Rovello bianco or Greco Muscio 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 ...

that is grown in the

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

region of southern Italy. While the grape has been described in wine literature since 1875, the variety was on the verge of extinction until a collaboration by the

University of Naples Federico II The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...

and

University of Palermo The University of Palermo ( it, Università degli Studi di Palermo) is a university located in Palermo, Italy, and founded in 1806. It is organized in 12 Faculties. History The University of Palermo was officially founded in 1806, although its ...

along with a local wine grower in

Taurasi Taurasi is a town and municipality in the province of Avellino, Campania, southern Italy. In antiquity it was a town in Samnium. The town's name probably derives from the Latin ''Taurus''. Over time it changed from ''Taurasos'' to ''Taurasia ...

help revive the variety with new plantings in 2003.J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz ''Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours'' pg 923 Allen Lane 2012

History and relationship with other grapes

Rovello bianco was first described growing in the Campanian province of Avellino in 1875 where it was locally known as ''Greco Muscio''. Despite the similarities in synonyms, DNA profiling in the early 21st century has shown that Rovello bianco has no known genetic relationship with the either the white or dark berried Greco grapes or any of the other Italian varieties (such as Maceratino,

Grechetto Grechetto () or Grechetto bianco is a white Italian wine grape variety of Greek origins. The grape is planted throughout central Italy, particularly in the Umbria region where it is used in the ''Denominazione di origine controllata'' (DOC) win ...

, Pignoletto, Fortana and

Erbaluce Erbaluce or Erbaluce bianca is a white Italian wine grape grown primarily in the Piedmont region around Caluso, in Canavese. In addition to dry table wines, it is used to make sweet wines with deep golden coloring, such as '' passito''. The gra ...

) that share Greco as a synonym. Like many Italian varieties, the

phylloxera epidemic The Great French Wine Blight was a severe blight of the mid-19th century that destroyed many of the vineyards in France and laid waste to the wine industry. It was caused by an aphid that originated in North America and was carried across the Atl ...

of the late 19th century followed by the political and economic turmoil of the 20th century

World Wars A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

saw a dramatic decrease in plantings that almost lead to the variety's extinction. But a collaboration between the Universities of Palermo and Naples Federico II along with the help of a local Taurasi wine grower lead to new plantings of Rovello bianco in 2003.

Wine regions

Rovello bianco is found almost exclusively in the province of Avellino in Campania. In the communes of Taurasi, Bonito and

Mirabella Eclano Mirabella Eclano is an Italian town and ''comune'' of the province of Avellino, in the Southern Italian Campania region. its population was of 7,904. History The Roman site of Aeclanum once stood nearby. It is now an archaeological park and li ...

centenarian

old vine Old or OLD may refer to: Places * Old, Baranya, Hungary * Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, ...

plantings of the variety still exist and are used in commercial wine production.

Styles

According to

Master of Wine Master of Wine (MW) is a qualification (not an academic degree) issued by The Institute of Masters of Wine in the United Kingdom. The MW qualification is generally regarded in the wine industry as one of the highest standards of professional knowle ...

Jancis Robinson, varietal examples of Rovello bianco (also known as ''Grecomusc'') tend to have high levels 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 ...

with

aroma An odor (American English) or odour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds that are generally found in low concentrations that humans and animals can perceive via their se ...

notes of green citrus fruit and ash.

Synonyms

Over the years, Rovello bianco has been known under a variety of synonyms including: Roviello, Rovello, Greco Muscio and Grecomusc.

Vitis International Variety Catalogue The Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC) is a database of various species and varieties/cultivars of grapevine, the genus ''Vitis''. VIVC is administered by the Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding (''Institut für Rebenzüchtung Gei ...

(VIVC)
Rovello bianco
' Accessed: November 13th, 2013

References

{{reflist White wine grape varieties