Drupeggio (also known as Canaiolo bianco) 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 ...

that is grown in the Central Italy wine regions of

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

and

Orvieto Orvieto () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are compl ...

. The grape is often confused for the white Tuscan variety

Vernaccia di San Gimignano Vernaccia di San Gimignano is a white Italian wine, made from the Vernaccia grape, produced in and around the Italian hill town of San Gimignano, in Tuscany. It was the first Italian wine to be awarded ''denominazione di origine controllata'' ( ...

,J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz ''Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours'' pgs 311-312 Allen Lane 2012 which is also known under the synonym ''Canaiolo bianco''

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 G ...

(VIVC)
Vernaccia di San Gimignano
'' Accessed: November 26th, 2013 and may be counted as one and the same in

field blend Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing 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, ...

s. Drupeggio is a permitted variety in several ''

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)s including Orvieto in

Umbria Umbria ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Italian Peninsula, Apennine Peninsula. The re ...

where it is usually blended with

Trebbiano Trebbiano is an Italian wine grape, one of the most widely planted grape varieties in the world. It gives good yields, but tends to yield undistinguished wine. It can be fresh and fruity, but does not keep long. Also known as ugni blanc, it ...

, Verdello,

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 ...

and

Malvasia Toscana Malvasia (), also known as Malvazia, is a group of wine grape varieties grown historically in the Mediterranean region and Macaronesia, but now grown in many of the winemaking regions of the world. In the past, the names Malvasia, Malvazia, ...

and in the red and ''

rosé A rosé () is a type of wine that incorporates some of the wine color, color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the Macerati ...

'' wines of Barco Reale di Carmignano where it can blended with

Sangiovese Sangiovese is a red Italian wine grape variety that derives its name from the Latin , "blood of Jove, Jupiter". Sangiovese Grosso, used for traditionally powerful and slow maturing red wines, is primarily grown in the central regions of Italy ...

and

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebano ...

. It is also a permitted variety for use in

Vin Santo Vin Santo (; ) is a style of Italian dessert wine. Traditional in Tuscany, these wines are often made from white grape varieties such as Trebbiano and Malvasia, although Sangiovese may be used to produce a rosé style known as "Occhio di Pernic ...

production but the grape's limited ability to raisin sufficiently for use in

straw wine Straw wine, or raisin wine, is a wine made from grapes that have been dried off the vine to concentrate their juice. Under the classic method, after a careful hand harvest, selected bunches of ripe grapes will be laid out on mats in full sun. ( ...

production makes its appearance in these Italian

dessert 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 mea ...

s very rare.

History

The first recorded mention of Drupeggio was in Tuscany under it is synonym Canaiolo bianco where it was recorded being used in wine production as early as 1817. Unlike the pink-skinned grape variety Canaiolo rosa, Canaiolo bianco is not a

color mutation The propagation of grapevines is an important consideration in commercial viticulture and winemaking. Grapevines, most of which belong to the ''Vitis vinifera ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native t ...

of the red Tuscan wine grape

Canaiolo Canaiolo (), also called Canaiolo nero or Uva Canina, is a red Italian wine grape grown through Central Italy but is most noted in Tuscany. Other regions with plantings of Canaiolo include Lazio, Marche and Sardegna. In Umbria a white berrie ...

that can be used in the blended wines of

Chianti Chianti is an Italian red wine produced in the Chianti (region), Chianti region of central Tuscan wine, Tuscany, principally from the Sangiovese grape. It was historically associated with a squat bottle enclosed in a straw basket, called a ''fia ...

. The exact origins of the variety is not known but

DNA profiling DNA profiling (also called DNA fingerprinting and genetic fingerprinting) is the process of determining an individual's deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) characteristics. DNA analysis intended to identify a species, rather than an individual, is cal ...

completed in 2011 show that at least six different white grape varieties growing in Tuscany have been variously labeled as being Canaiolo bianco—the most notable being the Vernaccia di San Gimignano variety that is widely used in the ''

Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita 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 ...

'' (DOCG) of the same name. Other varieties that are sometimes confused with Drupeggio include

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 ...

and the virtually extinct Tuscan variety of Zuccaccio.

Viticulture

Drupeggio is a mid to late ripening grape variety. With relatively thick skins for a white grape variety, Druppeggio berries tend not to raisin very easily which makes it use in the production of ''passito'' or straw wines, such as Vin Santo, very rare even though it is a permitted variety in several DOCs for the dessert wine. While several grape varieties, particularly in Tuscan, are known under the synonym of ''Canaiolo bianco'', the clone ''Canaiolo bianco ARSIAL-CRA 402'' is the only official clone of Canaiolo bianco that is actually Drupeggio.

Wine regions

Drupeggio is almost exclusively found in its home land of Italy where it is planted across the central part of the region from the

Molise Molise ( , ; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. Until 1963, it formed part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise together with Abruzzo. The split, which did not become effective until 1970, makes Molise the newest region in Ital ...

and

Marche Marche ( ; ), in English sometimes referred to as the Marches ( ) from the Italian name of the region (Le Marche), is one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. The region is located in the Central Italy, central area of the country, ...

of eastern Italy to the

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

and Tuscan regions in the west. Due to its confusion with other grape varieties, particularly Vernaccia di San Gimignano in Tuscany, it is difficult to get an exact number of plantings with the 2000 census reporting and likely including some of the "other" Canaiolo biancos in the total. OrvietoWineAndDuomo

The vast majority of "true" Drupeggio plantings are found in the Umbria region where it can be an important blending variety in the wines of Orvieto. Here Drupeggio, along with Grechetto and Malvasia Toscana, can make up to 20-30% of the blend along with Trebbiano (50-65%) and Verdello (15-25%).P. Saunders ''Wine Label Language'' pg 189 Firefly Books 2004 Outside of Umbria, it is found in the provinces of

Firenze Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Grosseto Grosseto () is a city and a ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the province of Grosseto and the main city of the Maremma region. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the ...

and

Pistoia Pistoia (; ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about north-west of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a typic ...

where it is permitted to be blended with Malvasia and Trebbiano in several Tuscan DOCs. In the

Carmignano Carmignano is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Prato, part of the Italian region Tuscany. It is located about west of Florence and about southwest of Prato. It is the centre of the wine region of the same name. It has 14,577 ...

region, up to 10% of Drupeggio is permitted to be used in the red and rosé wines of the "declassified" DOC of Barco Reale where it may be blended with Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Canaiolo nero, Trebbiano and

Cabernet Franc Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux (wine), Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire (wine), Loire's C ...

Synonyms

Over the years, Drupeggio has been known under a variety of synonyms including: Bottaio bianco (in Tuscany), Cacinello, Cacciumo (in the

province of Campobasso The province of Campobasso (; ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Molise region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Campobasso. It covers an area of and has a total population of 223,871 (2017). There are 84 ''comuni'' (: ''comune'') in ...

, Canaiolo bianco, Canajola, Canina (in the

province of Ascoli Piceno The province of Ascoli Piceno () is a province in the Marche region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Ascoli Piceno, and the province is bordered by the Adriatic Sea to the east, the province of Fermo to the north, and it faces the regions ...

in the

), Drupeccio (in Orvieto), Lupeccio, Trupeccio (in Orvieto), Uva dei Cani (in Ascoli Piceno) and Volpicchio (in Tuscany).

(VIVC)
Drupeggio
'' Accessed: November 26th, 2013

References

{{reflist White wine grape varieties