Liguria wine Lievantu Coasta di Mattelun 2007

Albarola is a white

Italian wine Italian wine () is produced in every region of Italy. Italy is the country with the widest variety of indigenous grapevine in the world, with an area of under vineyard cultivation, as well as the List of wine-producing regions#Countries, world's ...

grape variety This list of grape varieties includes cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a table grape, fresh or dried (raisin, Zante currant, currant, sultana (grape), sultana). For a complete list of all grape species, including those unimp ...

grown in the northwest

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It is most commonly found in the

Liguria Liguria (; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is roughly coextensive with ...

region where producers in the Cinqueterre ''

Denominazione di origine controllata The following four classification of wine, classifications of wine constitute the Italy, Italian system of labelling and legally protecting Italian wine: * ''Denominazione di origine'' (DO, rarely used; ; 'designation of origin'); * ''Indicazione ...

'' (DOC) use it as a blending component. Wine expert

Jancis Robinson Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, ComMA, MW (born 22 April 1950) is a British wine critic, journalist and wine writer. She currently writes a weekly column for the ''Financial Times'', and writes for her website JancisRobinson.com, updated daily. She ...

describes the wine made from Albarola as fairly "neutral" in profile. Outside of Liguria, the grape was historically grown in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

but for most of the 20th century has been declining in plantings along with other ancient Sicilian varieties like Albanello, Damaschino,

Minella bianca Minella bianca is a white Italian wine grape variety that is indigenous (ecology), indigenous to the island of Sicily where it is grown in the foothills of Mount Etna. The name ''Minella'' is derived from the Sicilian word ''minna'' (or "small bre ...

and

Montonico bianco Mantonico bianco is a white Italian wine grape variety that is grown in the Calabria (wine), Calabria region of southern Italy. Ampelographers believe that the grape is likely of Greek (wine), Greek origins and was transported to southern Italy b ...

.J. Robinson ''Vines, Grapes & Wines'' pg 242 Mitchell Beazley 1986

Wine regions

Most of the plantings of Albarola today are found in the Cinqueterre and

La Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguria ...

region of

where the grape is commonly blended with other Ligurian varieties such as Bosco and

Vermentino Vermentino is a light-skinned wine grape variety, primarily found in Italian wine. It is widely planted in both Sardinia and Liguria, to some extent in Corsica, in Piedmont under the name Favorita, and in increasing amounts in Languedoc-Roussillo ...

.Oz Clarke & M. Rand ''Encyclopedia of Grapes'' pg 35 Webster International Publishers Under DOC regulations for Cinque Terre, Albarola destined for this wine must be harvested to a yield no greater than 9

tonnes The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

and along with Vermentino can constitute no more than 40% of the blend with Bosco needing to account for at least 60% of the wine. In the DOC wine of Colline di Levanto, Albarola can be harvested to a maximum yield of 11 tonnes/ha and constitute of anywhere from 20 to 55% of the blend.P. Saunders ''Wine Label Language'' pp. 139 & 151 Firefly Books 2004

Synonyms

Among the synonyms that Albarola is known under include Albarola bianca, Albarola di Lavagna, Albarola trebbiana, Bianchetta Genovese, Calcatella, Calcatella di Sarzana, Erbarola, Temosci, Trebbiano di Sarzana and Trebbiano locale.

References

{{reflist Wine grapes of Italy White wine grape varieties