Ep. 1040 Map 29 North Italy East | Jumbo Shrimp Maps

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In this episode, we will be looking at the Northeast Italy map. The Northeast of Italy is the most very region of climate and topography. The Veneto region is defined mostly by the Po River Basin, a wide swath of flat fertile farmland, running from the border of Lombardi to the west, to the AJX Sea in the east. Going north at the foothill areas of Val Pollachella, Swave, and Presecco climb quickly into the steep mountains of the dolomite Alps through Trentino and into Alto Adige. Here, the steep granite mountains carved with deep valleys by glaciers and rivers seem to rise almost vertically from the valley floors. Vinards climb up the hillsides, some terrace and others on almost impossibly steep slopes. The region of Frulie Benezia Julia, often referred to simply as Frulie, is equally diverse yet not so severe. Here, the vineyards climbed slowly northward from the gravely plains starting at the Adriatic Sea toward the hilly slovenian border to the east and the Austrian mountains to the north. The interior of Veneto and up into the lower Tarantino is a moderate continental climate, with cool wet winters, hot and humid summers, and plenty of rain. The northern part of Trentino, into Alto Adige, is a cool Alpine climate. However, the river valleys of Alto Adige meet at the town of Bolzano, collect and hold so much summer sun and warmth it is the second hottest city in Italy during the summer, only behind Palermo in Sicily. Northeast Veneto, Indeferrill, is more of a warm maritime climate, moderated by the Adriatic sea, and cooled by wind coming down from the Austrian Alps. These bordering northern mountains protect from the coldest of winter weather and the strongest of continental summer storms. The Po and Aditi rivers offer moderating, climatic influence, but so especially does Lake Garda, a deep glacial lake that is the largest in Italy, Its cool waters influenced the vineyards of both Southern Trentino and western Veneto, like Valpo, Bartelino, and Lagana. Viticulture in this region has adapted over the centuries to the varying climates and terroars, particularly with the various buying training systems. The ancient peoples that first cultivated grape vines did so by training the vines up trees to lend support. The Greeks and then the Romans improved upon this wild haphazard style by creating orderly vineyards with the vines trained to posts. Many different systems have evolved over the years from this, depending on the climate, topography, and the needs of the vine. The pergola training system is one that dates back to at least the ancient Romans. The vines are trained upward to an overhead trellis that allows the grapes to hang below the canopy, but overhead of those working in the vineyard. Of the benefits are it allows for airflow through the vines, especially in humid areas like the Veneto and Tarantino. The canopy also provides some protection for the grapes allowing for lower sugar and higher acidity for sparkling wines, or a longer growing season for more complex grape brightness. Also, farmers were able to maximize their land usage by planting vegetable beds underneath the grapes. Held on to even through the nineteen sixties as the Mesidria system. In Italy, this was still quite common. I took the sharecropping system, around since the middle ages, where the farmer owed one half of his harvest to his landlord, so maximizing the output of his land was the most important. The difficulty of using pergola is that everything in the vineyard must be done by hand, therefore increasing the labor cost. So as mechanization and modern techniques came into Italy, many farms converted their vineyards to cane trellising systems, like the VSP, which is vertical shoot positioning. First adopted by the French in Bordeaux, this trains the vine shoots upward from the cane, maximizing sun exposure for the bunches and allowing for higher density of planting and making machine harvesting possible. This is probably the most common vine trellising used in Italy now, especially for co ops and large farms that have to machine harvest the grapes. Interestingly, recent studies have found that for the native red grapes around valpolicella, for example, the pergola system actually leads to better quality fruit. So many wineries that had tried to adopt the new ways have gone back to the old ways. As the Northeast of Italy seems to be a mix of the old and the new, let's look at some of the most important grapes starting in for newly, the Natia Julia. Pina brescia is now the most planted white grape in Italy, at least from the two thousand fifteen numbers, but its trend has been increasing for two decades. As mentioned in the Italy map discussion, for much of the world, Pina brescia has come to define Italian white wine. High volume, inexpensive, perfect