Not your ordinary white wine grape
Grechetto Gentile, aka Pignoletto, vineyard in Bolognese Hills with ‘calanchi’, eroding hills, in the background.
Generally speaking, when one thinks about aged-worthy wines, the mind’s eye envisions noteworthy reds from Burgundy or Bordeaux in France or Barolos or Chiantis of Italy. However, there is a little known secret tucked away in central Italy, and that is the white wine grape known as ‘Grechetto Gentile’, or otherwise known as ‘Pignoletto’ (PEE-NYO-LETTO) in and around Bologna, Italy. As Grechetto Gentile grower-wineries, such as Tomisa in the Bolognese hills, have known for years, this grape has some qualities which actually are more like a red grape variety rather than a white: it has a thick skin, and creates tannic wines that have great aging capability.
The Grechetto Gentile grape began it’s life in central-south Italy. From there it slowly crept it’s way north, spreading to Tuscany and eventually finding its way to Bologna. While it is wonderful as a single varietal wine, it is also frequently used in white wine blends in the Umbria region, and sometimes is a component of the Tuscan ‘vin santo’ dessert wine.
Donatella and Giuseppe of Tomisa compare vintages of their 2017 and 2018 organic Ciparisso, a semi-sparkling white wine made with the Grechetto Gentile grapes, or Pignoletto, as it is also called in Bologna.
Why in Bologna is Grechetto Gentile known as Pignoletto?… When diving into the origins of things in Italy, lots has to do with Italy’s history of having ‘independent’ city-states, down to individual towns, where each had its own unique language, customs, food dishes and wines. Bologna came up with its own name for this grape around the 1600s. Pignoletto was named such because the grape cluster looks like a ‘little pinecone’ or ‘pigna’. Fast forwarding to today, while experts have determined that the Pignoletto grape in Bologna is the same as Grechetto Gentile in Tuscany/Umbria, Pignoletto is still used in appellation names of wines made by Grechetto Gentile grapes in the Bolognese hils. And after hundreds of years of this wine being referred to as Pignoletto, this name has stuck, especially with the local Bolognese whose ‘go-to’ wine is Pignoletto.
This wine was born out of the ‘food capital’ of Italy, which is what Bologna is known for. So one can only imagine how easily it pairs with the local foods. Ask any Bolognese, and they will immediately say it is delicious with local favorite Tortellini in Brodo, or Tortellini pasta cooked in broth, or mortadella (which, by the way, is very different from baloney in the US, but that’s another story!).
‘The Grechetto Gentile grape produces wines, like Pignoletto, that have great acidity but also tannins, says Giuseppe Marini, who, with his wife Donatella, own and manage their organic vineyard farm and winery, Tomisa, in the Bolognese hills. ‘It’s not just a coincidence that wines of a place, like Pignoletto, pair with the local dishes. While it is not an easy grape to work with, it can also make some outstanding wines, even traditional method sparkling wines. In fact, we have the same soil as the Champagne region.’
Got you curious? Purchase Tomisa’s Ciparisso, an organic Grechetto Gentile, aka Pignoletto, semi-sparkling white wine in our online shop. We have 2 vintages, whose differences were a result purely of mother nature’s influence:
Ciparisso 2017, which was a hot year and whose wine has a deep straw yellow and ripe fruit, think apple sauce! and
Ciparisso 2018, which was a cooler year, resulting in a wine with a lighter yellow-green color and hints of fresh apple and white peach.
Buy some for today and some for tomorrow. You’re good for another few years!
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