Sangiovese is a red Italian wine grape variety that derives its name from the Latin sanguis Jovis, "the blood of Jupiter". Though it is the grape of most of central Italy from Romagna down to Lazio, Campania and Sicily, outside Italy it is most famous as the only component of Brunello di Montalcino and Rosso di Montalcino and the main component of the blends Chianti, Carmignano, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Morellino di Scansano, although it can also be used to make varietal wines such as Sangiovese di Romagna and the modern "Super Tuscan" wines like Tignanello.
Canaiolo is a red Italian wine grape grown through Central Italy but is most noted in Tuscany. Other regions with plantings of Canaiolo include Lazio, Marche and Sardegna. In Umbria a white berried mutation known as Canaiolo bianco exists. Together with Sangiovese and Colorino it is often used to create Chianti wine and is an important but secondary component of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. In the history of Chianti it has been a key component blend and during the 18th century may have been the primarily grape used in higher percentage than Sangiovese. Part of its popularity may have been the grape's ability to partially dry out without rotting for use in the governo method of prolonging fermentation. In the 19th century, the Chianti recipe of Bettino Ricasoli called for Canaiolo to play a supporting role to Sangiovese, adding fruitiness and softening tannins without detracting from the wine's aromas. In the aftermath of the phylloxera epidemic, the Canaiolo vines did not take well to grafting onto new American rootstock and the grape began to steadily fall out of favor. As of 2006, total plantings of Canaiolo throughout Italy dropped to under 7,410 acres. Today there are renewed efforts by Tuscan winemakers to find better clonal selections and re-introduce the variety into popular usage.
Sciacarello is a red Italian wine grape variety that is grown primarily in Corsica. It is most noted for the wines that come from Ajaccio which tend to be highly perfumed. It is also associated with wines from Calvi, and in the Sartène region around Propriano. The grape is normally blended and rarely made into a varietal wine. Sciacarello is believed to be a parent vine of the Ligurian-Tuscan wine grape, pollera nera. Di Vecchi Staraz, Bandinelli, Boselli, This, Boursiquot, Laucou, Lacombe, and Varès (2007) showed that Sciaccarello and another Corsican variety Malvasia Montanaccio as well as Tuscan varieties Biancone, Caloria, Colombana Nera, and Pollera Nera have genetic ties to Mammolo.
Croatina is a red Italian wine grape variety that is grown primarily in the Oltrepò Pavese region of Lombardy and in the Province of Piacenza within Emilia Romagna, but also in parts of Piedmont and the Veneto. In the Oltrepò Pavese, in the hills of Piacenza, in Cisterna d’Asti and San Damiano d’Asti, and in Roero this variety is called ‘Bonarda’. It should not, however be confused with the Bonarda piemontese, which is an unrelated vine. In the Piedmont region, it is sometimes blended with Nebbiolo in the wines of Gattinara and Ghemme.
Montepulciano is a red Italian wine grape variety that is most noted for being the primary grape behind the DOCG wines Offida Rosso, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Colline Teramane, Rosso Conero and the DOC wine Rosso Piceno Superiore.
Lombardia (Lombardy) wine is the Italian wine produced in the Lombardy region of north central Italy. The region is known particularly for its sparkling wines made in the Franciacorta and Oltrepò Pavese areas. Lombardy also produces still red, white and rosé wines made from a variety of local and international grapes including Nebbiolo wines in the Valtellina region, Trebbiano di Lugana white wines produced with the Chiaretto style rosé along the shores of Lake Garda. The wine region currently has 15 Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC), 3 Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) and 13 Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) designations. The main cities of the region are Milan, Bergamo and Brescia. The region annually produces around 1.3 million hectolitres of wine, more than the regions of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Marche, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Umbria.
Tuscan wine is Italian wine from the Tuscany region. Located in central Italy along the Tyrrhenian coast, Tuscany is home to some of the world's most notable wine regions. Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano are primarily made with Sangiovese grape whereas the Vernaccia grape is the basis of the white Vernaccia di San Gimignano. Tuscany is also known for the dessert wine Vin Santo, made from a variety of the region's grapes. Tuscany has forty-one Denominazioni di origine controllata (DOC) and eleven Denominazioni di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG). In the 1970s a new class of wines known in the trade as "Super Tuscans" emerged. These wines were made outside DOC/DOCG regulations but were considered of high quality and commanded high prices. Many of these wines became cult wines. In the reformation of the Italian classification system many of the original Super Tuscans now qualify as DOC or DOCG wines but some producers still prefer the declassified rankings or to use the Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) classification of Toscana. Tuscany has six sub-categories of IGT wines today.