for VSP trellising that allows for huge swaths of vineyards to be easily machined harvested. These wines are light in body with medium acidity and typical citrus and green fruit flavors. But there are corners of Frioli that have embraced and succeeded with its traditional grape. Traditional meaning, not native, but established and now historically important. The gravely plains of coastal Frioli that rise from the atriatic coast, the doc called Frioli gravi And the steep low hills of Colio on the border with slovenia produce rich and ripe styles of pinot grigio to its fullest potential, higher acidity, medium body, rich and ripe tree fruit with a hint of texture. Or more depending on the skin contact, Pino Grigio has a varying amount of color in its skins. It's a mutation from the Peno family. And this region is also famous for Ramato, which is copper, Italian, wanting to take on a slight to pronounce salmon color. With the worldwide fascination for Jose wines, these free yearly gems are having a resurgence. Merlo has also become so important to the regions of Ferule and Eastern Veneto that, though not native to Italy, is now considered traditional to the winemaking of the region. Probably brought from France through the Austrian empire in the eighteen hundreds, like Pina grigio, Merlo established itself very quickly in the area. It is an adaptable grape, although not as much as Cabanese Oven Yum, and thrives in the maritime influence and cooler clay or gravel soils in this area. Merlo is a vigorous vine, because plenty of bunches, and it makes wine a medium body, medium acidity, lots of lush ripe bread fruit flavors, and can make more serious wines identify with oak. Italian wine podcast, part of the momo jumbo shrimp family. By two thousand fifteen, Merlo was the seventh most planted grape in Italy. It's authorized in dozens of DOC wines. It has its own Strata del Merlo, a winery tour route along the Asanza River in Fueley, And in Tuscany, one of the world's most prestigious and expensive wines is made from single vineyard merlot. But, purely, has dozens of native or the word is octokhenous, grapes that make wines that have longer define this region. After all, the ancient Roman city of Aquilea, which at the time was the second largest in the empire, was renowned for its white wines. Fuellano is probably the most well known. It was once called Tokai Fuellano, but the Tokyo of Hungary now solely claims that name. You might see it labeled as TAI or Thai across in Veneto. Document as far back as the twelfth century. Frulano is thankfully resistant to most diseases. Perfectly adapted to this humid area notice. The typical dry wines have medium high acidity, pear, red apple, herbs, and even sweet almond flavors, and create a lovely tension of creaminess versus texture bitterness in the glass. To the north into the Dolomite Alps, we have the two regions of Tarantino and Altuadoge, connected by the Aditi River and often referred to it in the same phrase. These two areas are most well known for traditional grapes like Pina grisio, Chardonnay, diverse Junior, Pino Bianco, and Merlo. Usually bought a single varietals. Remember, much of this area was part of the Austrian Empire until after the first World War. These high Alpine vine vineyards with surprisingly warm summer days, but cool nights are perfect for retaining refreshing acidity for these aromatic whites and light bodied reds like the native Skiava. Because the vineyards are small and labor intensive, cooperatives of local farmers tend to make most of the wine. Usually labeled as Alto AutoJ doc. Unlike some of the farming in the south of Italy, here the co ops are highly regarded. Going south in the Trentino, the valleys get a little wider and the vineyards planted on both sides of them at lower elevations. Traditional grapes are still common, but a few native arrivals are quite noteworthy. Terraldigo is especially noteworthy, being a parent grape to other local red varietals. It prefers a pergola training system as being susceptible to humidity and valley wind. The one fully ripe makes wines of deep red color, high but suppletanins, high acidity, dark red to black fruit, and unlike most other mountain reds, can be elevated with oak aging. Most of the regional wines are labeled as Trentino DOC, but there is a separate Trento DOC called Trento doc. These are my total classical wines from Chardonnay and the pinot grapes that are some of the best values in Italian, sparkly wine. Into the Veneto, let's touch briefly on the area of Persecco in the east as this will be covered more fully in the sparkling wine podcast. While glarea plantings have grown fivefold in the previous decade to satisfy the worldwide demand for Persecco, and the DOC encompasses much of both Vrouli and Veneto. The hills around the towns of Azalo and Valobiadne are some of the steepest, most densely planted, and