PIGNOLETTO GRAPE

PIGNOLETTO

GRAPE

The document mention the sale of a crate of Pignolo grapes grown by Luigi Lodi, who, at the time was a well-known botanist in Bologna and the first curator of the city's botanic gardens. The Lodi Corazza winery is located in Zola Predosa, a small village on the outskirts of the city where the hemp Pignolo was cultivated. Then happened that the landowners of the winery Al Pazz di Montebudello asked they farmers to plant Albana, but they made a mistake choosing the vines and planted Pignolo!

Then, slowly slowly, the rustic nature and the aroma of the wine produced from this grape conviced people's gastronomic sensibilities and its cultivation spread on the hills from the 1950s onwards.

Pignoletto grape was cultivated as hemp in the areas around Bologna and Modena. At the beginning the grape was known as Pignolo as reported in a document retrieved from the archives of the wine producer Lodi Corazza.

Many years ago Pignoletto was known as Pignolo and was first planted in Caldara del Reno as a 'mistake' by vine farmers.

The current Pignoletto Doc, registered in 2014, takes its name froma a tiny community in the Municipality of Monteveglio (known as Valsamoggia), an area that lies on the hills betwwen Bologna and Modena. The areas included in the DOC appellation are part of Bologna hills, Modena hills up to Imola and Faenza hills. It is indeed a vast area, that represent the historic expansion of Pignoletto cultivation. There are 3 subzones within the DOC: Modena, Imola hills, and Reno. In order to seal the historic status and and the quality of the Pignoletto from Bologna hills, only the wine produced in the area of Bologna achieved the DOCG status. It is an important DOCG wine that let us to deeply understand the territory of his production area, characterized by a mosaic of different soils and microclimates.

Ref. Enologica guide 2015, by Giorgio Melandri

Pignoletto is produced in different versions: fermo, frizzante, spumante, passito and vendemmia tardiva (late harvest).

It is a lively wine with lovely herbal aromas, from sage to mountain herbs, fresh oregano, hints of citrus fruits. In general it is a polished wine and has a distinctive minerality at the taste.

DOCG REGULATION AND SUBZONES

Colli Bolognesi Classico Pignoletto was the second DOCG to be granted to the Emilia-Romagna wine region of northern Italy, joining Albana di Romagnaon this lofty perch in November 2010.The long name betrays the very specific nature of the wines made under this title, and demonstrates the reticence of the Italian wine authorities to grant DOCG status to all wines from the Colli Bolognesi area. Not only is the title restricted to wines from the classico zone, it also focuses exclusively on those made from the Pignoletto grape variety.

The classico sub-zone encompasses much of the area covered by the seven named Colli Bolognesi sub-zones. Specifically, it covers all of Monte San Pietro and Monteveglio (aka Montebudello), and parts of Sasso Marconi, Casalecchio di Reno, Zola Predosa, Crespellano, Bazzano and Castello di Serravalle in the Bologna province, and Savignano sul Panaro in the Modena province to the west.

The difference between Pignoletto wines produced in this area under the Colli Bolognesi DOC, and those produced in the same area under the Colli Bolognesi Classico Pignoletto DOCG, is one of production quality. Naturally the terroir is the same, so DOCG wines earn their stripes through tighter production restrictions, in this case imposed on the vineyard rather than the winery. Lower yield tolerances and higher minimum-planting densities are used to ensure a higher quality of fruit in terms of phenolic ripeness and higher must weight, leading to greater concentration of flavors. Only wines made under the more stringent conditions warrant the addition of 'e Garantita' to the phrase 'Denominazione di Origine Controllata' (DOC).

Produced from at least 95% Pignoletto, Colli Bolognesi Classico Pignoletto wines are very close to true varietals, and many are produced from 100% Pignoletto. The 5% leeway was included in the DOC laws to allow for intra-row planting variations – some of the vines used to make this wine are very old, and were planted before reliable propagation and planting methods were widely used.