Ep. 1963 Gropello, Negrara, and Pallagrello Groups by Michele Longari | Italian Grape Geek

The Italian wine podcast is the community driven platform for Italian winegeeks around the world. Support the show by donating at italian wine podcast dot com. Donate five or more Euros, and we'll send you a copy of our latest book, my Italian Great Geek journal. Absolutely free. To get your free copy of my Italian GreatGeek journal, click support us at Italianpodcast dot com, or wherever you get your pods. Welcome to the Italian Great Geek Podcast. Join us as we explore personal stories of travel and tasting with Italy's must know grape varietals. Chart your own course with my Italian Great Geek journal, your personal tasting companion to accompany the series. Available now on Amazon with thanks to Calangelo and partners for their generous support with this project. My name is, Mikaela Longery. I am, originally from San secon department. A small town near Arma in Amelia, Romania, but I have been living in the UK for over ten years now. I am a director at, Hey Y's UK, an independent by Merchant and important base in Library. And, in July twenty twenty two, I also became, Italian ambassador for Vineital International Academy. Today, we are going to focus on three different groups of grape varieties that have, to some extent, lots in common, the group, the Negara, and finally the Palogranos. In fact, these three groups are not widely famous nor recognized by wider audience. Yet they make wise, but, I think probably professor Shenza would describe as, very modern. For, the fact that they are, fruit driven, elegantly aromatic, fresh, is drinking and incredibly versatile with food. But, let's dip into the first group, shall we? The groperos. Gropero is the name that has been used since, ancient times to describe a grape varieties that have, an extremely compact bunch, probably reminiscent of a closed fist or a knot. The main group value variety is called the group value in Chile, but there are other two varieties that make wines worth of note and are the group value in Mocassina and the group value label. The first one is, typical of, lombardy, near the Garden Lake, while the Capeo de Rago is typical of the Valdino in Tarantino. All grofellas have, cylindrical and conical bunge is so compact that actually the batteries are slightly flattened due to being squeezed together. All growth panels are disease resistant. Although the combination of their bunch is actually makes them a pretty sensitive to boturities and not in a good way. Copel wines are typically medium bodied, have a slightly bitter, nati aroma, And sometimes, the aftertaste of Gropello can remind of, bitter almonds, which is something very important for, their own versatility with, food and wine matchings. Talking about the specific varieties in the Gropelos group. Let's just spend a few words on Gropelos a year ago before moving to the more popular and widely available gente lemoccasina varieties. This, propeller is typical of the Valdino. It grows mainly around the towns of Revo and Cagnor, obviously, as well as on the shore of the Lagodi class. It is, permitted in many ICTs, among which probably the most important are the vigneti Deledolomiti, the Levena Ezia, and also the Ballegarina. It seems to be probably the oldest member of the groupalo group, and, it gives, ruby red wine with medium acidity, full body, soft, and round on the palate. What makes very characteristic of, Grumpel de Revo is the spiciness of a course. On the other hand, Gropelho gentile and Gropelho Dimocasina are both found in Lombardi and, more in particular, near the Garden Lake. Normally, we found them blended together, but can also find examples of monovarita Cortelogenide. Corporelodimocasina is, easy to distinguish from the other propellers because, it has the smallest bunches. And the berries are, very small too. It is very vigorous and productive, and, it gives the best results when it's planted on his size, poor rocky soils, because water drainage for Roberto de moccasina is actually key. Propero de mocassina tends to be a bit more, vegetal and herbal wines. And this is why normally the two blended together give very interesting results. Is also very easily distinguished from all the other propellers and mainly because, it's, always winch and, the great bunch has a very peculiar shape. This medium size it has large berries. And when the bunch is particularly big, then, most likely, we have in front of us a specific biotype of Gropelogentil, which is named Gropelor. Corpellogent otherwise show bright acidity, lively timings, and, intense aromas of, things like, red cherry, violet, tobacco, and plenty of spices. Again, this is the spiciness is, a common, thing about all the group values varieties within this group. In particular, we say for group values in teal, things like, olive wood, black pepper, margarine, are the most important spices we can get. As mentioned before, Gropelogen Tiller, very often is blending with Gropelodim moccasina, and, Gropelodim moccasin and the blend that has to enhance the perfumes and the smoothness of Gropelogen Tiller. Talking about my personal connection to the grape. I must admit that, Gropelos or the Gropelos, to be honest are a relatively recent passion of mine. In fact, although I had Gropello wines in the past, especially when I was visiting the Lagogi during the summer holidays, I never gave them, the importance that they actually deserve. So it's quite interesting that, the first time I really discover and finally appreciated Gropello based wines was actually two or three years ago, during Vin Italy. I remember that I was, in the Pala expo, so the whole dedicated to Lombardi, very busy, always a very busy hall, and there wasn't a hurry because I needed to get to the opposite side of the hall for my next meet. Somehow, I stumbled into a work around testing organized by by, they have a tendency consortium. DOC near the Gardale Lake with wines normally based on, group palo gentile and group palo democratino. I decided to stop, but only for ten meals at the beginning. As, I was intrigued by the very diverse lineup of Wise. Ten minutes became twenty and twenty minutes became an hour. I was totally blown away by