September
2, 2005
Indigenous
Varietal Debate
Are there any
truly indigenous varietals or should we use the term "historical"
when we speak of grape types specific to a certain country
or geographical area? This was the question posed by panelists
at a recent conference held in Napoli entitled "Enology
and indigenous varietals: a new frontier or a return to the
past?" Participants included journalist Luciano Pignataro,
enologist Carlo Ferrini (of Chianti and Brunello fame), and
enobibliophile Angelo Valentini, who possesses over 8,000
books on wine and wine history (he's most famous for having
anointed Pope John Paul II an honorary sommelier).
Before the Greeks settled there, the Etruscans were already
producing wine in Italy. In fact, the Greeks called Italy
"Enotria," the land of wine, because they were
so impressed with the scope and sophistication of Etruscan
viticulture. But the Greeks also brought grapes with them
when they came. The Romans later gave those grapes names
like Aglianico (meaning "Hellenic") and Greco
(meaning "Greek"), varietals still popular today
in Southern Italy (Aglianico is used to make one of Italy's
greatest historical wines, Taurasi). The Romans later took
rootstock and winemaking technology to France and even Britain.
All the vines of Europe were destroyed by phylloxera in
the 19th century and then revived using rootstock from the
New World. Thus, is it more appropriate to talk about "historical"
varietals since history reveals a constant and continuous
transmigration of grape varietals throughout the world?
The only solution to the conundrum, participants agreed,
will be the study of DNA extracted from archeological sites
in regions where the ancients produced wine. The findings
of such studies (like VINUM and the Villa dei Misteri Project)
will reveal which peoples were the first to cultivate and
develop a given varietal.
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