Ep. 437 Sangiovese Lambrusco... | Table Grapes Part 1

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To get a copy of the book, the kindle version is available on Amazon and hardcover copies are available from positive press. If you like the content we share each week, consider donating to our show. Find details at italian wine podcast dot com or on our social media channels. Sit back and get your geek on as we jump into the details stories and science of Italian wines and vines. An ancient legacy, table grapes, part one. The grapes produced in the most suitable areas were destined for the dining hall. The other for VINification. It is with this conviction found in the Latin Georgics that we open a small discussion on what many can the unlucky sister of the vine. The Table grape. We have seen how archaeological, archaeological, botanical, and literary sources have made fundamental contributions to the reconstruct of the history of wine grape varieties. In the case of grapes intended for consumption as fruit, on the other hand, the information that can be used to understand their origins is fragmentary and often only indirect. This is most likely due to the fact that there was no Viticulture dedicated to table grapes. The best bunches of grapes used were normally vinified. Yet the history of the grapes used for the ancient table is one that should garner great respect. It is already mentioned in the old testament in the book of numbers thirteen twenty two to twenty five where the cultivation of the vine is mentioned in association with the fig and the pomegranate in the Hebrewon valley. Valley of the grape. Here it has the characteristics of a plant for fruit and not for wine. The description of the explorers returning from the Escall Valley carrying a large bunch of grapes on their shoulders. On a pole, testifies to the perception that the ancient Jews had of the existence of vines with enormous fruits. That the promised land where milk and honey flowed, where honey is to be understood as dibs, the grape syrup, was provided for the high fertility of its soil. Some production of extraordinarily large bunches were well known in Syria and Arabia as reported by theophrastus. And according to Straybo in Babylon and Carthage, these grapes were used not only direct consumption, but also for the production of raisins. There was no specific production of table grapes among the Romans. For this purpose, they used the bunches with the best appearance. With larger sized berries and those with the most pleasant taste. The bunches destined for the table were those picked from the wine varieties, as palladio stated. The best and most beautiful specimen for the table. The first author to provide a reliable testimony of the existence and cultivation of table grapes is Cola. In the third book of derre rustica, forty two AD. The names of the twelve varieties mentioned make clear reference to the characteristics of the grapes. As a great expert on the economic aspects associated with production, Columela recommends that it is not convenient to create a vineyard of table varieties if it is not close to a city. Pliny the elder in the fourteenth book, Naturales Historia, was a contemporary of columella. He also distinguishes table grapes from wine grapes. It is from his words that we also discover that most of these varieties are of Greek origin. Among the table grapes, he mentions those cultivated in Campania, including Pompeiana or Murgentina. These are of particular importance. These were a subject frequently found among the paintings of Pompeii. Let's jump forward a few centuries. The crusaders returning from the Holy Land are recognized as having made an important contribution to the expanding number of varieties used for the table. Many of these came from Cyprus and Corinth, as well as Syria. Eastern Greece and Jerusalem, and were planted in Savoy and in the midis of France, especially in the vineyards of the crusader commanders. During this period, the marketing of raisins to the British market began especially using the Nera decorinto variety. Spanish Viticulture from the twelfth to the fifteenth century until the expulsion of the moors in fourteen ninety two. Presentced table varieties that other parts of Europe did not have. Ebin, Elawar, and Abdora's kid describe some varieties that were exclusively used for the mass hall. Given the ban on producing and consuming wine in that community, such as Asabaya el Adari, with oval acorn like berries, these were also called ox grapes. Malareza or virgin finger for the elongated shape of the berries, onion, el bakar, or plum, for the size of the berries and their dark color, especially prunos, the Zabiib and Kitch. Intended for the production of dried grapes. The former example had seeds the latter was without. The ban enforce on the sale of grapes in large quantities in city markets on the Iberian Peninsula after the Muslim conquest is unusual. It was in order to ensure that the fruit was actually consumed and to prevent the production of wine. In the seventeenth century, table grapes work much more numerous than those we know of today. Most of them were non aromatic white grapes which ripened at very different times and covered a very long period of consumption from July to November In any case, it was a product intended for the more affluent classes. At the end of the century, however, the scenario began to change mainly due to the loss of the strong role previously played by international trade. The resulting lower level of wealth led to a crisis in banking activities and a closing gap between the aristocracy and the rich bourgeoisie. For this reason, many wealthy families in central Northern Italy return to the land both in terms of structural investments, new housing rationalization and systemization of soils, planting of new tree crops and as places of permanent residents. Pergolas are installed at these rich country houses where they begin to cultivate some varieties both for staggered harvests and for preservation. While the wine growers in the middle of the wine vineyards plant varieties capable of providing grapes to be consumed during their work in the vineyard, especially in summer. The creation of gardens and orchards near country houses presupposes the choice of varieties to be destined exclusively for the table or for drying. As evidenced by the quotations of cultivated vines, of oriental origin such as the Maladier, the grapes of candia and Cyprus, the Pasadena de Coranto, corinth. Other table grapes are the Jerusalem grapes with bunches up to one meter long. The paradise grapes, pergolese, zbbo, san Colombano, and premice or louliola. Which were used as table decorations or as preserved fruit since late ripening varieties were usually prevalent. The exception was that Lulienga, which ripened toward the end of July and was the first fresh grape to be consumed. Campania, which during the Roman Empire was host to villas for the idlenesses of the rich patricians, encouraging the production of quality wines and fruit for their canteens and this wealth has been maintained even in modern times. Towards the middle of the eighteenth century, and demographic reviews mostly carried out by German or French trained authors, increasingly supported many varieties that would become fundamental to European Viticulture about a century later post phylloxera reconstruction such as, sovignon, or or or Pino. Meanwhile, there is a sharp decrease in the number of references to table grapes, the cultivation of which is once again after a century of focused by the wealthiest consumers of the city increasingly confined to the noble country gardens or in the gardens of the people. This concludes an ancient legacy table grapes, part one. Join us next week for part two. Thank you for listening to this week's installment of San Jose Lamros go into other vine stories. We hope you expanded your horizons and gave your brain cells an Italian wine workout. We'll see you again next Thursday and remember. The kindle version of the book is available on Amazon and hardcover copies are available from positive press dot net. If you feel inspired to make a donation to our show, please visit us at the Italian wine podcast dot com. Find Italian wine podcast on Facebook and Instagram. Our Twitter handle is at ita wine podcast.