Kevin Pilley traces the history of Italian rosé wines which, he says, are undeservedly snubbed
Five Roses is a famous Italian wine that should be more famous. It was Italy’s first ever rosé and the first Italian wine to be bottled in Italy and sold in the US. It was first sold to US troops fighting in Puglia.
Vines were planted in Salice as well as Guargnano, Veglie, Novoli and San Pancrazio in the late 17th century by a certain Duke Oronzo. From the start of the 19th century, the winery was exporting to the US.
In 1943, Piero and Lisetta Leone de Castris’s wine was tasted by US General Charles Poletti, supply officer of the Allied Forces. It was recommended to soldiers.
The name ‘Five Roses’ derives from a contrada, so-called because for several generations each de Castris had five children.
The winery, near Lecce, now grows Verdeca, Moscato, Aleatico and Primitivo grapes, producing 2.5 million bottles of red, white and rosé DOC wines (Salice Salentino, Locorotondo, Copertino, Primitivo di Manduria) every year.
It has a hotel and restaurant (Villa Donna Lisa) as well as a wine bar, The Five Roses Club 1943, dedicated to the legendary first rosé wine to be bottled in Italy and made from 90 per cent Negroamaro and 10 per cent Malvasia Nera.
More and more are joining the Rosautoctono movement and standing up for Italian rosato. Italian rosé wines are just not ‘one night wines’.
Over 30 per cent of all wine drunk in France by the French is rosé. But the Italians, especially in Lazio and Umbria, turn their noses up at rosé. Although the country has a long tradition of pale or low-pigmented wines, most of the 2.5 million bottles it makes on home soils are exported. Only 10 per cent of wine drunk in Italy is rosé.
The Rosautoctono movement was established by Italian rosato makers to promote and preserve wines which do not undergo complete fermentation in grape skin.
Italians admit to having a colour issue. They judge by looks and seem to think rosé a little too pretty to drink. Whereas, elsewhere, it is too often seen as an extra cold, all-day, hot weather, good-time, poolside, BBQ and picnic, cheap, quaffing wine. Deserving of little respect, snobs see it as an afterthought… spillage in a bottle, not as a worthy food complement or a quality fine wine in its own right.
Italian rosato is made as other rosé wines but with Italian grapes like Montepulciano, Sangiovese, Barbera, Nerello Mascalese, Marzemino, Groppello and Canaiolo.
Only 10 per cent of wine drunk in Italy is rosé
The Lake Garda region has been making Chiaretto since the 16th century. In the late 19th century, from Provence came the ‘vinification by tears’ method, vinificazione a lacrima, just with the juice from the press collected after only one night of maceration. The Italians are very keen on skin contact; six to 16 hours at a time.
The Chiaretto wines of Lake Garda come from either side of the border between Veneto and Lombardy. Bardolino Chiaretto uses Corvina, a grape naturally low in colouring matte. Good producers include Matilde Poggi’s Le Fraghe.
In the Riviera del Garda Classico DOC on the Lombardy side of the lake, the Italian rosé wines are more floral and rosé-coloured, using Sangiovese, Marzemino, Barbera and the local Groppello. The DOC requires 30 per cent of the ancient variety. Valtènesi makes the best, Pratello makes the most representative.
After Veneto, the biggest producer of Italian pink wines is Abruzzo which boasts two separate DOCs, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo. Cerasuolo (‘pale cherry red’) uses the native Montepulciano grape. The best producer is Valentini but look out also for Emidio Pepe.
The coral-coloured Castel del Monte Bombino Nero is another fine rosé, as is Librandi from Calabria with its Ciro rosato made from Gaglioppo. Aromatised by wild coast herbs (macchia mediterranea), Ciro is one of the oldest wines in the world, allegedly a descendant of Krimisa, the wine awarded to the ancient Greek Olympic champions.
With his Sicilian wife Elvesia, former ‘flying winemaker’ and graduate of the University of California at Davis, Mark Shannon runs the A Mano (by hand) vineyard in Noci, Apulia.
“For our rosato, we use 100 per cent Primitivo grapes from the Ginosa, Castellaneta and Gravina vineyards. The vines are 20 to 40 years old, giving full-flavour, low-sugar grapes. The contact time with the skins is measured in seconds, not hours,” Shannon said.
“The clean juice goes through a slow fermentation at low temperatures of 7ºC to retain the delicate perfumes. And you come out with exotic tropical fruit aromas and a hint of crystallised ginger followed by lush citrus. The Primitivo grape contributes a blackberry character.”
For more information, visit www.amanowine.com, www.emediopepe.com, www.pratello.com, www.lefragne.com, www.leondescastris.com, www.librandi.it.