Marzemino is a red

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 primarily grown around Isera, south of

Trentino Trentino (), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento (; ; ), is an Autonomous province#Italy, autonomous province of Italy in the Northern Italy, country's far north. Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the Regions of Italy, region of Tren ...

. The wine is most noted for its mention in the opera ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...

'', the music for which was composed by

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

("Versa il vino! Eccellente ''Marzimino''!"). The vine ripens late and is susceptible to many grape diseases, including oidium. Wine produced from the grape has a characteristic dark tint and light plummy taste.J. Robinson ''Vines, Grapes & Wines'' pg 211 Mitchell Beazley 1986 Ampelographers have long theorized that the grape originated in northern

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 ...

. Recent

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 ...

conducted at the research facility in

San Michele all'Adige San Michele all'Adige (Gallo-Italic languages, Trentino dialect: ''Samichél''Teresa Cappello, Carlo Tagliavini, ''Dizionario degli Etnici e dei Toponimi Italiani'', Bologna, ed. Pàtron, 1981.) is a ''Communes of Trentino, comune'' (municipality) ...

revealed Marzemino to have a parent-offspring relationship with the grapes

Marzemina bianca Marzemina bianca is a white Italian wine grape variety that is grown in the Veneto (wine), Veneto region of northeastern Italy. Ampelographers believe that the grape is a natural crossing (vine), crossing of the Trentino wine grape Marzemino and th ...

in the

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

,J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz ''Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours'' pgs 229-230, 392, 604-605 Allen Lane 2012 Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso and

Teroldego Teroldego (, ) is a red Italian grape variety grown primarily in the northeastern region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Italy. Description Wine has been produced since ancient times in Campo Rotaliano, an alluvial plain between the rivers Adi ...

, from

Friuli-Venezia Giulia Friuli-Venezia Giulia () is one of the 20 regions of Italy and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The regional capital is Trieste on the Gulf of Trieste, a bay of the Adriatic Sea. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has an area of and a ...

and

respectively, which gives further evidence to its likely origins in this region.J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition pg 429 Oxford University Press 2006

Wine regions

Marzemino is found throughout northern Italy most notably in the

Lombardia The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, Trentino,

and Friuli-Venezia Giulia wine region. In Lombardy it is often used as a blending grape, most often partnering with

Barbera Barbera is a red Italian wine grape variety that, as of 2000, was the third most-planted red grape variety in Italy (after Sangiovese and Montepulciano). It produces good yields and is known for deep color, full body, low tannins and high levels ...

, Groppello,

Merlot Merlot ( ) is a dark-blue-colored wine grape variety that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of , the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the color ...

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 ...

. In Trentino, it is often made as a

varietal A varietal wine is a wine made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000.winepros.com.au. ...

wine.Oz Clarke ''Encyclopedia of Grapes'' pg 122 Harcourt Books 2001 While it is believed to have played a minor role in the history of Chianti, today it is rarely seen in

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 ...

Viticulture and winemaking

Marzemino is very susceptible to various fungal diseases and can be prone to high yields and over cropping. The vine requires a long

growing season A season is a division of the year marked by changes in weather, ecology, and the amount of daylight. The growing season is that portion of the year in which local conditions (i.e. rainfall, temperature, daylight) permit normal plant growth. Whi ...

and ripens late. Marzemino can produce light wines with lively

acidity An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. hydrogen cation, H+), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis acid. The first category of acids are the ...

that can be slightly sparkling. In cooler climates, the acidity can come across as

grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

with light cherry fruit flavors. Some

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, ketones, ...

passito 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. ( ...

'' examples of Marzemino, often blended with other grapes, can also be found throughout northern Italy.

In art

In the opera ''

'', the titular character Don Giovanni calls out for a glass of Marzimino just before his deliverance into

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...

.J. Kosman '
THE SCENE: Experts show which wines go with which music Patrons of the arts meet fans of the grape
' San Francisco Chronicle June 21st, 2002

Synonyms

Marzemino is known under a variety of

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

s throughout Italy. These include Balsamina , Barzemin, Bassamino, Berzemino Calopico, Bossamino, Magnacan, Marsemina, Marzamino, Marzemin, Marzemino d'Isera, Marzemino gentile, Marzemino Padovano, Merzemina and Uva Tedesco.

References

{{reflist Red wine grape varieties Wine grapes of Italy

Wine regions

Viticulture and winemaking

In art

Synonyms

See also

References