Ep. 2038 Croatina, Dolcetto, Erbaluce by Susannah Gold | Italian Grape Geek

Who wants to be the next Italian wine Ambassador? Join an exclusive network of four hundred Italian wine ambassadors across forty eight countries. Vineetly International Academy is coming to Chicago on October nineteenth is twenty first. And Walmatikazakhstan from November sixteenth to eighteenth. Don't miss out. Register now at Vineetri dot com. Hi. I am Susanna Gold. I am an Italian wine ambassador since two thousand and nineteen, a certification that I'm very proud of, and one that I had been looking to do for a while before I jumped into the fray. I have been studying Italian wine for twenty five years. I started in nineteen ninety seven, very seriously in Milan. I was living in Milan. I was a financial journalist, and my hobby was studying wine, and I had this amazing teacher whose name was Luigi Amorde. I remember a funny name for a professor, but I started and I have never looked back. So I guess that's twenty seven years. I thought it was twenty five years, but it's twenty seven years. And there's always something new to discover about Italian wine, and it's just something that I love. So I'm super happy to be here talking to you about grape varieties another topic that I'm really, really interested in. And by chance, I get to talk about some of the varieties that I know really well. I just did want to mention that if you're looking for me, I'm on Instagram and the other social platforms under Vigna to Coms. I have a marketing company called Vigna to Communications, and I blog at avinardo dot com. But that's enough about me. Let's talk about Grace, which is what we all really care about. So Italy, as we know, has more indigenous grape varieties than any other country. So in particular, I'm called to talk about a few grape varieties today. One of them is called Croatina. With a c, c r o a t I n a, and it is a fruity red grape variety that's grown in lombardy in Piedmont, in Emilio Romagna, and in the Veneto. So really in Northern Italy. It is very deep in color. It's not too acidic. It's slightly tannic, and it can be made as a monovarietal, so into a wine that's a hundred percent caratina, or it could be blended with other grape varieties such as for Nibiolo. For example, when you're in Piedmont, you'll find it more blended with those grape varieties. If you're in the veneto, of course, it's a very small percentage that can be used in Amarone. And it will be blended with Corvina, Rondinala, and other grape varieties that are allowed to be, used when you're making amarone. If you're in Emilia Romagna, you'll probably find Croatina blended with Parvera. So it depends on which region you're in, which grape variety Coratina is blended with, if it's blended. So Coratina is a hardy grape variety in terms of its profile, it's resistant to certain most parasites. It's a little bit susceptible to downy mildew, but it's a hardy grape variety, and it likes really, really deep soils. You'll find it in a lot of the denomination, the region a control area such as in Amelia. For example, the Coli di Parma, the Coli di Scanciano canalsa, and the Coli Picientini is probably the one that is most familiar to many people in Amelia. And that actually my very first experience with Cortina. I was living in Milan, and I was drinking a wine, which is called Gouturno. Gouturno is a blend generally of Cortina and Barbera that comes from the colleague at Chantini. So we used to drink it when I was in graduate school. I went to graduate school in Bologna, which is, of course, in Emilio Romania, and I went to graduate school in international relations, but part of those relations was meeting other people and being out and having food in wine. So one of the wines that we drank often was Guutorno, which was exciting to me, to find this wine that was based on Cortina, and I had always liked Lambrusco, which is another great variety of the girls in Amelia, and Guutorno is a deeper, bigger, hardier wine than many Lambrusco, but it's all can be made in a frizzante style, which is something that I really like. In fact, Cortinez have fun red grape variety even for the summer because while it's hot out, that slightly, a little bit chilled can make it a very appealing, grape varieties. So when I lived in Amelia, we would have Gutonio with, the traditional local foods from Amelia, such as salami, which is kind of like fried ravioli with cheese, such as Tracchino, or Cresciancine and stuff like that. So that was delicious. I love that, and that was a really fun way to discover this amazing grape variety. So then I still lived in Milan, and then many years passed, and I became the Grand Ambassador for a region in Lumberty called, which means on the other side of the Po river. And the signature local red grape variety from Otrepot is Croatina. So that was a very lucky coincidence, or maybe it's just, serendipity. But so I have had the experience of having a lot of Croatina in the past three to four years when I've