Piccola nera is a red

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

and

Slovenian wine Slovenia has more than 28,000 wineries making between 80 and 90 million litres annually from the country's 22,300 hectares of vineyards. About 75% of the country's production is white wine. Almost all of the wine is consumed domestically with o ...

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

province of Trieste The province of Trieste () is a province in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Trieste. It has an area of and a population of 228,049. It has a coastal length of . Abolished in 2017, it was reestabl ...

within the

Friuli-Venezia Giulia wine Friuli-Venezia Giulia wine (or Friuli wine) is wine made in the northeastern Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. There are 11 ''denominazione di origine controllata'' (DOC) and 3 '' denominazione di origine controllata e garantita'' (DOCG) i ...

region and across the border in neighboring

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

where

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 th ...

s believe that the grape originated. Piccola nera, whose name means "little black", tends to produce to light bodied 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 that are meant to be consumed young. It is a permitted variety in the ''

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) wines of

Carso The Karst Plateau or the Karst region (, ), also locally called Karst, is a karst plateau region extending across the border of southwestern Slovenia and northeastern Italy. It lies between the Vipava Valley, the low hills surrounding the vall ...

where it is usually blended with Terrano and in Venezia ''

Indicazione geografica tipica ''Indicazione geografica tipica'' () is the third of four classification of wine, classifications of wine recognized by the government of Italy. Created to recognize the unusually high quality of the class of wines known as Italian wine#Super Tus ...

'' IGT classification where the grape can be used to make

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. ...

wines.J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz ''Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours'' pg 797 Allen Lane 2012

History and name origins

Ampelographers believe that Piccola nera originated in the border region between Italy and Slovenia in what is now the province of Trieste in Italy and the

Coastal–Karst Statistical Region The Coastal–Karst Statistical Region (, ) is a statistical region in southwest Slovenia. It covers the traditional and historical regions of Slovenian Istria and most of the Karst Plateau, which traditionally belonged to the County of Gorizi ...

of Slovenia. In

, the name ''Piccola nera'' means 'little black', which describes the small black-skinned berries of the grape vine.

Viticulture and confusion with other grapes

Piccola nera is a

late ripening In viticulture, ripeness is the completion of the ripening process of wine grapes on the vine which signals the beginning of harvest. What exactly constitutes ripeness will vary depending on what style of wine is being produced ( sparkling, still, ...

grape variety that can be very vigorous and high yielding if not kept in check by winter

pruning Pruning is the selective removal of certain parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots. It is practiced in horticulture (especially fruit tree pruning), arboriculture, and silviculture. The practice entails the targeted removal of di ...

and later green harvesting during the

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 ...

. In the

Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol wine South Tyrol (called in Italian ''Alto Adige'') is an autonomous province located in northeast Italy producing wine. This Austro-Italian wine region is noted for the distinct Austrian influences on the wine industry, due to the region's long hi ...

region of Italy, the grape is sometimes confused for the German/Italian wine grape

Trollinger Trollinger, Schiava, or Vernatsch, is a red German/Italian wine grape variety that was likely first originally cultivated in the wine regions of South Tyrol and Trentino, but today is almost exclusively cultivated on steep, sunny locations in t ...

Wine regions

In 2000, there were of Piccola nera planted in Italy, the vast majority in the Trieste region with some plantings also found in the

province of Trento Trentino (), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento (; ; ), is an autonomous province of Italy in the country's far north. Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, an autonomous region under the c ...

where the grape is sometimes confused with Trollinger/Schiava Grossa. In Italy, Piccola nera is a permitted variety in the DOC red wines of the Carso DOC in the

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 ...

region where it is usually blended with Terrano. The grape can be used to make varietal wines under the Venezia IGT classification. Outside of Italy, Piccola nera can be found across the border in Slovenia.

Styles

According to Master of Wine

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 ...

, Piccola nera tends to produce light-bodied and lightly colored red and rosé wines. These wines often have very little

aging potential The aging of wine is potentially able to improve the quality of wine. This distinguishes wine from most other consumable goods. While wine is perishable and capable of deteriorating, complex chemical reactions involving a wine's sugars, acids an ...

and are usually meant to be consumed young soon after the

vintage In winemaking, vintage is the process of picking grapes to create wine. A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine ...

Synonyms

Over the years, Piccola nera has been known under a variety of synonyms including: Cerni Klescec, Drobna Cernina, Mala Cerna (in Slovenia), Naimenska Slaska, Negra Tenera, Nera Tener, Nera Tenera, Petit Raisin and Plavi Klescec.

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)
Piccola nera
' Accessed: September 15th, 2021

References

{{reflist Red wine grape varieties