Corvinone is a red

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 for ...

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

variety native to the

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

region of northern

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 re ...

. In 2010 a total grape growing area of was planted worldwide, with all of it in Italy save for in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. Seldom found in

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

alone, Corvinone is blended, along with

Rondinella Rondinella is an Italian wine grape variety. Almost all of the total global growing area of is in the Veneto region of northern Italy, and the grapes are used in wines from the Valpolicella and Bardolino wine regions. Rondinella always appear ...

, Molinara and other autochthonous varieties, in

Corvina Corvina is an Italian wine grape variety that is sometimes also referred to as Corvina Veronese or Cruina. The total global wine-growing area in 2010 was , all of which is grown in the Veneto region of northeast Italy, except for planted in Ar ...

-dominant red wines of the

Valpolicella Valpolicella (, , ) is a viticulture (wine), viticultural zone of the province of Verona, Italy (wine), Italy, east of Lake Garda. The hilly agricultural and marble-quarrying region of small holdings north of the Adige is famous for wine producti ...

and

Bardolino Bardolino is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about west of Venice and about northwest of Verona. Geography Located on the eastern shore of Lake Garda, Bardolino borders the followin ...

regions of

. Corvinone is similar enough to the more widespread Corvina variety that it has historically often been mistaken as a clone; indeed its name in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

suggests a meaning of "large corvina". More recent ampelographical work and

DNA profiling DNA profiling (also called DNA fingerprinting) is the process of determining an individual's DNA characteristics. DNA analysis intended to identify a species, rather than an individual, is called DNA barcoding. DNA profiling is a forensic tec ...

has shown it to be a separate variety, however.

Viticulture and winemaking

Corvinone produces winged pyramidal bunches, larger and more loosely packed than Corvina, and ripening later (mid-October). Individual grapes of Corvinone are larger too, making the variety suitable for drying, part of the winemaking process for several Valpolicella wine styles, most notably

Amarone Amarone della Valpolicella, usually known as Amarone (, ), is an Italian DOCG denomination of typically rich dry red wine made from the partially dried grapes of the Corvina (45–95%, of which up to 50% could be substituted with Corvinone), Rond ...

and

Recioto Straw wine, or raisin wine, is a wine made from grapes that have been dried to concentrate their juice. The result is similar to that of the ice wine process, but is a much older process and suitable for warm climates. The technique dates bac ...

. Since the 1990s, Corvinone has become more important in the blending of these red wines. Most sources say the blend is Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara, often omitting Corvinone because it was not always recognised as a separate variety. It has become more popular with winemakers than Molinara due to its denser colour and superior flavours. As a result, its growing area in

between 2000 and 2010 increased more than ten-fold from just to , whilst in the same period that of Molinara dropped from to .

References

{{wines Wine grapes of Italy Wine grapes of Veneto Red wine grape varieties