Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
also planted Greco vines (as well as Fiano and
Dolcetto). As perhaps the world's biggest lover
of Italian grapes and wines, my hat goes off to
these maverick producers, and I thank them all
for their passion, energy, and desire to go where
others have not yet gone before.
Cosenza) is really Pecorello (Schneider, Rai-
mondi, and De Santis 2008). Grapes locally
known as Greco Bianco di Lamezia Terme and
Greco Bianco di Donnici are also both Guarda-
valle, though locals will also often erroneously
refer to them as Mantonico, yet another distinct
Calabrian variety. Finally, Greco Bianco del Pol-
lino is identical to Montonico Bianco (a variety
much more common in central Italy), that
Calabrians in parts of the region other than the
Pollino will also call Mantonico Bianco Italico,
but it is distinct and not to be confused with
Calabria's high-quality Mantonico Bianco culti-
var. You realize that in the world of Italian
grapes and wines, just one vowel can make all
the difference in the world. In an admirable
attempt to clarify matters, Schneider, Raimondi,
and De Santis call the Greco Bianco identical to
Malvasia di Lipari Greco di Bianco, thereby only
adding to the hilarity of the situation, since
Greco di Bianco is actually the name of a DOC
wine (just like Greco di Tufo is the name of a
DOCG wine from Campania) and using it to
identify a grape variety is really not a good idea.
Have you reached for that aspirin yet?
All this might be irrelevant, if it weren't that
the wine made with Greco Bianco (which is,
once again, by most accounts and in most opin-
ions the variety Crespan has identifi ed with
Malvasia di Lipari but that locals and the
National Registry still refuse to recognize as
such) is potentially, and often actually, one of
Italy's very best, especially as a sweet dessert
wine. So it seems to me that the grape variety
responsible for its production really ought to be
well characterized, once and for all.
While I believe that the folks running the
National Registry do well to move slowly on new
proposed identifi cations of grape varieties and
their synonyms (see chapter 1), the research
that identifi es Malvasia di Lipari, Malvasia di
Sardegna, Malvasìa di Sitges, Greco Bianco di
Gerace, and Malvasia Dubrova ˇka as one and
the same is impressive (Crespan, Cabello, Gian-
netto, Ibanez, Karoglan Kontic, Maletic, et al.
2006b). In this study, the accessions were stud-
ied at fi fteen SSR loci and the ampelographic
wines to try:
For Greco di Tufo, try
:
Benito
Ferrara*** (Vigna Cicogna is one of Italy's ten
best whites; their entry-level Greco di Tufo is
also exceptional), Di Prisco***, Mastrobe-
radino*** (the vintage or library release: try the
2002 for an almost discreet, very unlike-Greco
tasting experience), Pietracupa*** (both the
“G” and entry level bottling; these may be the
best Greco wines of all, along with Ferrara's),
Quintodecimo*** (Giallo d'Arles), Vadiap-
erti*** (Tornante), Terredora** (Terre degli
Angeli), Cantina Bambinuto**, Cantine dei
Monaci**, Colle di San Domenico**, Feudi di
San Gregorio** (Cutizzi), Macchialupa**, Sal-
vatore Molettieri**, and Villa Diamante**
(Vigna del Ciamillo). For Taburno Greco, try:
La Rivolta**.
Greco Bianco
where it's found:
Lazio.
national registry
code number:
98.
color:
white.
Now might be a good time to reach for an
aspirin: there are few more confusing Italian
grape varieties than Greco Bianco. The main
diffi culty lies in the habit of locals calling vari-
ous different local grapes “Greco Bianco”: for
this reason, Calabria is awash with Greco Bian-
cos of all sorts. The National Registry lists a
Greco Bianco at number 98; however, research
indicates that this grape (referred to as Greco di
Gerace) is identical to Malvasia di Lipari, still
listed separately in the National Registry at
number 135 (Crespan, Cabello, Giannetto,
Ibanez, Karoglan Kontic, Maletic, et al. 2006b).
According to other research, another Greco
Bianco, also called Greco Bianco di Cirò, is actu-
ally the variety known as Guardavalle (listed in
the National Registry at number 105), while
Greco Bianco di Rogliano (or Greco Bianco di