most expensive in all of Italy. The wines of the DOCGs are the best examples of the floral fruity, peach, and creamy sparkling texture that made these wines so famous. Swave is another case of two practically different wines with the same name. To the north around the town of Swave is the classical region. Hillside vineyards and soils of limestone clay and volcanic rock that benefit from the cool elevation and steeper slopes. The garganaga grape, especially achieves here higher acidity, pronounced citrus and stone fruit, and its Hallmark nutty aroma and texture. These white wines quite often benefit from a few years of bottle aging. South of the town, where the flat plains run to the Po river, the soil is alluvial and more fertile. We see more of the Trebiana D' Swave and other approved whites in the blends. And the wines here are fruitier, of more medium acidity, and meant to be drunk a little younger. Any wine from the region can be labeled as Swave DOC, but only the hillside vineyards produce Swave classico. One of the unique DOCG wines of the area is called recioto de suave. A sweet white wine made from dried grapes of ancient roman origins. It's made by using the Apacimento method. That a Chyoto refers to the little ears of the grape bunches that became the ripest. We'll discuss that in just a minute. Going west, you reach the Valpolicella wine area. And like Swave, we have the original vineyards on the hillsides, to the north, where the soils and the elevation slow down grape ripening, and the increase in acid and phenolic texture. While to the south, the vineyards are flatter, soil is more sand and gravel, and the warmer area Further from the cooling influence of Lake Garda makes for riper and fruitier wines. The whole area is under Valporal Oc, but only the Northern Hills encompass the classical DOC. Corvina is the main grape in the various Valpolicella blends and elevations. It's an ancient varietal native to the area of Veneto just east of Lake Garda around the town of Verona, and it seems to thrive nowhere else in the world. This dark red grape with thick skins thought to be named for the Corvo, the Black Raven, that probably enjoy these berries as a sweet snack when ripe. Corvina is high in acidity, but lower in tannins, sun burns easily, and its bunches are sensitive to humidity diseases like wetratus. So the pergola training is perfect. Allowing for a canopy of shade and airflow around the grapes for complete ripening. Even so, farming grapes in this warm humid area almost always require some spray treatments to prevent mildew and bunch rot. The wines here have been prized since Roman times and probably the pre Romans, and we're most likely made in what we now call the Apaceto method. The grapes harvested first, the red Chioto, or ears of the bunch, and dried to evaporate water, concentrating sugar and acid. The modern technique is to harvest the best bunches early, so to start with more natural acidity. More sugar, plus acid, plus tenon, equals a more stable wine. Definitely able to survive the long wagon ride to Rome. The wines were sweet because the native yeast would die off before completing fermentation, particularly since the fermentation would begin in the winter months, and the cold would often kill the yeast. This is today, recioto de la valpolicella. But in the nineteen hundreds, the yeast started to adapt to the higher sugar and high alcohol environment, and wine cellars had heating during the winter. And a strange thing happened to one winery's barrel of reticciotto. It fermented all the sugar to a dry wine. The winemaker, apparently, hid that barrel, sure he had ruined it. But this big, dry, bitter wine, this amarone soon became the most famous wine in the region, and amarone de la valpolicella was given its own docG in two thousand ten. And why waste those retioto or amoroni skins still have sugar in them? Just before the end of fermentation, the amoroni juice or retioto juice is drained from the tanks, and those skins are added to the vat of normal valpolicella wine for a second fermenting. A repass or repasso. This, of course, adds more color, flavor, tenon, and potential alcohol to the wine, creating valpolicella repasso, another ancient technique made modern in Italy. Grazier and a riverdalechie. Thanks for listening to this episode of Italian wine podcast brought to you by Italian wine Academy. Offering WSET levels one, two, and three in English. Visit our website at Italian wine academy dot org for more information and sign up today to start your personal adventure in global wine education right here in the heart of verona. Remember to subscribe, and like Italian wine podcast and catch us on SoundCloud, Spotify, and wherever you get your pods. You can also find our entire back catalog of episodes at italian wine podcast dot com changing. Hi, guys. 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