Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
An extremely rare grapevine grown in Pied-
mont around the towns of Bricherasio, Cumi-
nana, Camopiglione-Fenile, and Pinerolo,
Plassa has a midsized, long, cylindrical bunch,
with medium-sized, oval, thick-skinned ber-
ries. Its thick skin both explains its name (it
derives from
pellaccia,
thick skin) and makes it
very resistant to hail. It was also called Scarlat-
tino due to the red hue of its stalk and twigs.
Though its wine is not particularly famous,
growers have always had a soft spot for it, since
it's a very dependable producer and because of
its cold-weather resistance.
tend to give light-colored, medium-bodied
wines with decent balance. According to Raffa-
ele Boscaini of the world-famous Masi estate of
Valpolicella and Amarone, it is probably best as
a blending grape, but unfortunately, I have not
tried any microvinifi cations, yet.
Preveiral
where it's found:
Piedmont.
national reg-
istry code number:
not registered.
color:
white.
Preveiral is also known as Proveiral, Pru-
verà, or Perveiral in the Pinerolese; as Blancio
in Val Maira; as Liseiret in Alta Val Bormida; as
Lisöra in the Piacentino area of Emilia-
Romagna; as Gouais Blanc in France; and as
Weisser Heunisch in central Europe. It is not
related to Preveiral Nero, a different red grape
that shares a similar name. In Italy, its cultiva-
tion is limited today to Piedmont's Val Bor-
mida, Val Maira, and Val di Susa (especially the
fi rst of these), where it grows even at high alti-
tudes. Medium-sized and winged, the bunch
has medium-sized, round, golden-yellow ber-
ries covered with brown dots. It's very fertile
and productive, but is very disease sensitive. An
early ripening variety (early September), Pre-
veiral is blessed with very high total acidity; it
can make for a lovely, delicate white wine exud-
ing aromas of citrus and green apples.
Pollera Nera
where it's found:
Liguria.
national regis-
try code number:
197.
color:
red.
Originally grown in Liguria's beautiful
Cinque Terre, a Unesco world heritage site, Poll-
era Nera is also called Corlaga, which is properly
the name of one of its two biotypes: Pollera Cor-
laga and Pollera Nera Comune. It is also grown
in the Lunigiana area and it can be found in both
Cinque Terre wines as well as those of the Colli
di Luni. The bunch is large, cylindrical-pyrami-
dal, long, and winged with medium-large, thick-
skinned, blue-black berries. The Corlaga subva-
riety has a smaller bunch and smaller berries.
Diego Bosoni of the Lunae Bosoni estate has
been studying it in view of possibly producing a
monovarietal wine, and though he admits he's
still learning the ropes, he fi nds the wines have
plenty of color, red-fruit and underbrush aromas
and fl avors, and a good tannic structure.
Primaticcio
where it's found:
Tu sc a ny.
national regis-
try code number:
not registered.
color:
white.
Primaticcio is a very rare variety found only
around Florence, though there are experimen-
tal plots in Maremma and Montescudaio. So
called due to the fact it ripens early, it has been
known since 1858 when it was common around
San Gimignano. Long confused with Canaiolo
Bianco (itself always confused with Vernaccia
di San Gimignano), it's morphologically quite
different, with a large, stocky, compact, cylin-
drical bunch, and large, round berries. A vigor-
Pomella
where it's found:
Veneto.
national regis-
try code number:
not registered.
color:
red.
Pomella is a little-known variety with a
small, cylindrical, compact bunch and medium-
large berries, but low resistance to most com-
mon diseases. The grapes have a medium-low
content of anthocyanins and polyphenols, and
