Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
certainly reminds one of sauvignon blanc on
the nose (aromas of white fl owers, passion
fruit, green fi g, and winter melon), with a
slightly richer mouthfeel and creamier texture
more typical of Verdicchio. I have been very
impressed with what I have tasted so far.
suited to the making of fi ne wine. Unfortu-
nately, in a clear demonstration of how little
attention was paid to grape cultivars in Italy
even in academic institutions, Manzoni's
experimental vineyard was apparently uprooted
after his retirement, and many of the crossings
have been lost forever. Unbelievable as it may
seem, the same fate befell the experimental
vineyard set up by Manzoni's son Gianfranco,
then president of the Istituto San Michele
all'Adige, another of Italy's fi nest enological
and viticultural schools of the time. Mercifully,
today things are functioning more smoothly
where crossings are concerned.
Still, two crossings survived, the Incrocio
Manzoni 6.0.13 and the Incrocio Manzoni 2.15,
and were listed in the National Registry of grape
varieties: they are routinely used to make wine
in Italy to this day. To their credit, in the 1990s
the alumni association of the Conegliano eno-
logical school actively set about recovering any
other
Incrocio Manzoni
vines that still survived,
unidentifi ed, in old local vineyards. In this man-
ner, another fi ve
Incrocio Manzoni
vines were
saved, one table grape and four wine grapes.
The latter are used to make wine today by a few
estates. Recently, in 2010, two more crossings
by Manzoni were listed in the National Registry
of Grape Varieties: Incrocio 2-14 (a red variety)
and Incrocio 2-3 (a white variety).
wines to try:
Terracruda***, Silvano Stro-
logo**, and Viticoltori Finocchi*.
Incrocio Terzi n.1
where it's found:
Lombardy.
national reg-
istry code number:
110.
color:
red.
Terzi, a viticulturalist from Bergamo,
crossed Barbera with Cabernet Franc (or what
he thought was Cabernet Franc: given that in
Italy Carmenère was regularly confused with
the former variety, I wonder). In any case, the
resulting crossing, which bears his name,
proved a success, mainly due to high productiv-
ity and the intense hue of the wine. Today
Incrocio Terzi n.1 is found in vineyards around
the cities of Bergamo and Brescia, and on the
shores of Lake Iseo. The variety's cluster is
medium-sized, pyramidal, and compact, with
one or two smallish wings. The berry is round-
oval, medium-sized, and blue-black in hue. It
ripens in late September and early October. The
wine is deep red, vinous, lightly tannic, and can
age. It is generally used as part of the blend in
DOC wines such as Cellatica and Capriano del
Colle, neither exactly household names.
Manzoni Bianco
wines to try:
Ca' del Vènt** near Bergamo, in
Lombardy.
where it's found:
Veneto, Trentino, FVG,
Puglia, Sicily.
national registry code num-
ber:
299.
color:
white.
The best and most popular of Manzoni's
crossings is the arduously named Incrocio
Manzoni 6.0.13, now simply called Manzoni
Bianco. In fact, like most other crossings, all of
the Manzoni cultivars were also originally
named by using numbers: in Manzoni's case,
these referred to the location coordinates of the
newly created varieties in the experimental
vineyard. The fi rst number refers to the row
number, the second to the crossing's position
in the row; to make matters even less easy to
MANZONI CROSSINGS
The name
Incrocio Manzoni
(Manzoni cross-
ings) refers to a group of crossings created by
Luigi Manzoni in the 1920s and 1930s at the
enological and viticultural school of Cone-
gliano. Manzoni attempted many crossings,
using both local varieties such as Raboso Piave
and Verdiso and internationals such as Riesling
and Cabernet Sauvignon, and it is generally felt
that many of his crossings are particularly
