Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
pushed politicians until the legislation deter-
mining how the local Cori Bianco wine could
be made was changed. Now up to 30 percent
Greco Moro and Greco Giallo may be included
in the Cori Bianco blend (while they were at it,
they also had the maximum allowed percentage
of Bellone increased from 30 percent to 50 per-
cent and allowed the inclusion of up to 15 per-
cent Malvasia del Lazio). According to Carpi-
neti, a light two-hour maceration on the skins
at 5°C allows for a noteworthy increase in the
wine's terpenic and thiol-derived aromas. The
wine is always fairly full bodied, independently
of oak aging, for like all
Greco
varieties, Greco
Moro produces wines with plenty of structure.
Greco Moro wines also age well thanks to their
high polyphenol content: a monovarietal Greco
Moro wine will remind you of white and yellow
fruit, mint, and sage, and will have a very savory
fi nish.
named grapes don't look anything alike even in
vineyards located just a short drive from one
another; ask their respective owners, and you
get sheepish looks in return, for nobody has an
answer as to why this might be. Sometimes, it
really is all Greek to me.
Nevertheless, it is generally accepted that
the “real” Greco Nero variety grows in Calabria:
unlike Umbrian or Abruzzo namesakes, its
presence has been documented in Calabria for
thousands of years, where it is also called
Maglioccone or Greca Niura. Indeed, calling it
Magliocco or Marsigliana Nera (or at times
Marcigliana) is wrong, as Calò, Scienza, and
Costacurta (2001) proved these varieties to be
distinct. Though Greco Nero is said to be Italy's
most abundant
Greco
variety and is considered
by some to be particularly abundant in Cala-
bria, this too is controversial: while there were
roughly three thousand hectares reportedly
planted to Greco Nero in 2000, 2010 data docu-
ments only two hundred hectares in the region.
Whether this large decrease is due to a real
reduction in Greco Nero or just stricter grape-
vine identifi cation, or is simply a mistake, is
unclear.
This huge decrease in Greco Nero plantings
might be explained by recent data determining
that there are fi ve different varieties named
Greco Nero in Calabria (Raimondi, Schneider,
De Santis, and Cavallo 2008). Until recently,
all Greco Neros were thought to be one and the
same. At the present state of Greco Nero knowl-
edge (which admittedly, is not great) Calabria's
“real” Greco Nero is taken to be Greco Nero di
Cirò (also confusingly called Nerello in the
Lamezia Terme area and synonymous with the
well-known Nerello Mascalese of Sicily); accord-
ing to Raimondi, Schneider, and De Santis
(2008), it is distinct from both Greco Nero di
Sibari and Greco Nero di Verbicaro (the latter is
also called Mantonico Nero Italico by locals),
two rare varieties requiring further studies.
Meanwhile, Greco Nero di Lamezia Terme and
Greco Nero di Scilla are not
Greco
s at all; the
former is Magliocco Dolce, the latter is Castigli-
one, two other red-berried Calabrian cultivars.
wines to try:
There are no monovarietal Greco
Moro wines made; the closest is by Marco
Carpineti*** (Moro), a blend of 90 percent
Greco Moro and 10 percent Greco Giallo.
Greco Nero
where it's found:
Calabria, Sardinia.
na -
tional registry code number:
99.
color:
red.
I wonder if Greco Nero suffers, Sybil-like,
from split personalities. For “Greco Nero” is not
just one Greco Nero: you will make the acquain-
tance of many different Greco Nero grapes
throughout Italy. In fact, many obviously differ-
ent Greco Neros can live side by side even
within the same region. Throughout the years,
I have been proudly shown similarly named
grapes by farmers and producers all over the
country: in Umbria, Lazio, Marche, Abruzzo,
and Campania, and I may well be forgetting a
region or two. Needless to say, all those grape-
vines looked different, at times incredibly dif-
ferent; and the wines were just as different,
ranging from pink and light-bodied to deep red
and structured. Hilariously, these similarly
