In light of current knowledge and also in view of increasingly pressing climate challenges, are we really sure that we have the best grape varieties in the optimal territories?
I take my cue from an editorial by Stefania Vinciguerra, on the juxtaposition of territories and grape varieties that so agitates our sometimes “ancient” little world.
Reading it, I was reminded of a clever, ironic and decidedly tranchant that a great professor of oenology from Bordeaux now deceased told me about the great biodiversity we have in Italy on grape varieties: “In France we selected the best wine grape varieties 250 years ago along with the territories where they come best“.
A harsh, perhaps snooty phrase but one that concealed a great truth especially since in Italy, if we want to put it bluntly, there was an attitude of selecting the most resistant and productive especially with the agricultural plans of the 1960s.
According to this direction we experienced the expansion of some grape varieties at the expense of others reduced to becoming mere extras at best or almost to disappear from the landscape. Some of them we have or are recovering but it must also be admitted that many did not have distinct personalities, and perhaps their disappearance is more of an archeo-botanical problem than a real one.
The climate challenge
At this time we also have a decidedly important climatic challenge, with higher average temperatures in the middle months of grape ripening and especially lack of rainfall during the same period, a dangerous and extremely difficult cocktail for the winemaker to manage.
A contamination with grape varieties that better tolerate drought and high temperatures, could allow easier management of the vineyard without losing the genius loci.
To each territory its own grape variety
At this point the provocative question is as follows: in light of current knowledge, are we really sure that we have the best grape varieties in the optimal territories?
Moreover, we are sure that this rush to vinification in purity of every native grape variety is the way to emancipate or enhance some less famous but high-potential territories?
Historical contaminations
We have had some contaminations that have now become historical and have had great success such as the Cabernet in the area of Carmignano transposed by the DOCG. O la grande intuizione dei fratelli D’Alessandro che hanno portato a Cortona the Syrah, which makes much more sense than Sangiovese in that area and has brought luster to the whole territory. Too trite to mention Bolgheri which went from being a land of melons, artichokes and improbable rosé wines to one of the best known areas in the world.
Leaving aside Tuscany, we can go to Sicily with the new amendment to the Doc Monreale which envisions Syrah as a varietal elevated to red representative of the appellation. Perhaps, given the quality of some of the allochtones in southeastern Sicily, Cerasuolo di Vittoria could be redefined with varietals other than Nero d’Avola and that better match Frappato.
Another demonstration of contamination is the Oltrepò Pavese, where Pinot Noir has been present for years along with other white allochthonous grape varieties and not only for sparkling wine bases. Frankly more interesting than Croatina (Bonarda).
Great rediscoveries include Fiano Minutolo and Sussumaniello in Apulia, Caprettone on Vesuvius, Centesimino in the enclave of Oriolo in Romagna, Magliocco in Calabria, but also the great culture on Cabernet from the Euganean Hills and many others.
Maybe it just takes some courage, plans, and creativity to get out not from traditions but from cages that mortify the potential of many territories.