the aromatic finesse, the arrogance, freshness, and the incredible drinkability of those wines. Gropello wines are becoming more and more available in the export market. Talking about my own market. So the UK, I think that, propello wines are a style of wine that is getting more and more appreciated by white consumer here. In addition, the huge wine to raise him around the Garden Lake. He's probably giving more visibility to the group Palogent Till and moccasina plans rather than group Palogiergo. But still, I can really see a movement towards this kind of, white. If I had to suggest, benchmark producer worth of trying, I need to say that there are many, many producers who are making excellent group values, and it's very easy to find, very good quality group value wise. But if I had to focus on some of the wines I had during my most recent testings, I would probably recommend to try the genteel based wines from Pratello. In particular, I would say they are ten zero so to Ratto. And I recollect a Gropelon for a twenty fifteen. For what concerns Gropelo de Rigo, I will definitely mention the cantina Zermia, and specifically their own silenciana, which is a wine made from one hundred and thirty here sold groperlo vines ungrafted, which is something very rare to find. Finally talking about, my favorite subject, food pairings. I think that, Gropel, to some extent, can be considered the perfect example of a genuine everyday wine. In particular, I think Gropelogen tea lays perfect for this. In fact, it is, the perfect wine to be enjoyed by the glass and this, natural fruity freshness make it very light and easy to drink. This means that, propel is very versatile with food. And, in particular, with a wide range of uncomplicated dishes, like, pasta risotto or char grilled red meat. It's very surprising. The amazing combination that the groupello has with the oily fish dish is like, a roasted trout or mackerel. It's very, very interesting. Now let's move on to the second group of Italian native varieties that we will be focusing on this installment, the negrado. Are you enjoying this podcast? Don't forget to visit our YouTube channel. Mama jumbo shrimp for fascinating videos covering Stevie Kim and her travels across Italy and beyond, meeting winemakers, eating local food, and taking in the scenery. Now back to the show. Hi, everyone. It's the long story, and we will continue our journey through the Italian native grape varieties. And we will talk about on this installment, the Negara group. Like many other Italian grape groups, the Negara grapevines, have highly diverse, morphological and phonological characteristics, as well as obviously geographic origins. It's very interesting. They were all lumped together probably because of a generic, dark, or black hue on their varies. Although it is still unclear if negra's name actually could be belonging to the commune of negra in verona, where it's commonly planted. I guess this is another unsolved mystery in Italian wine. There are two main varieties in this group. The Negara Trentina and the Negara veronese. The Negara Trentina is found in the Trentina to Adije, and it is usually blended with other local varieties. In many different IgT wise, but, we can say that there are some example of monovarital IgT wise too. It is easy to spot in the vineyard since, its leaf is a pentagonal and has a large sized compact five lobes bunch with very large berries. It is vigorous productive, but, unfortunately, is also very sensitive to Peronospora, which is probably the biggest threat for this variety. The wines made from Negara Trentina are medium dark red with grapey, herbal, and red car on aromas. They taste bright and fresh with delicate sour red fruit and under bush knobs, which are very, very pleasant. Generally speaking, Negra Trentina gives, very good light to medium bodied, low alcohol, and high acid wise. On the other hand, Negra Veronais, sometimes also called Terodola, is an ancient variety that has recently been shown to have a close genetic ties with another rare variety called, grosia. Its diffusion is limited to a few sporadic rows in Balicella, and in the provinces of Paduba and Vicenza. Due to the small production, unfortunately, there are no example of monovarital wines made with this, negara or at least they never came across one during the past years. Indeed, it is much more likely to find one of these, grapes in plants like, the Dio C, Bardolino, Braganza Rosa, Vantage, and also in the Barcoli China. Personally, I think that Nagara is a brilliant group of grape varieties. They're incredibly versatile and able to give, diverse results according to where it is grown and how it is been defined in the cellular. They are, acidic in a very pleasant and good way. Almost sour, someone will say, his priority is, a generous frankness, but, Negrala can also show a very delicate side. According to how it is paired with foods. In particular, I really love what Negra Veronese does when using the traditional Bardolino blends, for example, playing in harmony with Corvina from the Nile and Molinara, and, improving overall the aromatic per system and the diversity of the blend. On the other hand, I also love the structure yet smooth and fresh character of Negala Trentina. When it is been defined on its own. In my view, the Graniterentina is one of the few varieties able to be at the same time very simple in a good way and incredibly interesting and intriguing. Is a great combination when it comes to wine. Talking about, the UK market. Unfortunately, again, I would not say that negarara, more of a nicer wines are very easy to find. In the past, I found them in a couple of a higher end Italian restaurants in London, but not much more. In fact, even for, specialized Italian wine merchants like us, the demand for negara, one of our rival wines is still not growing yet. And, probably would require a huge communication effort to introduce them with success in this market. However, DOCs like Bartolino or Papulichola are very strong in the UK. So it's very easy to try Negra blended with other local grape varieties. If, was asked about a benchmark producer for this, group of varieties, I will probably mention where I restarted because in the past, I tried