been working with Elcrepoza. So in Otterpopaveze, Proatina is often used in a wine, which is called Bonardo, which can be confusing because a lot of people think of Bonardo as a grape variety, but in Otrepopaveza, it's a wine that is made generally speaking from Coatina, which can be blended with other grapes, or it can be a hundred percent Coatina. So Bonardo in Otropol is one of their signature wines. You It can be a still wine, it can be a Frizante wine, and one of my favorite favorite favorite versions of that wine is made by the Castello Deluzano, which is a fantastic historic winery with Roman ruins on their property from two thousand years ago, Jovenarla, who owns the winery, Fugaza is her last name, and she actually has a Roman Museum on the property of things that were found when they were trying to plant new vineyards under her property. So she's amazing. She has a hundred hectares, seventy of which are under vine. And the vineyards are Basically, she's on this road, which is called the Vieder Salle, because in ancient times, pilgrims would take salt from the ligurian sea and bring it up into Osner Powell and exchange it for red wine. So I'm sure they were drinking Coratina all those all those years ago. And she makes a beautiful version of Cortatina both in her lombardy property, and then she also has a lot of vineyards in it, So she's a perfect, person to try Cuatina on both sides in two different regions. So whether it's the lumbered version or the the media Romagna version. So that's super fun. And we talked about, how Cuatina also grows in Piedmont. It's also very exciting. So what else can I tell you about Cuatina that you might not know? So it's one of those red wines. I don't love the name for this category, but some people say chillable reds. So what are the reds that you could have with, like, slight chill on it, and I think that's a delicious way to have red wine. I'm a red wine lover, a white wine lover too, but I also like red wine, and I I don't believe that you can only drink red wine in colds or months. So it's fun to have a great variety like Cuatina that you can try also in this, you know, hotter weather that that we're currently in, right now. So Let me think of what else I might tell you about. It's a great variety that's easy to pronounce, and I think that it might be one of the great varieties that's gonna come up in terms of people's interest in Italian wines that they don't know that well. So, Cuatina is one to keep on your radar to look out for, and it's luckily confined it in these four regions. So as we said, you can find it in. Lumberty, Piedmont, Emilia Romagna, and the Venetto. So try Cortino when you see it on the menu. That's what I say to people like be fearless, experiment, order different wines whenever you're in a restaurant, if they have something in the by the glass list, you know, take a chance on, a wine that you don't know. That's the tip of how to taste more Italian grape varieties until you do that dream thing and move to Italy like I did. Whenever that is your time to do that. Move on to the next grape variety. So the second grape variety I'm gonna talk about today is called Dolceto, which is a really nice grape variety to pronounce because Dolce means sweet, and it also kind of rolls off the tongue because one of the things that I've found is that people are afraid to order grape varieties that they have a hard time pronouncing. Right? So lucky for me, I lived in Italy for a long time, so my Italian is good, and I don't have that problem. But I am aware that many people do. I do when I'm trying to, you know, name a Portuguese grid variety or, you know, a German one that I, I don't know how to pronounce. And so I totally understand what that feels like, but Dolceto is one of the grape varieties that you won't have that problem with. Rolls off the tongue. So dolceto is a red grape variety. It's a grape variety that's widely grown in piedmont, but you can also find it actually in liguria. And in El Chapoza. In Piedmont, you can kind of think of Dorceto as the third, very famous red grape variety. We know the other ones are nebbiolo and Barbera. Right? And so Dolceto is called dolceto because it's supposed to be a little bit sweet or dolce, which of course means sweet when you taste it. It often blended with other grape varieties, for example, with When it's in a blend, it brings body to the wine, and dolcito is a part of many, many, many d o c's and d o c g's. What does it taste like? So dolcito is a great variety on its own that can be either kind of fresh and fruity and approachable and welcoming, depending on how it's vinified. It can also be a bigger, more important, you know, more severe grape variety. Although, what I mean is, you know, more tan grape variety. Let's put it that way. Either it can be a wine that you can drink early or if it has a lot of oak on it, it can be a wine that ages. One of the things I always find with Dolceto is it has kind of a hint almond and licorice on the nose and on