia wine too: it
was previously just called Malvasia La Giara, and
we relabeled it Malvasia Puntinata La Giara.
At the time, these two were the fi rst wines in
Italy to be bottled, labeled, and sold as Malvasia
Puntinata.
While visiting Basilicata to study the unique
terroir
of the Vulture volcano in 2001 and 2002
(back then I was on the Puglia and Basilicata
wine panel for the
Gambero Rosso
guide), I real-
ized that there was, despite what many had told
me, still a great deal of Malvasia Bianca della
Basilicata growing in the vineyards. Luigi
Veronelli had always spoken highly to me about
an unspecifi ed Malvasia del Vulture and in Mal-
vasia Bianca della Basilicata I thought I'd found
it. Unfortunately nobody was producing any
good wine with it, save for the Consorzio Viti-
cultori Associati del Vulture, which was bot-
tling a Bianco called Topazio. Though it was a