that many times they're, delicious, Bardolino classical, where, in the best years, Negrada is really able to take the wine onto a different level. Both in terms of complexity and acidic structure too. For what regards to Negara Trentina, I am thinking about Cantina Prabis. Cantina Prabis were probably one of the first in the region to make a monovarital negrata really able to shine through. For this success, they gave a huge motivation to many other producers locally to start believing and invest in this historical variety. So they really changed the perception of monovarital negrada wise in Tarant. Finally, food pairings. In my view, negrada goes really well with a variety of red meat dishes. Ranging from delicate air dried brazaula for the youngest and more floral version of Negara to automatically intense dishes like braised beef or Stracotto for the wise with more aging and structure. Okay. Let's now move on to the last group of Italian native grape varieties of this installment, the Palagrilo Group. Hi. It's, Mikkele Longary. And, today, we will be talking about, the Palagrilo Group. Palagrallos embody the troubles of native Italian grapes that you are completely forgotten by almost everyone until the early twenty first century. And, now, the Palagrallos are considered to of Italy's most exciting varieties. Some expert believe the name Palagrillo derives from PAa, hay, because the grapes used to be air dried on straw and eaten like razors. Other experts insist that actually the Palagrallos are direct descendants of the Palagrall varieties. They're very famous in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Through Palagrallobianco and Palagrallonero, are those grown exclusively in the in the province of Caserta. Both are grown in a very limited era. And, for this reason, the production volumes are extremely low. For instance, the Palagrado Bianco's distribution is limited to the north western part of Campania just in the area above Casa. And especially I will mention around the towns of Kaazzo Castal Campiano and Castal Desasso. Pala Cara Nuneiro on the other hand, historically was, probably more widely distributed in the entire company region. Yet, it is currently mainly found in the province of Caserta too. Pala Cara Lombianco, Pala Cara Luneiro share many features. For instance, they both have, small cylindrical branches and small round berries. Probably the main difference between the two is that the Pala Gra Lubianco almost always as a wing and it's better resistant to boturities. My personal connection, to these graves, well, I must admit that, I came across Palagrilo only a few months ago. When I received some samples from a producer from Campania. Originally, we were, interested just in their Valentina and their Aljanico, but they really insisted that we tried their Palagrellas too. I could never thank them enough for being so persistent. When I tested the wines with the rest of my colleagues, we were absolutely impressed by the character and the strong identity of both wines. It was another tour site for me and my team. Pala gran lubianco tends to be a colleague as the variety accumulates sugar very easily. I remember that the wine did smell and tastes like, veonye, a little bit like veonye. Yes. With slightly higher acidity, I would say, and definitely more refined perfused. Alagrandeiro on the other end shows a very much complete aromatic bouquet. Things like, Charlie. Black carbon tobacco, black pepper, blackberry jam, a very white spectrum indeed of delicate aromas and flavors. The wines are usually characterized by soft tannins and low levels of acidity. Creative and incredibly smooth, round sensation on the part that I think is, what makes, wines from Pala granigliano outstanding. What, personally. I found the most interesting about the Palagrellas is the fact that, although they clearly are different varieties make making different types of wine, it is very easy to tell that they are part of the same family. In fact, it is clear that, from the very first taste, they have something in common, a genetic background, and also shared history. Palagranos can really be perceived even by the not professional wine tasters as actual siblings grapes, and this is something incredibly exciting to discover. Talking about my market. As far as I know, Pallegrado wines are not present in the UK at the moment. This, should not come as a surprise since, we now know that, their production is incredibly limited, and their consumption is mainly driven by local and, national market. If I was asked to recommend any specific producers, I would clearly mention the Nutatranicher. The Nutatranicher was the producer who sent us the samples in the first place. They are definitely one of the wineries that has put lots of focus and commitment on, first, Seguarding, and then restoring these ancient varieties. They're fourteen VA, Palagrado, and they're at Mido twenty five, Palagrallonero, are a real tribute to the historic relevance of these grapes that actually were were very close to disappear. Food matches for the Palagrallis is very interesting because Palagrallobianco, as I mentioned before, shows an important aromatic persistence and length. For this reason, it can be matched to a variety of dishes like, deep fried sardines, chargraids, war fish, or even a traditional pasta, like a linguinella Pescattora. So pasta with, octopus squid prone muscle in tomato passata. Pala granularo, for its peculiar elegance and aromatic finesse can be matched with success to a variety of risottos. For instance, I would say, porcini risotto, four cheeses or even a delicious milanese, a soft resort to video. Talking about meat, I will probably go to delicate, veal dishes or, roasted red meat. That is the end of this installment. Thanks a lot for listening and see you soon on Italian White Podcasts. A price go. Listen to the Italian wine podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We're on SoundCloud Apple Podcasts autify, EmailIFM, and more. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show. If you enjoy listening, please consider donating through Italianline podcast dot com. Any amount helps cover equipment, production, and publication costs. Until next time, teaching.