Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Albarossa
so fell in love that he and Tenuta dei Vallarino
(owned by Gancia), Prunotto (owned by Anti-
nori), and Vigne Regali (vini Banfi ) sponsored
a more complete study of the crossing and had
one hectare planted with it, the fi rst in Italy
(government permission to cultivate it only
arrived in 2001). The goal was to investigate
propagating the variety and experimenting
with it on their estates. In the Acqui area, the
fi rst estate to produce an albarossa was Zunino
in 2002.
The wine made with Albarossa is deep ruby-
red, with purple tinges that tend to hang
around even as the wine ages. The nose is deli-
cately spicy and very fruity (blackberry, straw-
berry, plum) complicated by a strong note of
tobacco that is not for everyone; it has a full
body, with good creamy fl avors of ripe red fruit.
Today, there are a dozen quality producers who
are using Albarossa. In 2010, the DOC Pie-
monte Albarossa was created, which requires a
minimum of twelve months of aging before the
wine can be put on sale.
where it's found:
Piedmont.
national reg-
istry code number:
267.
color:
red.
Albarossa is an up-and-coming grape in
Piedmont, and is one of the few truly success-
ful crossings in viticulture, at least in relation
to wine. Much like Müller-Thurgau and
Kerner, Albarossa was created in a labora-
tory—in this case, that of Giovanni Dalmasso
in 1938, who crossed Nebbiolo and Barbera, or
so he thought. Like Müller, who wished to
obtain a vine that would express the qualities
of Riesling and those of a more productive,
hardier vine such as Sylvaner, Dalmasso
sought to create a new variety that would com-
bine the quality of Nebbiolo with the rusticity
and fertility of Barbera. And once again, just as
Müller mistakenly crossed Riesling not with
Sylvaner but with Madeleine Royale, so recent
genetic analysis has shown that one of the two
parents of Albarossa is not Nebbiolo, but Cha-
tus (also known as Nebbiolo di Dronero),
another native variety (see CHATUS, chapter
4). Similar mistakes are not hard to imagine,
given that fi eld recognition of vines is always
diffi cult, and that it was only in the mid-1960s
that other researchers, Eynard and Curzel,
fi nally studied Albarossa's ampelological, viti-
cultural, and enological characteristics. Better
late than never, you might say. In fact, it was
Eynard who renamed this crossing Albarossa;
its original name was the much less poetic
Incrocio 13.26.
wines to try:
Michele Chiarlo*** (Montald),
Prunotto*** (Bricco Colma), Castello di
Neive***, Cascina Sant'Ubaldo*, Viotti Vini*
(they also make a very good albarossa grappa).
Bussanello
where it's found:
Piedmont.
national reg-
istry code number:
269.
color:
white.
Bussanello is another of the many
Incrocio
Dalmasso
s, a white grape variety created by Dal-
masso at the end of the 1930s by crossing Ries-
ling Italico (Welschriesling) and Furmint, with
the goal of obtaining a variety more generous
in its yields than Furmint, which is subject to
berry shot. Today Bussanello is grown mainly
around Alessandria, Asti, and Cuneo, though it
is found also in Langhe and even in Friuli
Venezia Giulia. The bunch is medium-small,
cylindrical, often winged, and compact. The
berry is medium-sized and spherical, with
thick yellow skin. It is harvested at the end of
September or early October. The wine is yellow-
Which Wines to Choose and Why
Albarossa grows only in Piedmont, in the prov-
inces of Alessandria, Asti, and Cuneo: it is
most abundant around Acqui and in the north-
ern part of the Asti area. Tenuta Cannona, the
Experimental Center of the Piedmont Region,
in Carpaneto di Alessandria, planted thirteen
different
Incrocio Dalmasso
vines), and of these
two performed particularly well: Albarossa and
Bussanello (a crossing of Riesling Italico and
Furmint). Well-known producer Michele Chi-
arlo, after tasting wines made with Albarossa,
