Getting to grips with Pignoletto. Part 1.
Welcome to Emilia-Romagna, the home of Pignoletto. Not yet well known, it’s undoubtedly up-and-coming.
Part 1 of this article is about Pignoletto and where the best wines are from; which is the Colli Bolognesi area of the Emilia-Romagna region.
Let’s start with Emilia-Romagna
Emilia-Romagna is a vast region comprising nine distinctive provinces brought together after Italian Unification. It stretches nearly all the way across north-central Italy. To the north, across the River Po, lie the Veneto and Lombardy regions. Tuscany is to the south, over the Apennine mountains.
Half of Emilia-Romagna consists of a flat plain, one of the most extensive in Italy. Fertility makes it ideal for all forms of agriculture; this is the bread-basket of Italy. No wonder then that food production and the local cuisine is so spectacular, it offers many a gastronomic delight.
Famous mouthwatering staples include Prosciutto di Parma, Balsamic Vinegar from Modena, Parmesan cheese, Mortadella di Bologna and fresh pasta in almost infinite variety.
Map of Emilia-Romagna showing DOC Pignoletto and DOCG Pignoletto Colli Bolognesi
The Via Aemilia
The cities of Piacenza, Parma, Reggio, Bologna, Faenza, and Rimini follow the Roman road called the Via Aemilia. Like pearls on a string, the distance between each of them measures how far a Roman Legion could march in one day. Rightly, it’s also referred to these days as Il Viaggio Nel Buon Gusto. The trip of good taste. Indeed, the amazing FICO Eataly World in Bologna is a vast space full of food and wine and is an essential visit.
As an aside, the Via Aemilia is also the road of speed and design. Ferrari, Maserati, De Tomaso, Pagani, Lamborghini and Ducati are all from here.
And wine?
Emilia-Romagna has also been making wine since Etruscan times. Viticulturally, this region forms a bridge between the Venetian north and the Tuscan south. It’s perhaps best known for sparkling wines such as Lambrusco. However, there are many other indigenous and international grape varieties along with different vinous traditions. These have created a patchwork of separate but often overlapping territories and wine styles.
Wine production in Emilia-Romagna remains enormous, with a vast range of wines of every colour, style and price. Until relatively recently, production concentrated on quantity from the flat land rather than quality from the hillsides. But that’s changing.
No longer cheap and cheerful
Emilia-Romagna’s wine image was cheap and cheerful. However, there are now plenty of winegrowers making some excellent wines. Indeed, a visit to the Enologica 2017 wine show in Bologna offered outstanding examples of artisanal wines, including those made with Pignoletto.
Introducing Pignoletto – a grape, a wine, and now a place
The Colli Bolognesi Pignoletto DOCG
Pignoletto is a white grape variety with many synonyms. Locally, it’s called Grechetto Gentile, or sometimes Alionzina or Rébola. Its origins remain obscure, though they are likely ancient. Perhaps, as the name Grechetto suggests, its roots are Greek. Further south in Umbria, it’s the Grechetto di Todi, often included in the Orvieto blend. There’s also some in the Lazio and Marche regions too. However, Emilia grows most of it and is the homeland.
This grape has a thick tannic skin and high acidity, which makes it highly versatile. At high yields on flat land, it is primarily crisp and neutral, even tart. However, farmed at lower yields on the best hill sites, it becomes a delicious experience. Aromas and flavours of white flowers, limes, green apples, pears and aniseed come wrapped with texture, complexity and persistence. Naturally, it makes the perfect foil for much of Emilia-Romagna’s superb cuisine. In short, it has all the potential to make excellent wines in various styles and is food-friendly too.
Now the potential of Pignoletto is being realised at long last. In the recent past, Pignoletto the grape made Pignoletto the white wine. But in 2014, that changed.
In 2014, the grape variety became the geographical place.
Pignoletto Roadsign 2017
Producers decided to protect the name Pignoletto and also create a specific identity for the wines that couldn’t be copied elsewhere.
In 2014, the DOC/DOCG rules were revised to establish Pignoletto geographically, referring to a place called Pignaletto. A place name can be protected in law from copycats elsewhere, as is the case, for example, in Champagne and Prosecco.
Consequently, the grape variety called Pignoletto instead became officially known by its synonym, Grechetto Gentile. The wine made with it in this place became Pignoletto. (This followed a similar example where Prosecco – the grape variety- became Prosecco – the place, and the grape variety became officially known instead as Glera.)
Note: in 2023, this situation is no longer the case – see footnote at the end of this piece.
