Brachetto 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 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 ...

grown predominantly in the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

region of 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 ...

. At one time the grape was thought to be related to the

French wine French wine is produced all throughout France, in quantities between 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or 7–8 billion bottles. France is one of the largest wine producers in the world, along with Italian, Spanish, and Ameri ...

grape

Braquet Braquet is a red French wine grape variety grown predominantly in the Provence region of southeastern France, particularly in the Bellet '' Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) where it is as both a blending and varietal grape in still ...

, but recent thought among

ampelographer Ampelography ( ἄμπελος, "vine" + γράφος, "writing") is the field of botany concerned with the identification and classification of grapevines, ''Vitis'' spp. Traditionally this has been done by comparing the shape and colour of the ...

s is that the two are distinct varieties. J. Robinson (ed) ''The Oxford Companion to Wine'' Third Edition, p. 101. Oxford University Press, 2006. . In Italy's region of Piedmont the grape is somewhat more widespread: production mostly falling within an area of the provinces of

Asti Asti ( , , ; pms, Ast ) is a '' comune'' of 74,348 inhabitants (1-1-2021) located in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, about east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River. It is the capital of the province of Asti and it is deeme ...

and

Alessandria Alessandria (; pms, Lissandria ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, about east of Turin. Alessandri ...

between the rivers Bormida and

Belbo The Belbo is a river of southern Piedmont, Italy. It is a right-side tributary of the Tanaro. Geography The Belbo rises in the Langhe, on the borders between Piedmont and Liguria in the hills of Montezemolo. After flowing through the Piedmont ...

plus various parts of the

province of Cuneo Cuneo ( Italian), or Coni ( Piedmontese), is a province in the southwest of the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west it borders on the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (departments of Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and H ...

. At

Canelli Canelli ( Piedmontese: ''Canèj'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) of 10,459 inhabitants in the Province of Asti in the Italian region of Piedmont. Canelli is located on a bend of the river Belbo in the ''Alto Monferrato'' (High Monferrat), close ...

, on the border between the hills of

and the

Langhe The Langhe (; ''Langa'' is from old dialect Mons Langa et Bassa Langa) is a hilly area to the south and east of the river Tanaro in the province of Cuneo and in the province of Asti in Piedmont, northern Italy. It is famous for its wines, c ...

proper, the grape is known as Borgogna. The most notable wine here is the red Brachetto d'Acqui '' Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita'' (DOCG) which is made in both still and ''

spumante Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne reg ...

'' (fully sparkling) versions. The Piemonte Brachetto '' Denominazione di Origine Controllata'' (DOC), also a red wine, is made with a minimum of 85% Brachetto; it is usually still, but may be ''

frizzante Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne regi ...

'' (lightly sparkling). The grape is also used for up to 10% of the blend for the Ruché-based Ruché di Castagnole Monferrato DOCG. J. Robinson. ''Vines, Grapes & Wines'', p. 210, Mitchell Beazley, 1986. .

Wines

Brachetto tend to produce light-bodied, highly

aromatic In chemistry, aromaticity is a chemical property of cyclic ( ring-shaped), ''typically'' planar (flat) molecular structures with pi bonds in resonance (those containing delocalized electrons) that gives increased stability compared to satur ...

wines with distinctive notes of

strawberries The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...

. In the

DOCG 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 tip ...

region of Brachetto d'Acqui, the grape is used to produce a slightly

sweet Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketone ...

sparkling wine that is similar to

Lambrusco Lambrusco (; ) is the name of both an Italian red wine grape and a wine made principally from said grape. The grapes and the wine originate from four zones in Emilia-Romagna and one in Lombardy―principally around the central provinces of Mod ...

and is sometimes called the light red equivalent of Moscato d'Asti.

References

{{reflist Red wine grape varieties Wine grapes of Italy Wine grapes of Piedmont