Vespaiola 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 ...

planted primarily in the

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region of

northeastern Italy Northeast Italy ( it, Italia nord-orientale or just ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica, National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a Italian NUTS level 1 regions, first level ...

, where it is often dried to produce ''

passito 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 back ...

'' style

dessert wines Dessert wines, sometimes called pudding wines in the United Kingdom, are sweet wines typically served with dessert. There is no simple definition of a dessert wine. In the UK, a dessert wine is considered to be any sweet wine drunk with a meal ...

. Along with Friulano, Vespaiola is an important component in the ''

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) white wine of Breganze produced in the

province of Vicenza The Province of Vicenza ( it, Provincia di Vicenza) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Veneto region in northern Italy. Its capital city is Vicenza. The province has an area of 2,722.53 km², and a total population of 865,082 (as o ...

.J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Guide to Wine Grapes'' p. 196 Oxford University Press 1996 Vespaiola grapes ripen to high sugar levels and are used to produce

sweet wine Dessert wines, sometimes called pudding wines in the United Kingdom, are sweet wines typically served with dessert. There is no simple definition of a dessert wine. In the UK, a dessert wine is considered to be any sweet wine drunk with a meal ...

s with a characteristic golden hue. In fact, the grapes of Vespaiola get so concentrated with sugars that the name Vespaiola comes from ''

Vespa Vespa () is an Italian luxury brand of scooters and mopeds manufactured by Piaggio. The name means wasp in Italian. The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A. of Pontedera, Italy to ...

'', in reference to wasps that are attracted to the sugary aromas in vineyards.J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Wine Course'' Third Edition p. 129 Abbeville Press 2003 K. MacNeil '
The Wine Bible
'' p. 363, Workman Publishing, 2001 Despite its similar-sounding name, Vespaiola should not be confused with red Italian wine grape,

Vespolina Vespolina is a red Italian wine grape variety that is planted in Piedmont around Gattinara and Ghemme. Ampelographer believe that the grape is most likely indigenous to this area of Piedmont and recent DNA profiling identified a parent-offsprin ...

, which is grown in the

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and Lombardy regions.

Wine regions

The Breganze DOC, located in the foothills of the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...

, contains a significant number of plantings of Vespaiola where the grape can be included in the generic Breganze blend or produced in a

varietal A varietal wine is a wine made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000.winepros.com.au. ...

wine. To be included in the DOC wine, the grapes must be harvested up to a maximum yield 14

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 ...

(13 tonnes for the varietal) with the finished wine

fermented Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food p ...

to a minimum

alcohol level Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

of 11% (11.5% for the varietal).P. Saunders ''Wine Label Language'' pp. 124–216 Firefly Books 2004 For the Breganze white blend, up to 15% Vespaiola is permitted to blended primarily with Friulano with

Pinot bianco Pinot blanc is a white wine grape. It is a point genetic mutation of Pinot noir. Pinot noir is genetically unstable and will occasionally experience a point mutation in which a vine bears all black fruit except for one cane which produces whit ...

Pinot grigio Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio (, ) or Grauburgunder is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir variety, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name, but the gra ...

, Riesling Italico and Sauvignon blanc also potentially included in the blend. The varietal wine Vespaiola must be made entirely of the single variety, harvested to more limited yields and produced with a higher alcohol level. A ''superiore'' style is also permitted if the wine achieves at least a 12% alcohol level. When Vespaiola is used to produce a dessert style wine from partially dried grapes (a ''passito'') it maybe labeled as ''Torcolato''.M. Ewing-Mulligan & E. McCarthy ''Italian Wines for Dummies'' p. 127 Hungry Minds 2001

DOC regions

The following is a list of DOC wines, beyond Breganze, that include Vespaiola as a permitted grape variety, along with other grapes that may be included in the blend under varying percentages that are regulated under the DOC label. * Bagnolo di Sopra DOC – Primarily Chardonnay, Sauvignon blanc and Friulano with up to 10% permitted to be Vespaiola and/or other local white grape varieties. * Merlara DOC – Primarily Friulano with up to 50% permitted to be Vespaiola and/or other local white grape varieties. * Vicenza DOC – Primarily

Garganega Garganega (, ; meaning "from Gargano") is a variety of white Italian wine grape widely grown in the Veneto region of North East Italy, particularly in the provinces of Verona and Vicenza. It is Italy's 6th most widely planted white grape. It for ...

with up to 50% permitted to be Vespaiola and/or other local white grape varieties.

Viticulture and winemaking

The name ''Vespaiola'' is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''vespa'' and refers to the wasps that are attracted to the high sugar content in the grapes as they ripen late into the growing season.Oz Clarke and M. Rand ''Encyclopedia of Grapes'' p. 273 Webster International Publishers The wasps' presence can be considered a

viticultural Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

hazard due to not only their propensity to damage the grapes in order to get to the sweet pulp inside, but also the danger they may cause to vineyard workers in the area.V. Hazan ''Italian Wine'' p. 212 Random House Publishing, 1982 In vintages where the climate conditions are favorable, the grapes maybe left on the vine to

desiccate Desiccation () is the state of extreme dryness, or the process of extreme drying. A desiccant is a hygroscopic (attracts and holds water) substance that induces or sustains such a state in its local vicinity in a moderately sealed container. ...

and further concentrate the sugars well into January. They could also be harvested earlier and left to dry inside special drying rooms where they are may be hung from the ceilings or spread out on mats to dry. Even with the long ripening periods and high sugar concentrations, the Vespaiola grape can still maintain a relatively high level of

acidity In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a ...

that can help balance the sweetness in the resulting wines. After fermentation, some producers will

age Age or AGE may refer to: Time and its effects * Age, the amount of time someone or something has been alive or has existed ** East Asian age reckoning, an Asian system of marking age starting at 1 * Ageing or aging, the process of becoming older ...

the wines in oak barrels.

Wine styles

The ''passito'' styles of Vespaiola are characterized by a golden color with aromas of apricots, honeysuckles and spice that can be a byproduct of aging in oak. The naturally high acidity of the grapes can help balance the high sugar content producing what wine expert

Oz Clarke Robert Owen Clarke (born 1949), known as Oz Clarke, is a British wine writer, actor, television presenter and broadcaster. Early life Clarke's parents were a chest physician and a nursing sister. He is of Irish descent and was brought up Roman ...

describes as ''"one of Italy's finest sweet wines."'' In recent years, producers in Breganze have experimented with producing Sauternes-style wine from Vespaiola, Friulano and other white grapes that have been infected with ''

Botrytis cinerea ''Botrytis cinerea'' is a necrotrophic fungus that affects many plant species, although its most notable hosts may be wine grapes. In viticulture, it is commonly known as "botrytis bunch rot"; in horticulture, it is usually called "grey mould" o ...

''. While Vespaiola is often used to produce sweet dessert wines, it can also be fermented to dryness where it usually produces a light-bodied wines with high acidity and very little of the aroma notes that tend to characterize the grape's sweeter incarnations.

Synonyms

Over the years Vespaiola and its wines have been known under various synonyms including Bresparola, Bresparola Bianca, Orisi bianca, Uva Vespera, Vespaia, Vespaiolo, Vespajola, Vespajuola Di Bassano, Vesparola, and Vespera.

References

{{Reflist, 30em White wine grape varieties