Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
1996 to allow Vitovska be legally recognized as
a cultivar with which to make DOC Carso wine
is another matter: obviously, the Carso
contadini
are a patient bunch. In the end, what matters
most is that Vitovska is yet another example of
an Italian (?) native grape and wine success
story: producers who believed in the potential
quality of this grape have enabled all of us wine-
loving individuals to learn about, and indulge,
in yet another new and interesting wine.
we have about the native varieties of the Valle
d'Aosta. The fi rst to document Vuillermin's
existence was Louis Napoléon Bich (1890), who
wrote that it was a variety resistant to sunburn,
always an important feature in high mountain
vineyards—an advantage offered by Vuillermin
that leads me to think that it must have been
present in the region prior to Bich making a
note of it, though I'm at a loss to explain why
nobody had written about it prior. According to
Moriondo (1999), it may be that Vuillermin
had been always present but known as Eperon
or Spron, a variety that was later thought to
have become extinct. Today we know that Vuil-
lermin is an offspring of Fumin (Vouillamoz)
and it has second-degree relationships with
Rouge du Pays, Rèze (a Valais variety), and
even with Trentino's Nosiola, a white variety.
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Vitovska is grown only in the Friuli Carso, that
barren mass of ferrous-rich red rocks that are
nutrient poor and help produce no-frills wines
of incredible minerality. Monovarietal vitovska
is a wine of delicate, nuanced charms: if your
vinous preferences are for Playboy-bunny-type
proportions, give vitovska a wide berth, for you
are likely to be left nonplussed by its faint lem-
ony, pear, sage, and chlorophyll aromas and
fl avors. Others will love them, as well as the
wine's usual lightweight, high-acid frame, and
zippy minerality.
Which Wines to Choose and Why
The wine can be made as a DOC Valle d'Aosta
Vuillermin. It's best described, in my view, as a
cross between mayolet and cornalin, offering
the aromatic fragrance of the former and the
powerful structure of the latter; in fact, it's
probably better than the sum of its parts, with a
lovely fl oral and spicy nose and fresh but mouth-
fi lling fl avors of red berries, mountain herbs,
and tar. It's a really lovely midweight wine.
wines to try:
Zidarich**, Kante** (the entry-
level wine is just as good as the more expensive,
later released Selezione), Skerk**, Skerlj*, and
Lupinc*.
wines to try:
Feudo di San Maurizio*** and
IAR** (probably their best wine is made from
the recently rediscovered old varieties of the
region).
Vuillermin
where it's found:
Valle d'Aosta.
national
registry code number:
356.
color:
red.
Seriously at risk of extinction at the begin-
ning of the twentieth century, Vuillermin
gained a new lease on life in the twenty-fi rst
century, becoming the most recent Valle
d'Aosta native grape to be the subject of mon-
ovarietal winemaking. Pure vuillermin follows
the monovarietal wines made from Primetta,
Fumin, Cornalin, and Mayolet, in that chrono-
logical order. In some respects, vuillermin may
prove the best.
Strangely enough, the Vuillermin variety
was never described by Lorenzo Gatta, to whom
we are indebted today for whatever knowledge
Wildbacher
where it's found:
Veneto.
national regis-
try code number:
303.
color:
red.
Just like Cannonao can't be considered a
native grape to Italy, neither is Wildbacher,
which is, at the present state of our knowledge, a
native of the Styrian region of Austria. Most
likely, Wildbacher was imported into Italy by the
Conte Abate Vinciguerra VII di Collalto, born in
1727, who was a famous traveler, gourmet, and
in love with agriculture. The original vines died
