Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
arguably not incorrect view, didn't think wines
made outside the town should be allowed to be
called Ramandolo. Nevertheless, all DOCG
Ramandolo wines are thick and very sweet,
with deep, extremely rich honey, caramelized
almond, and ripe tropical-fruit aromas and fl a-
vors. Like all wines made with Verduzzo Friu-
lano, they have a considerable tannic mouth-
feel. Outside Italy,
Verduzzo
varieties seem to
be doing very well in Australia, where to the
best of my knowledge at least four different pro-
ducers are making interesting wines: Bianchet,
Lazzar Wines, Pizzini Wines, and Tallavera
Grove (from the Carillion vineyard).
to Verduzzo Friulano; a hardy, rustic variety, it
seems to thrive in both the rocky soils of the
upper Piave River basin and the clay-rich soils
of the lower basin.
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Grown mainly around Treviso, the DOC wines
are Piave, Venezia, and Lison-Pramaggiore, but
there are also IGT wines, such as Alto Livenza,
Colli Trevigiani, Marca Trevigiana, and Delle
Venezie. Clearly, the wine is not a blockbuster,
offering a pale-straw, green-tinged, light-bod-
ied wine with delicate aromas and fl avors of
white fl owers and pear, with a twinge of bitter-
ness at the back. Good examples are refreshing
and crisp and are enjoyable with simple fi sh
dishes (though there are a variety of wine styles
available, including sparkling; the latter are the
least interesting).
wines to try:
I Clivi*** (Vecchia Vigna ai
Clivi, a dry/off-dry wine), Lis Neris*** (Tal
Luc; sticky sweet and one of Italy's greatest
sweet wines, but contains 10 percent Riesling),
La Sclusa** (an off-dry wine), Marco Sara**
(Verduz, very sweet), Meroi** (very sweet),
Paolo Rodaro** (Pra Zenar and Verduzzo, both
super sweet), and Scubla** (very sweet, but not
100 percent Verduzzo). For the best in Raman-
dolo, try: Anna Berra***, Giovanni Dri**, and
Tobla r*.
wines to try:
I Vini delle Baite*, Casa Piave*,
and Casa Roma* (Passito, so this is a sweet
wine).
Vermentino
where it's found:
Sardinia, Liguria, Tuscany,
Umbria, Abruzzo, Lazio, Sicily.
national reg-
istry code number:
258 (number 80 as
Favorita, number 190 as Pigato; both are errors,
as the three are the same variety).
color:
white.
Vermentino is actually Pigato. Wait a min-
ute: no, Pigato is not Vermentino. After years
debating the issue, researchers, wine experts,
and producers in Italy (and not just in Italy) all
agree to disagree on the subject. The academi-
cians all apparently believe that Pigato and Ver-
mentino are the same; many of Liguria's wine
producers do not. Being facetious, you might
say that's because the grapes are both Favorita.
No, wait: they're all Piccabon (a wrong attribu-
tion: we now know Piccabon is identical to Ver-
naccia di San Gimignano). And so the story
goes on. And on.
Throughout history, Vermentino has been
called many different things depending on the
Verduzzo Trevigiano
where it's found:
FVG, Veneto.
national
registry code number:
257.
color:
white.
Little is known about Verduzzo Trevigiano,
including where it comes from. While most
experts currently favor the hypothesis that it is
a twentieth-century import into Veneto from
Sardinia, I have diffi culties with this because,
to my knowledge, there is no grapevine even
remotely similar to Verduzzo Trevigiano on
that island. Cosmo (1959) apparently recom-
mended it as an ideal variety to grow on the
Treviso plains.
The grape has pyramidal or cylindrical,
medium-sized bunches; the berries are also
medium-sized and oval. There is one clone,
ISV-SV 5. It is apparently a solid, dependable
producer and ripens in early October. Verduzzo
Trevigiano is morphologically very dissimilar
