Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
recent SSR microsatellite testing has shown it
to be at least related to the latter). Nowadays,
Nieddu Mannu is rare, with only an estimated
eighty hectares in the provinces of Sassari and
Oristano, mainly around the town of Nuoro.
The bunch is medium-large, pyramidal,
winged, and compact, with large, round,
medium-thick-skinned berries of red-violet
hue. It is a late-ripening variety, usually picked
in October. I have yet to try a monovarietal
wine, but this is going to be hard as no single
producer owns enough vines to make the wine
in economically feasible quantities at present.
variety to be confused with Muscat of Ham-
burg, also an aromatic variety.
Occhiorosso
where it's found:
Tu sc a ny.
national regis-
try code number:
not registered.
color:
red.
Roberto Bandinelli of the University of Flor-
ence, winemaker Federico Staderini, and
Sebastiano Capponi, owner of the Villa Calci-
naia estate in Greve in Chianti, are working on
this rare variety and are making an interesting
monovarietal wine. Bandinelli discovered the
variety while talking one day to Nunziatina
Grassi, an eighty-fi ve-year-old who took him
around her vineyards and showed him Occhi-
orosso; the variety is characterized by a stalk
that has a sinuous shape and a very unique
sandpapery feel. The minute Bandinelli showed
me what to look for in an Occhiorosso grape-
vine I was immediately able to recognize it
without fail in any other vineyard I visited that
day with him. The bunches are medium-small
and compact, the berry small with a thick,
resistant skin. Microvinifi cations of the wine
reveal red-fruit aromas and fl avors and spicy
tobacco, cedary nuances.
Notardomenico
where it's found:
Puglia.
national registry
code number:
174.
color:
red.
Mainly found in Puglia around the towns of
Cistenino, Carovigno, Ostuni, and San Vito dei
Normanni, Notardomenico is usually used as
part of the blend in the DOC Ostuni Ottavi-
anello, typically for
rosato
production. However
it can also be found in small percentages in
blends such as Murgia, Puglia, Salento, Taran-
tino, and Valle d'Itria. Apparently it was also
once made as a monovarietal
rosato
wine, and it
continues to be appreciated as a table grape.
The bunch is medium-small and conical; the
berry is medium-sized, round but not uniform,
thin skinned, and reddish-violet; it is harvested
in mid-September. The wines are low in alco-
hol, high in acids, and delicately fl avored.
Orpicchio
where it's found:
Tu sc a ny.
national regis-
try code number:
377.
color:
white.
Grown in Tuscany already in the mid-nine-
teenth century, Orpicchio has always been asso-
ciated with the Fattoria di Petrolo estate (its
owner, Giorgio Perrin fi rst described the variety
in 1854), where the last few vines were found
and reproduced by the experimental station of
the Unità per Ricerca of Arezzo. The variety has
medium vigor, a small, short, cylindrical bunch
(though some have looked pyramidal to me),
and round, medium-sized, green-yellow, thin-
skinned berries that look greyish because of
thick bloom. It is harvested in mid-September.
No monovarietal wines are being currently pro-
duced to the best of my knowledge.
Occhio di Pernice
where it's found:
Tu sc a ny.
national regis-
try code number:
not registered.
color:
red.
A little-known aromatic variety character-
ized by red berries of different shades, a feature
that is not due to asynchronous maturation of
the berries but rather to a strong viral load
affecting virtually all grapevines of this variety.
Occhio di Pernice has a long, sparse cluster and
two large wings so it looks almost compound in
shape. The very large round berries caused this