DOC Pignoletto
From 2014, DOC Pignoletto stretches across the broad plain of the river Po. It extends into the foothills of the snow-capped Apennines. About 3,000 hectares produce some 10 million bottles per year. It also has three sub-zones, namely DOC Modena, DOC Colli di Imola and DOC Reno.
There are only minute quantities of still (Fermo) and sweet wines made. Instead, 99% of all production is sparkling, usually Brut and created by the Charmat method. It comes either semi-sparkling as frizzante or as a full spumante. The usual European rules apply; frizzante is softer and semi-sparkling at 1 to 2.5 Bar pressure. Spumante is full fizz, from 3 to 6.5 Bar. Some are 100% Grechetto Gentile; others include up to 15% of other varieties, including Pinot Nero, vinified white.
Meanwhile, 90% of all the DOC production comes from just four mega-sized wineries. High yields (100 to 170 hl/ha) produce neutral base wines of high acidity. That’s not great for still wine, but it’s an ideal base for fizz. Much of this wine is drunk locally, quaffed in the bars of Bologna and Modena. However, UK supermarkets have been quick to offer it as a good value alternative to the ubiquitous Prosecco.
DOCG Colli Bolognesi Pignoletto
Vallona Ammestesso Colli Bolognesi Pignoletto DOCG
However, the real excitement surrounding this grape lies within the DOCG Colli Bolognesi Pignoletto. The DOCG covers a small exclusive enclave found on the rolling hills to the south-west of Bologna. The hillsides and valleys here have many different aspects, microclimates and soils. Altitudes range from 150 to 600 metres. All these factors allow for the expression of individuality and terroir.
This DOCG is small, some 640 hectares, with production entirely in the hands of 40 artisanal wineries, mostly family-owned. Some are tiny, making as few as 10,000 bottles per year, while the biggest is around 180,000 bottles per year. Natural winegrowing practices are also catching on. The DOCG intends to become completely organic.
It also has far stricter regulations than the companion DOC. For example, yields are half of those in the DOC, typically 50 to 70 hl/ha for fizz. Also, all the wine bottling must be within its boundaries.
Current production is only about 1 million bottles per year. However, such is the quality and increasing demand that over the next three years, the DOCG will expand by 40%. This new area, an additional 400 hectares, includes some new vineyards. However, growth will mostly come from replacing other grape varieties in existing vineyards with Grechetto Gentile.
A more extensive range of styles in DOCG
75% of DOCG production is frizzante and spumante, and there is Método Classico as well as Charmat. Most fizz is Brut in style, but there are non-dosage and off-dry examples as well. Again, it can include other varieties up to 15%.
However, 25% of DOCG Colli Bolognesi Pignoletto production is Fermo, i.e. a dry still white wine. The Classico Superiore category covers the traditional heartland for this style. It has even lower yields (typically 25-40 hl/ha), higher density planting and must mature until at least the October following the harvest. These wines must also have a minimum 95% Pignoletto content. The other 5% is to accommodate the oldest vineyards here. Those sometimes have a small proportion of different grape varieties intermingled with Grechetto Gentile. All this extra attention and the terroir combine to produce Pignoletto at its most glorious.
At present, most of the still wines are not available in the UK, given the small production. However, they’re easy enough to buy directly from the producer or in Bologna. As producers expand this category and increasingly look to international markets, the UK may see more of them in future.
Colli Bolognesi Pignoletto DOCG vineyard
And Finally
I’m indebted to the members of the Consorzio Vini Colli Bolognesi and the Consorzio Emilia-Romagna.
In Part 2, the focus will be on producers, with six wine recommendations.
Postscript Added in 2023: Name Changes to DOC/DOCG rules again
This note is added here as a postscript in 2023 rather than rewriting the 2017 article.
In late 2023, the DOC/DOCG rules changed once again. The newly adopted appellation name Pignoletto DOC (from 2014) was subsequently rejected by the EU. Hence, it was changed to the agreed Emilia-Romagna DOC.
Why? The EU found no compelling locational or historical evidence in the Emilia-Romagna region for any place called Pignoletto. Hence, the new name in Italy could not be added to the legal list of EU-recognised geographical appellations. Consequently, in order to comply with this finding, the name Pignoletto DOC was abandoned, and the DOC became Emilia-Romagna DOC instead.
Meanwhile, the Colli Bolognesi Pignoletto DOCG continues to exist because there is plenty of historical and locational evidence for a place called Colli Bolognesi.
Location
Consorzio Vini Colli Bolognesi
Consorzio Emilia-Romagna
Via Masini
11 – Villa Garagnani
40069 Zola Predosa
Bologna
Italy
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