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Albarola is a white
Italian wine
Italian wine is produced in every region of Italy. Italy is the world's largest producer of wine, with an area of under vineyard cultivation, and contributing a 2013–2017 annual average of 48.3 million hl of wine. In 2018 Italy accounted fo ...
grape variety
This list of grape varieties includes cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a table grape, fresh or dried (raisin, currant, sultana). For a complete list of all grape species including those unimportant to agriculture, see Viti ...
grown in the northwest
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. It is most commonly found in the
Liguria
it, Ligure
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region where producers in the
Cinqueterre ''
Denominazione di origine controllata
The following four classifications of wine constitute the Italian system of labelling and legally protecting Italian wine:
* ''Denominazione di origine'' (DO, rarely used; ; English: “designation of origin”),
* ''Indicazione geografica tipi ...
'' (DOC) use it as a blending component. Wine expert
Jancis Robinson describes the wine made from Albarola as fairly "neutral" in profile.
Outside of Liguria, the grape was historically grown in
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
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but for most of the 20th century has been declining in plantings along with other ancient Sicilian varieties like
Albanello,
Damaschino,
Minella bianca
Minella bianca is a white Italian wine grape variety that is indigenous to the island of Sicily where it is grown in the foothills of Mount Etna. The name ''Minella'' is derived from the Sicilian word ''minna'' (or "small breast") to which the b ...
and
Montonico bianco.
[J. Robinson ''Vines, Grapes & Wines'' pg 242 Mitchell Beazley 1986 ]
Wine regions
Most of the plantings of Albarola today are found in the Cinqueterre and
La Spezia region of
Liguria
it, Ligure
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where the grape is commonly blended with other Ligurian varieties such as
Bosco
Bosco may refer to:
People Given name Bosco
* Bosco (drag queen) (born 1993), Drag Queen
* Bosco Lin Chi-nan (born 1943), Taiwanese bishop
* Bosco Frontán (born 1984), Uruguayan soccer player
* Bosco Hogan (born 1949), Irish actor
* Bosco Lo ...
and
Vermentino
Vermentino is a light-skinned wine grape variety, primarily found in Italian wine. It is widely planted in both Sardinia and Liguria (wine), Liguria, to some extent in Corsica, in Piedmont under the name Favorita, and in increasing amounts in Lan ...
.
[Oz Clarke & M. Rand ''Encyclopedia of Grapes'' pg 35 Webster International Publishers ]
Under DOC regulations for Cinque Terre, Albarola destined for this wine must be
harvested to a
yield no greater than 9
tonnes
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton (United States c ...
/
hectare
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...
and along with Vermentino can constitute no more than 40% of the blend with Bosco needing to account for at least 60% of the wine. In the DOC wine of
Colline di Levanto, Albarola can be harvested to a maximum yield of 11 tonnes/ha and constitute of anywhere from 20-55% of the blend.
[P. Saunders ''Wine Label Language'' pp. 139 & 151 Firefly Books 2004 ]
Synonyms
Among the synonyms that Albarola is known under include Albarola bianca, Albarola di Lavagna, Albarola trebbiana, Bianchetta Genovese, Calcatella, Calcatella di Sarzana, Erbarola, Temosci, Trebbiano di Sarzana and Trebbiano locale.
References
{{reflist
Wine grapes of Italy
White wine grape varieties