Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Corinto Nero
blended with Canina Nera and other local
grapes. Cornacchia does not accumulate a lot of
sugar, so it has traditionally been used to make
light, slightly sweet wines to be drunk during
the daytime. It has never been a particularly
popular wine grape, and its diminishing pres-
ence in the country's vineyards had been
noticed already in the late nineteenth century
(
Bollettino Ampelografi co
1878) along with other
grapes such as Potanèvola, Uva Scruccona, and
Raffone di Forlì. Bazzocchi (1923) also con-
firmed that the variety was disappearing,
despite its productivity, because the wine really
wasn't very good at all, though I wonder how
much of that perceived lack of quality may have
been due to overproduction and high yields. A
biotype called Cornacchia Donati shares ten
alleles out of twenty with Sangiovese. Its high
National Registry code number tells you this is
one of the more recently listed varieties, added
only in 2011. In my view, this is also an encour-
aging sign that Italy's powers-that-be are not
going to stand around idly while the country's
grape biodiversity disappears.
where it's found:
Sicily.
national registry
code number:
68.
color:
red.
An ancient variety brought over to Sicily by
the Greeks, Corinto Nero shares, erroneously,
the same name as a variety abundant in Greece
and Turkey, from which it differs. Cupani
(1696) described three
Corinto
varieties called
locally Tuccarino, Tuccarineddu, and Tuccarino
cù Cocci. It is unrelated to Corinto Bianco and
Corinto Rosa, other local Sicilian natives that
are now virtually extinct. It appears that Corinto
Nero is a distant relative of Sangiovese, though
some experts believe it to be either a seedless
mutation or a biotype of the famous Tuscan
native, though with a very different phenotype
due to being heavily virus-affected over the cen-
turies. I fi nd this possible Sangiovese relation-
ship interesting, for a Puglian variety called
Tuccanese (a very similar name to the previ-
ously mentioned Tuccarino, Tuccarineddu, and
Tuccarino cù Cocci) has been found to be
genetically identical to Sangiovese (Zulini,
Russo, and Peterlunger 2002). Emilia-Roma-
gna's Termarina Rossa is remarkably similar,
ampelographically speaking, to Corinto Nero,
but the two are genetically distinct (Boccacci,
Torello Marinoni, Gambino, Botta, and Schnei-
der 2005).
It is a poorly vigorous vine (as virus-affected
grapevines often are) with a small, short, cylin-
drical bunch, winged, with very small, round,
purple berries. In Italy it grows only in the
Messina province of Sicily. Very rarely used in a
100 percent pure red wine, it is part of DOC
Lipari Rosso and amounts to 5 percent or less of
DOC Malvasia di Lipari.
Corvino
where it's found:
Friuli Venezia Giulia.
national registry code number:
not regis-
tered.
color:
red
Also called Curvin, Corvino is reduced to
only a few sporadic vines in old vineyards and
ampelographic collections, but is currently
being studied by the University of Udine in col-
laboration with estates such as Ronchi di Cialla.
In centuries past Corvino seems to have been
the second most cultivated variety after the
Refosco
s in some parts of Friuli Venezia Giulia.
Unfortunately, as it requires plenty of sunlight
and heat to ripen fully (it has big, seven-lobed,
pentagonal leaves), it lost favor with farmers
faced with the region's chilly and rainy spring
and fall climate. Its name recalls the dark
plumage of blackbirds (
corvo,
or raven). Micro-
vinifi cations of the wine have shown deep color,
intense red-berry aromas and f lavors, and
plenty of tannic structure. According to micro-
Cornacchia
where it's found:
Emilia-Romagna.
national
registry code number:
447.
color:
red.
Early budbreak and late ripening (it's har-
vested in early October) characterize this vigor-
ous and productive variety, which is usually
