WINE NEWS /
Indigenous or historical? That is the question.
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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