the palate. It's was one of the first actually wines that I had. So earlier I mentioned that I began studying wine in nineteen ninety seven, my first wines teacher, whose name was Luija Morda, had us try a wine from Piedmont, which was really exciting. And it was a Dolceto from a specific area, which is called Doliani. It's one of the kind of cruise of Dolceto. And I loved it, and I loved the historical link to it as well. So that particular wine that I tried is from a place called Podere Luigi Aenodi. So Luigi Aenodi, was the first prime minister of Italy, actually. So that was kind of exciting to me because I've always really been interested in Italian politics as well. So the family that owns that particular winery is the same family that had, you know, the first prime minister of Italy because as we know, Piedmont kind of was the beginning form of of Italy. But this is a podcast about wine grapes, not about politics, but I now he was the prime minister of Italy from nineteen forty eight to nineteen fifty five, which was kind of a hard time for the country. Right after, the war, and they were trying to recover. So I was excited to try this particular wine from Delceto Zidolliani. So one of the particular areas that's a crew of Delceto. So another area of Delceto that can be very well known is another winery. Sorry, is while Poderanawi is a privately owned family company with all this history. There's also a a whole bunch of co ops in Piedmont as in the rest of Italy. And one of the ones that makes Dolceto that I love is called Klemasana, and it's a winery that has three hundred and fifty members. They have fourteen hundred acres and They make mostly dolceto. They make some other things, but I love their dolceto. It's very fun. It's very fresh and welcoming. And dolceto is one of those wines. I think that is just a perfect wine to have, let's say, with lighter fare. I love to have Zolceta with pizza or with pasta. I think of Zolceta kind of as like a Friday or a Tuesday night wine, you know, when you get home from work and you don't necessarily wanna make a big meal and They'll check those a very easy to drink wine and one that I've always appreciated. I don't know why it hasn't gotten more play, but I'm hoping that it does. Also, it's a little bit less expensive, generally speaking than a lot of Nipiolo, of course, I think Dolcshedo's a great approachable, great variety for people who are new to red wine. So in addition to Doliani, which we talked about, there are a number of other really historic Delcshedo appellations in Piedmont, including Alba, Dianodalba, Avada, Asti, Aquque, and others. And, you know, it's there's so many choices for people who want to try Dolceto. So one of the other things that I really love to do is interview women and wine. I've done that a lot on my, Instagram feed. I've written a lot about them on avinara dot com, my blog, one of the people I interviewed during the pandemic was a woman named Paola Abrigo, and her family has a winery called Agenda Agrigola Abrigo Giovanni. And it was really interesting to me to talk to her because they are is from an area that's called Dianodalva. So it's a little bit different than Dolceto from Doliani. So very fun. They grow amazing Dolceto. That's a very big focus for her family. And I thought it was really delicious. I tried it at a recent, wine tasting in New York again, and I was very excited to be able to have that experience. So particularly in that area, remember I said that Delceto has this kind of almond note So where dolceto grows also hazelnuts grow. So these very famous hazelnuts that come from Piedmont. So I always think, you know, what grows together goes together? So I could imagine that you could have dolceto with, let's say, a pasta with some kind of sauce with nuts or a different kind of white meat meal. And I'm very hungry as I'm telling you all of this. And before I stop talking about Filceta in a few minutes, I want to talk about Filceta from another area. So in addition to, growing in Piedmont, where it's super famous from all of these different denominations, Dolcshedo also grows in liguria, under a different appalachian. So the Appalachian in Ligoria where it grows is called Ormiasco, which is a little bit harder to pronounce, but, so, same grape variety, just different name, which happens a lot in Italy. But if you think about Piedmont, and the way Piedmont is shaped, Piedmont is above liguria. So liguria is on the sea, of course, and the southern tip of Piedmont touches the northern tip of liguria. So that's how they're related to one another. So grape varieties, just like people, migrate over, borders. There's no border that says this grape variety cannot move to that area of Italy, of course. Right? What is Delceto like in liguria and how does it differ from Delceto in Piedmont? So it's different in that. It's, of course, more a red line of the sea. Automasco. Interestingly enough, it's, they're well known in liguria for not just a still version of this red