VINES
The raw material that makes the difference.
Vines
The main vines of the Custoza area, identifiable as autochthonous, are the Garganega, the Trebbianello (a local biotype of the Friulian tocai) and the Bianca Fernanda (a local clone of the Cortese grape).
The denomination code for the production also provides for the possibility of using other vines: Trebbiano, Malvasia, Riesling italico, Pinot bianco, Chardonnay and Manzoni.
Looking at the features in detail
GARGANEGA
Origins
De Crescenzi (1495) cites the fine Bolognese and Paduan wines made from its grapes. Subsequently, various ampelographers delimited the area of cultivation of the Garganega to the provinces of Verona, Vicenza and the Euganean Hills.
Ampelographic features
- Tip of the bud: cottony, green-whitish with pink hues in the margin;
- Leaf: medium-large, five-lobed, slightly elongated pentagonal with a V-shaped or U-shaped sinus with superimposed edges; blobs; pronounced teeth with a wide base, convex on one side and concave on the other;
- Grape bunch: large, long, cylindrical pyramidal, winged (very developed wing) rather sparse;
- Grape: medium, spheroidal, slightly flattened; pruinose skin, slightly thick, leathery, golden-yellow; flesh of neutral taste, slightly acidic.
Phenological and productive characteristics
The vine is characterized by a slightly late budding, while the other phenological phases are medium. It has an average weight of the medium-high bunch (200-400 g). Prefers long pruning due to distal fertility and pergola shapes. It is quite sensitive to winter cold.
TREBBIANELLO
Origins
Vine cultivated in the Veneto and Friuli probably since the late eighteenth century according to Dalmasso,. It was this scholar who baptized it Tocai Friulano in 1933, while in the area of Custoza takes the name of Trebbianello. Recent studies by the Experimental Institute for Viticulture have identified it as Sauvignonasse, an old vine from the Bordeaux area where it has practically disappeared.
Ampelographic features
- Tip of the bud: fan-shaped, velvety, green-golden;
- Leaf: medium-large, three-lobed, with a closed lyre petiole sinus and slightly overlapping lobes; flap folded in cup, with lower glabrous page; fairly marked dentition, convex with a wide base;
- Grape bunch: medium, trunk-pyramidal, with one or two wings, on average compact;
- Grape: medium, spheroidal; not large, bloomy skin.
Phenological and productive characteristics
It sprouts quite early. It is very vigorous. The fertility of the buds is good, but not the basal one, so it requires long pruning and quite expanded breeding.
BIANCA FERNANDA
Origins
The origin of the Cortese vine, which in the Custoza area is known as Bianca Fernanda, is not certain: it is believed to derive from the provinces of Alessandria, Novara and the Tortona area and is known in Piedmont since the 18th century also with the dialectal terms Corteis, Courteisa and Courteis.
Ampelographic features
- Tip of the bud: medium, fluffy, whitish green colour;
- Leaf: medium, pentagonal with five-seven lobes, often asymmetric; lyre-shaped petiole breast, closed with overlapping edges; upper page smooth, glabrous, dark green, with light green ribs, lower page arachnoid; pronounced teeth, with a wide base with a concave and a convex side;
- Grape bunch: medium-large, pyramidal, winged, sparse conical; visible peduncle, semi-woody up to the first bifurcation;
- Grape: medium-large, ellipsoidal, not very pruinose, thin golden yellow when exposed to the sun.
Phenological and productive characteristics
All the phenological phases are located in the middle part of the year: sprouting in the second ten days of April, flowering between the first and second of June, veraison in the second ten days of August and harvest by the end of September. It is a vine with a high vigour, with a rapid growth of the shoots and a luxuriant vegetation.
