Italian Varietals Abound in Temecula Wine Country – Part IX

By Jennifer on May 29, 2011 | In

The Negro Amaro grape

Today’s article is about the Italian varietal Negro Amaro or Negroamaro.  This grape is primarily grown in the Puglia region and one of the most planted reds in Italy.  It is the base for Salice Salentino and numerous other reds of the Salentine peninsula.  The name means “black and bitter” and the wines are typically deeply colored and brawny, with hints of exotic spice.  There's also a subvariety called Negoamaro Precoce.

It is grown almost exclusively in Puglia and particularly in Salento, the peninsula which can be visualised as the “heel” of Italy. The grape can indeed produce wines very deep in color. Wines made from Negroamaro tend to be very rustic in character, combining perfume with an earthy bitterness. The grape produces some of the best red wines of Puglia, particularly when blended with the highly scented Malvasia Nera, as in the case of Salice Salentino.

The grapes are used exclusively for winemaking.  100% varietal wines are usually produced but more common use is to blend with Malvasia Nera, Sangiovese or Montepulciano.  These wines can be red, rosato or frizzante.

Negro Amaro is a favorite wine by the glass offering by restaurateurs.  The wine's bitterness is so interesting that the customer is often enticed to order a second glass.

In Temecula Valley, two thousand cuttings of Negro Amaro (clone FPS01) were grafted to existing 110R rootstock in 2010 at Cougar Vineyard & Winery located at 39870 De Portola Road.  The vines will begin producing grapes this year but wine will not be ready from these vines for 2-3 years.  Look for this wine at Cougar in 2-3 years.  This winery resides on the De Portola Wine Trail of Temecula Wine Country.  As far as this author knows there are no other growers of Negro Amaro in the Temecula Wine Country.  Cougar Vineyard & Winery is a member of the Temecula Valley Winegrowers Association.

Altamura in Napa Valley has produced a Negroamaro.  Fox Hill Vineyards in Mendocino County has also produced a Negroamaro.  This author is unaware of any Negroamaro planted in Southern California.

Cougar Vineyard & Winery is planted entirely in Italian varietals.  The Negro Amaro is actually planted on the adjacent property to Cougar that is managed as an estate vineyard.  The vineyard, La Vigna e Destra, is planted with two thousand of the eight thousand vines planted being Negro Amaro.  Cougar hopes to release their first estate Negroamaro by 2013.  We will be discussing all of these other varietals being grown and managed by Cougar in upcoming articles about the Italian grape varietals planted in Temecula Wine Country of Southern California.

 

 

This week's progress 10-12-2012

By Jennifer on Oct 12, 2012 | In Pictures

We lost a day of construction with the little bit of rain yesterday, but you'd never know it! The tasting room is starting to show it's personality a little bit. Anyone want to volunteer to clean all of those windows? Guess that's what happens when you don't have any windows for 6 years.

Full story »

This week's progress 10-05-2012

By Jennifer on Oct 5, 2012 | In Pictures

Well I promised a surprise and here it is....(drum roll) we got walls!  They're working this weekend and lots on the agenda for next week, so we're building now!  See you next week for more good stuff.

Full story »

This week's progress 09-28-2012

By Rick on Sep 28, 2012 | In Pictures

Alot to show this week!  Not only do we have height (the columns) but the foundation is done.  We have a lot to show you next Friday too!  See you next week for a big surprise...

New Construction-09-19-2012

By Rick on Sep 21, 2012 | In Pictures

Finally getting back on the job after a 2.5 month delay.

Approval of Grape Variety Lambrusca di Alessandria

By Rick on Aug 7, 2012 | In Videos

Lambrusca di Alessandria has been approved as a recognized varietal by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau for use in the United States.

Lambrusca di Alessandria is an autochthonous grape of Italy. It was first described and recognized by name by Count Giuseppe Nuvolone , Vice Director of Piedmont Agricultural Society , the Royal Academy of Agriculture where in 1798 he read his celebrated “Instructions for the Cultivation of Vines and the Best Method for Making and Storing Wine”. It is most likely native to the area of Alessandria and Pavia in Piedmont, Italy. The name Lambrusca or Lambrusco comes from Latin “labruscum” meaning fruit of the wild grape. There are many grape varietals with the word Lambrusco in their title. For instance, it is used to identify many grapes in the Emilia Romagna area of Italy which are used to produce a wine called Lambrusco. These Lambrusco grapes and Lambrusca di Alessandria are genetically different which was evidenced by Italus Hortus (Mar-Apr 2006) Lambruschi from Piedmont: historical investigations, fingerprinting and genetic relationships with other autochthonous Italian grapes [Vitis vinifera] J Torello, Marinoni D., Raimond, S., Boccacci P., Schneider, A.

Current findings indicate the first documented Lambrusca di Alessandria vine in the United States was in 1983 when donations were made to the National Clonal Germplasm Repository Davis, California by Bioletti, F. University of California andOlmo, H., University of California from the Vititculture Dept. vineyard location while under their care.

The vine samples (assumed to be Nebbiolo) submitted by Pete Anderson of Eusinus Vineyards to the Plant Identification Lab at University of California, Davis Foundation Plant Services for DNA analysis matched the Lambrusca di Alessandria reference profile of the NCGR collection. The lab director, GS Dangl, advised that the Lambrusco vine listed in the FPS registry is not Lambrusca di Alessandria. This was further confirmed by Dr. Anna Schneider CNR, Istituto di Virologia Vegetale Sezione di Grugliasco, Torino, Italy. who reported the profile perfectly matched the Lambrusca di Alessandria in her database.

The commercial potential of Lambrusca di Alessandria if based on the commercial sales and wine competition awards that were achieved by wine made from this grape when it was misidentified as Nebbiolo then the potential is exceptionally high. A list of wineries and vineyards in the United States that are currently growing and producing wine made from the newly identified Lambrusca di Alessandria grape are:

Cougar Vineyard & Winery cougarvineyards.com
Temecula Valley AVA
39870 De Portola Road Temecula, CA 92592
1 (951) 491-0825

Eusinus Vineyard 4870 Kelly Dr, Carlsbad, CA
San Diego County

<< 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >>