Grape Groups and Families - Native Wine Grapes of Italy - page 52

It was only with the groundbreaking work of
Costantini, Roncador, and Grando in 2001, in
which nine SSR microsatellite loci of twenty-
two accessions of Groppello s were analyzed, that
a clear understanding of relationships and
identities between these varieties was gained. It
is now believed that Groppellone is a biotype of
Groppello Gentile (this work confi rmed results
of previous studies by Villa, Milesi, and Scienza
in 1997, who used isoenzymatic and electro-
phoretic methods only), that Groppello di Santo
Stefano and Groppello di Mocasina are one and
the same, and that Groppello di Revò is dis-
tinct, sharing only the Groppello moniker. The
latter variety isn't closely related to Groppello
Gentile, as the two only share seven out of
eighteen alleles, and even less to Groppello di
Mocasina, with which it shares only fi ve of
eighteen alleles. Groppello di Mocasina shares
a somewhat closer relationship with Groppello
Gentile (twelve of eighteen alleles in common),
as might be imagined of cultivars that have
long grown side by side in the same habitat. In
defense of the many ampelographers of the
past, who did not have the benefi t of molecular
biology techniques, their hypothesis that Grop-
pello di Revò had been transported suitcase-
style from Trentino to Lombardy (where they
believed it morphed over time into Groppello di
Mocasina or Groppello di Santo Stefano) has
logic on its side. In 2007, Vouillamoz, Schnei-
der, and Grando showed that both Groppello di
Revò and Nosiola are offsprings of Rèze, a
native variety of the Swiss Valais. This is not
without interest, because some older Trentino
farmers still occasionally refer to Nosiola as
Groppello Bianco.
Today Groppello Gentile and Groppello di
Mocasina are found only in Lombardy, mainly
on the western, or Lombard, side of Lake Garda,
reaching out eastward toward Brescia. Cur-
rently, there are an estimated fi ve hundred hec-
tares planted to the former and less than fi fty to
the latter. There are also some sporadic plant-
ings of these two Groppello s (mainly Gentile) in
Trentino, but this is believed to be due to nur-
sery errors that caused the wrong Groppello s to

be sold—probably during the time when every-
one believed the three to be biotypes of each
other, rather than distinct varieties. Groppello
di Revò grows only in Trentino, mainly around
the towns of Revò, Romallo, and Cagnò, as well
as on the shores of Lake Cles. While it was once
produced in large volumes, output decreased
sharply in the twentieth century, and only
began increasing again in the last decade: forty-
seven thousand hectoliters of wine were report-
edly made in the years 1910-14, as compared to
four hundred hectoliters in 2000, three-quar-
ters of which were grown around Revò.
Ampelographically, all Groppello s have
cylindrical-conical bunches so compact that the
berries are slightly fl attened due to being
squeezed together. Gentile is the only main
Groppello to have a winged grape bunch and a
tri-lobed leaf (all other Groppello s have a pen-
tagonal leaf), while Groppello di Mocasina has
the smallest bunch and berries. All Groppello s
are disease resistant, though the compact
nature of their bunch makes them sensitive to
botrytis bunch rot. Clones are available only for
Mocasina (MI-GROM-8 and LL-2) and Gentile
(R3, the oldest and available since 1969, VCR
14, and VCR 11).

Which Wines to Choose and Why
A well-made Groppello wine will strike you with
bright acidity, lively tannins, and intense aro-
mas of red cherry, violet, tobacco, and plenty of
spices (marjoram, olive wood, and especially
black pepper). In general, all Groppello wines
are best drunk within a year or so of the vin-
tage, though riserva wines can age well longer.
The DOC guidelines for production of Riviera
del Garda Bresciano and Garda Bresciano
Groppello (fi rst established in 1990 and later
updated in 1999) state that a minimum 85 per-
cent Groppello (Gentile, Groppellone, and
Mocasina) is required, plus another 15 percent
of nonaromatic red grape varieties. I fi rmly
believe that only 85 percent of any grape variety
is too little for anybody to truly grasp what that
variety is all about, but that's still a lot better
than what the law allows for the DOC Garda