Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Almost extinct today, Negrat was never
grown much and then only in the countryside
around Santo Giorgio della Richinvelda, in the
province of Pordenone. Its name derives from
its dark-hued berries, much like other similarly
named but unrelated grapes (Negrara,
Negronza, Neyret, and many more). The wine,
tasted from microvinifi cations, is dark-ruby in
color, very grapey and fresh in its aromas and
fl avors (with hints of underbrush and black
currant), and medium bodied. It seems a little
neutral for it to hold interest as a monovarietal
wine.
known Negro Amaro. Like Negro Amaro,
Negro Amaro Precoce has a compact, medium-
sized bunch, but it's more conical-pyramidal in
shape. The berries are much smaller than those
of regular Negro Amaro, though just like the
latter, they are oval shaped and blue-black. The
anthocyanins of Negro Amaro Precoce are
much easier to extract from the skins, while the
fl avans from pips are not, which potentially can
lead to darker, smoother wines. Negro Amaro
Precoce shows the same degree of disease and
drought resistance as its more famous name-
sake, and as its name implies, it ripens and is
harvested much sooner than Negro Amaro,
usually in the fi rst ten days of September. To
the best of my knowledge, there is no monova-
rietal Negro Amaro Precoce wine yet on sale.
Negratino
where it's found:
Tu sc a ny.
national regis-
try code number:
not registered.
color:
red.
Medium-sized bunch and berries character-
ize this rare Tuscan variety, part of the
teintu-
rier
family. It should not be confused with the
similarly named Negrottino, a non
-teinturier
variety from Emilia-Romagna.
Negrone
where it's found:
Trentino.
national regis-
try code number:
not registered.
color:
red.
Characterized by bigger berries and
bunches than Negrara Trentina, the more com-
mon variety in Trentino, it is similar to the lat-
ter variety but increases, due to its larger size,
both the pros and cons of Negrara Trentina.
Negrone was never that common: for example,
at the end of the 1800s there were only fi fteen
hundred hectoliters produced, most in the Val-
lagarina and near Civezzano in Trentino. Wines
made with grapes from the latter area were par-
ticularly sought after (Gorfer 1977). I am not
aware of anyone who makes monovarietal
wines from Negrone today.
Negro Amaro Precoce
where it's found:
Puglia.
national registry
code number:
361.
color:
red.
Another Negro Amaro exists, called Negro
Amaro Precoce, or less commonly, Negro
Amaro Cannellino. In 1994, researchers at the
Istituto Sperimentale per la Viticoltura of
Conegliano realized that a set of Negro Amaro
grapevines were characterized by an earlier
budbreak and by berries that turned color
sooner in the season (the time period between
fl owering and
veraison,
or the color change of
the berries, was only twenty days). Importantly,
they also reached full ripeness earlier (usually
two to three weeks sooner).
The variety is now listed under its own
heading in the National Registry, though
genetic studies by Calò, Costacurta, Cancellier,
Crespan, Milani, Carraro, et al. (2000) proved
it to be identical to Negro Amaro. It follows that
Negro Amaro Precoce is a biotype of the better
Nera dei Baisi
where it's found:
Trentino.
national regis-
try code number:
not registered.
color:
red.
Nera dei Baisi is another extremely rare vari-
ety that has been saved thanks to the passion
and dedication of Albino Armani, who already
deserves credit for having saved Foja Tonda.
Not much is known about Nera dei Baisi except
that its name may derive from the wealthy