wine. They're also known for a pacita version, which is very complicated and and pricing, but something that I've really appreciated. I used to work with the region of Lundberty, which is why I'm familiar with this, particular wine. And many people may not be, but there are, if you are traveling to Italy. It's actually the name of the denomination is called Cormiasco de Cornacio, which is a long mouthful and kind of hard to say, but it's a very, very interesting grape variety and something that's exciting. Wine, I really wanna mention is Dourin. Lara Dourin is the name of the producer. I have spoken to her. I've interviewed her. She makes really, really interesting wines in her, to is a fantastic version, and it's super fun to try one of these wines that you are very unexpected. Right? And the sweet wine version of this can also be called Chacatra, which is a name for Pasita wines in liguria. I always think of shakyakan whenever I say shakatra. Very interesting, pleasant in liguria find, I think, more the wild berry, the cherry that comes out, rather than the almond licorice that I found in Piedmont, but there are loads of interesting producers of Dorceto and in Piedmont and of Corneasco in liguria, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Dorceto also grows in So there's a lot of dulceto also in that area of lombardy, which also makes sense because the tip of lombardy in that region touches Piedmont and touches liguria. So Otrifel also touches Emilio de Romagna. So they're all very close together in Northern Italy. So you can't go wrong if you find Dolcetto as a buy the glass pour in a in a wine shop. I mean, in a restaurant, or you find a bottle on your local shelves in a retail store. So definitely be open minded to try and gochieto. So another great variety that we're gonna talk about today is called Erbaluche. Erbaluche is a white grape variety. It's a grape variety that has gotten a lot of play in the last, I would say, ten years. I'm talking about in the United States, and in the East Coast of the United States ago, but I think kind of everywhere. It's a white grape variety that has been discovered and that people are really digging and loving, hails from Piedmont. And you've probably heard of Ervalucia de Caluzo, and it is, now a DLCG wine. And this wine comes in different versions. So you can have it as a still wine, as a sweet wine, and as a sparkling wine. So that's always really exciting to me when a great variety can be made into all of these different versions and be used with different binification processes. Let me take a step back for a second. Why can this grape variety be made into these different categories of wines? Clearly because it's quality grape variety, but also because it has a lot of great acidity in it. Right? So you need acidity in the grape variety in order for it to sustain both being made into a sparkling wine, but also being made into a pacita wine so that the acidity can offset all that sugar. As a grape variety, Evaluche has a lot of acidity, I know there's a lot of a discussion around the word minerality. I still like the word minerality. We could use the word salinity. It's up to you. I think you know what I mean, that kind of marine taste that is something that's reminds you of the sea that makes your your mouth salivate and that, you know, makes you think of, oh, I I want some more of this actually. And I also find when I say minerality or salinity that there's something clean to me about the wine, meaning, like, it's very vertical in terms of how it goes into my mouth and how it goes down my throat. And so the wine can also be floral. It can be fruity. As many Italian white grapes, it ends with kind of a almond finish. Right? So in the past, Emvaluche apparently was used mostly in sparkling wine, which is kind of interesting. It can also be found, as I said, in the Pacific versions, it's not clear yet what the DNA is of this particular grape variety and how it's related to other grape varieties. It's not fully identified. We also don't know the exact origin of the name, Arba Lucia Nomi's grass, luce, we Nomi's light. Some say that it comes from the brilliant color and the glass of its variety. So like a very crisp, sparkling kind of lemon yellow color. It grows in different areas in Piedmont. It can be used in that kind of vase denominations, can be used in that call in Novaresi. It can be in the, Costa de la Cesia, which Cesia as a river we know. It can be in the Piamonte doc. It's in its own docG, and it grows in the provinces of churn, of Piela and Novarada. It's a little bit sensitive to O idiom as well as frost, which can be a problem. We know that Piedmont is in the north of Italy. It's a very vigorous grape variety, which is a good thing, but it's production is apparently not that consistent. So I've had this wine for a number of years. I remember the very first time I tried it. I was at a wine tasting at a a restaurant that used to be in New York for, I don't know, forty years called It was, Nicole, who