Bombino bianco is a white Italian wine grape variety planted primarily along Italy's Adriatic coast line, most notably in Apulia. The vine is prone to high yields and often produces neutral flavor wines. The grape is known under many synonyms throughout Italy including Debit and Pagadebit, names which came from the grape's reputation for being a high yielding and reliable crop for vineyard owners to grow that would assure them that on each vintage they could pay off their debts.
Mammolo is a red Italian wine grape that is planted primarily in Tuscany. While its use has been diminishing, Mammolo was historically included in the blended Sangiovese-based wines of Chianti where it contributed a distinctive violet or mammole aroma. In addition to small plantings in the Chianti zone, Mammolo can be found in the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano region of Tuscany and in scattered vineyards throughout Central Italy.
Uva Rara is a red Italian wine grape variety that is grown in the Piedmont and Lombardy wine regions of northern Italy. The grape is a permitted blending variety along with Nebbiolo in the Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) wines of Ghemme. In the Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) wine region of Oltrepò Pavese the grape is often blended with Barbera and Croatina. While Uva Rara's name means "rare grape" in Italian, the variety is actually widely planted with 608 hectares of the vine recorded in Italy in 2000.
Fortana is a red Italian wine grape variety grown primarily in the Emilia–Romagna region of northern Italy. A permitted grape variety in several Denominazione di origine controllatas (DOCs), mostly in Emilia, Fortana mostly contributes tartness and acidity in red blends.
San Colombano is the Italian form of Saint Columbanus.
Verdea is a white Italian wine grape variety that originated in Tuscany but is today mainly grown in the Lombardy wine region of northern Italy. The grape is sometimes confused with the white Verdeca grape of the Apulia region and the French wine grape Verdesse from Savoy due to similarities in their names and synonyms. Verdea can be used to make a wide variety of wines, ranging from the late harvested Vin Santo to dry sparkling wines.
Pollera nera is a red Italian wine grape variety that is grown primarily in the Liguria wine region and northwest Tuscany. Ampelographers believe that the vine has a very long winemaking history but it is rarely seen today. It is believed to have been descended from the Chianti wine grape Mammolo and the Corsican wine grape Sciacarello which would make it a half-sibling of Colombana nera.
Colli di Luni is an Italian Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) located in both Liguria and Tuscany in northwest Italy. The DOC produces both reds and white wines made primarily from Sangiovese and Vermentino with a varietal Vermentino also being produced in the DOC.
Rossola nera is a red Italian wine grape variety that has been growing in the Valtellina region of Lombardy since at least the 17th century. In 2004 DNA profiling determined that the grape has a parent-offspring relationship with the Piedmont wine grape Nebbiolo though which variety is the parent and which is the offspring is not yet clear. However, most ampelographers believe that Nebbiolo is likely the parent variety since written records in Piedmont have noted Nebbiolo being grown since at least the 13th century.
Bracciola nera is a red Italian wine grape variety that is primarily found in the Liguria and Toscana wine regions of western Italy. The only Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) that Bracciola nera plays a significant role is in the Colli di Luni DOC of Ligura where the grape is permitted to be blended with Sangiovese, Canaiolo, Pollera nera, Ciliegiolo, Vermentino nero and other varieties. A late-ripening variety, Bracciola nera usually contributes acidity to blends.
Besgano bianco is a white Italian wine grape variety that was historically used in the production of the dessert wine Vin Santo, blended with Malvasia Bianca Lunga and Verdea, but today is rarely planted and is more often used for table grape production than winemaking. The grape is also known as Colombana bianca but it is not a color mutation of the Tuscan and Emilia-Romagna wine grape Colombana nera.
Pallagrello nero is a red Italian wine grape variety that is grown in Campania. The grape has a long history in the region and, like the similarly named Pallagrello bianco, was one the varieties planted in 1775 by architect and engineer Luigi Vanvitelli in the fan-shaped Vigna del Ventaglio vineyard created for the royal palace of King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies in Caserta. Following the phylloxera epidemic of the mid-19th century and the economic devastation of the World Wars of the early 20th century, plantings of Pallagrello nero declined greatly and the variety was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered growing in an abandoned Campanian vineyard in the 1990s.
Biancone di Portoferraio is a white Italian wine grape variety that is grown almost exclusively on the island of Elba off the coast of Tuscany. Some ampelographers have speculated that the grape may have originated on the French island of Corsica where the grape shares a close genetic relationship with the Corsican wine grape Biancu Gentile.
