Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
blended in with other grapes, mainly with
Ribolla Gialla. Aghedene has a medium-sized,
pentagonal leaf, with fi ve to seven lobes. A late-
ripening variety offering good productivity,
Aghedene also has decent concentrations of
benzenoids (38 percent) and norisoprenoids
(42 percent) according to microvinifcations
performed at the Friuli Venezia Giulia's Agen-
zia Regionale per lo Sviluppo Rurale (ERSA).
The wine is simple, thin, and tart, with decent
acidity and fl oral aromas and fl avors.
spherical and medium-sized, thick skinned
and yellow, with pink-golden streaks or blotches
when fully ripe, usually by late September.
Though I have been shown the grape by eager
and patient growers, I haven't tasted any mono-
varietal wines made with it.
Albaranzeuli Nero
where it's found:
Sardinia.
national regis-
try code number:
7.
color:
red.
Unrelated to the similarly named Albaran-
zeuli Bianco, Albaranzeuli Nero might have
arrived on the island courtesy of the Spanish
during the fourteenth and fi fteenth centuries,
making it a traditional rather than native vari-
ety. Other names for it are Alvarenzelin Nero,
Alvarenzeuli Nero, and Albarenzelin Nero. Now
almost extinct, it is still grown in a few vine-
yards around Nuoro. The bunch is medium-
sized, cylindrical, winged, and somewhat com-
pact. The berry is spherical, medium-sized,
with a thin but fairly resistant skin, pale red-
violet in color. The grapes ripen late, and are
usually harvested in mid-October. It was always
used either to make
rosato
wine or to blend with
other varieties, for the wine is usually low in
both acidity and alcohol levels. It is very similar
in appearance but genetically distinct from
Girò, another Sardinian traditional grape. I
haven't tasted any monovarietal wines made
with it, and have yet to see the grapevine.
Albaranzeuli Bianco
where it's found:
Sardinia.
national regis-
try code number:
6.
color:
white.
Albaranzeuli Bianco is a very interesting
variety that may not be a Spanish import (as its
name might suggest) but rather the result of a
natural crossing between Girò and the Spanish
table grape Panse Rosa di Malaga (Cipriani,
Spadotto, Jurman, Di Gaspero, Crespan,
Meneghetti, et al. 2010). Nieddu (2011) has
pointed out that Albaranzeuli Bianco's pink-
streaked berries make this possibility look
likely. It appears there is a close relationship
between Albaranzeuli Bianco and the
Girò
fam-
ily: in particular, microsatellite SSR testing has
shown it to be virtually identical to a local Sar-
dinian variety called Zirone Bianco, and related
to a lesser degree to the red-berried varieties
Zirone di Spagna and Zirone Alzu (Nieddu
2011). It was once considered identical to
Albanello, Albillo, and Albicello (Cettolini 1935)
and these synonyms are still included in the
National Registry of Grape Varieties, but this
appears, at our present state of knowledge, to be
an error (Bruni 1962). In particular, Albanello
is the name of a distinct Sicilian grape variety.
In Sardinian dialect Albaranzeuli Bianco is
called Lacconargiu and Lacconarzu.
The bunch is described by experts as
medium-large (but at four hundred to fi ve hun-
dred grams it looks larger), conical or cylindri-
cal-conical (sometimes pyramidal), with one to
three wings, and not too compact. The berry is
Albarola Nera
where it's found:
Tu sc a ny.
national registry
code number:
not registered.
color:
red.
This variety was described by Scalabrelli,
D'Onofrio, Paolicchi, and Bucelli (2005), but I
am not aware of any further work on this par-
ticular grape.
Alionza
where it's found:
Emilia-Romagna.
national
registry code number:
315.
color:
white.