opened that restaurant is now the owner of a winery in Italy called, Motefili in Tuscany, but he used to have also an import company in New York that was called domenico Valentino, and they had this wine tasting at this restaurant. And I just went I couldn't believe this amazing wine that I tasted from a winery called or Solani, and there were these three different versions of it. And I was so excited. It was just amazing, and I I really loved it. And so that was my first introduction to this great variety was maybe fifteen years ago in New York at at a wine tasting. And I, you know, felt like I knew a lot about Italian wine and a lot of Italian grapes, but like many of you, here was another one that I didn't know anything about, that I just discovered that for me was a big deal, Ebaluche was kind of the same had the same hype as timorosto has in the past, I would say, three to five years. So ten years ago, Ervaluche was the wine that everyone was like, oh my god, Ervaluche, how exciting. Right? I still feel that way about this particularly great variety and about a woman that I interviewed who was really fun to talk to. So during the pandemic, I started to do an Instagram series with an Italian women in wine, and I'd interview people, and I'd be stuck in my attic and they were in their vineyards in Italy, and it was very exciting, and a another way to travel to Italy when, you know, the borders were closed. So the winery is called, I believe you pronounce it. Shaq, Chiac. It's c I e c k. Her name is Leah Alconeri, and she started it with her father. And they are in, San Georgio, Kanavese in Pima. They're between the towns of Churna, Yverea. Her father used to work for Olivecie, for anybody who's old enough to remember Olimetti was a company, really, really famous Italian company that started making typewriters, and they were kind of in the early days of computing, and it's based in Avreya. And so I guess he was an executive at at Boliviti, and then he wanted to found a vineyard. And so they did, and they have thirteen hectares of vineyards. They almost grow exclusively at Voluscha, which is why I'm so excited to talk about them I've had all three of their versions, actually, even recently, because I've done some work with producers. They're imported by a company here in New York that I know solaire, and have had the opportunity in the last years to taste their wine whenever I go to one of their tastings. And they're just lovely, all of the their versions of Eveluche. They make some other grapes, but Eveluche is very interesting one, and there's also actually interestingly enough they make a method of classico of Ervaluche. So method of classical, we know is the traditional method of making sparkling wine as posted the Charmot method, and it's interesting to me that they would make in that particular version. They make a small quantity of it as a method of classic. A lot of sparkling wine. We know it's made in the Charmot method, so in the tank. But it's exciting that people make Eveluche in the Mythula classical. So just going back for a minute, I wanna talk about the origins of Eveluche, which I have mentioned are, you know, not yet clear. Some people think it's related to the great variety. Good echo, other I'll say it's related to our niece. But, you know, there's a lot of debate about it, and it's just a really exciting wine. You can also find it called Greco Novareze. So that could be confusing to you, but apparently it's considered to be, the same. The Pasita version of Eberluche, which is one of my favorites, because I love sweet wines, has more of that almond peach color deep intense aromas, and it's very exciting to try those kind of wines. You can also find a lot of, like, baked apple in the pastita version. So what would you have it with? With the sparkling version, for example, I might have it with, like, carpacho or another, like, beef tartar, which is fantastic from Piedmont. Lovely. Amazing. Now that I think about that. If I were having the sweeter version, I might have it. Corranzola cheese, something else that, you know, reminds me of Piedmont. So I always try to eat and drink local foods with local wines. So that's my suggestion to you. I don't know if you can find it everywhere, but I think that a lot of Ervaluche is now imported more than in the past, and it's one of those fun wines that if you can find it, you can add it to your hundred grape variety list or any of that stuff. So be open to trying Ervaluche There's a whole bunch of producers who make it. I can name some of them, such as Elrico, Franchesco, Brigati, Jacamo bruno. I mean, there are just a bunch of them that are imported into the United States, and I'm sure in other parts of the world. It's a really fun grape variety in all of its iterations. So I highly suggest that you try some. Listen to the Italian wine podcast, wherever you get your podcasts, we're on SoundCloud Apple Podcasts, autify, HimalIFM, 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, Cheaching.