 Of the limited 6800 bottles made from different signature grapes from all twenty regions of Italy from Abruzzo to Veneto, the first bottle- number uno, was presented to the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in New York on Sunday. The idea for the commemorative bottle representing the ‘Unity of Italy’ was born at Vinitaly during his historic visit to the Fair last year and is the brain child of Ettore Riello, President of Veronafiere.
The wines have been made from the signature grape of each region and are packaged in in a presentation case containing “Vino Rosso d’Italia” and "Vino Bianco d'Italia.”As an example, Barbera grape represents Piemonte, Toreldego is from Trentino Alto Adige, Sangiovese came from Tuscany as well as Emilia Romagna. Lacrima is the indigenous grape of Marche, Montepulciano was taken from Abruzzo, Aglianico from Campania, Nero d’Avola from Sicily etc.
The white wine is made from tewenty white grape varietals like Garganega from Veneto, Friulano (prev known as Tokaj) from Friuli- Veneto- Giulia region, Grechetto from Umbria, Fiano from Puglia, Vermentino from Sardinia and Malvasia from Lazio etc.
These wines will be launched in Vinitaly and are not for sale but will be served during the official functions celebrating the foundation of the Italian State, in Italy as well as overseas. The creation of the blends involved Assoenologi, the Italian Association of Enologists and Enotechnologists, while the native grapes were specifically chosen by 20 regional councillors.
Cento Uve fro Giribaldi
UNA brings to memory a red wine from a small family-run winery Giribaldi (not Garibaldi) in Piemonte They produce a DOC Langhe wine ‘Uve Cento.’ The label signifies 'a hundred grapes' but in fact it is a blend of 152 varieties, most being Italian indigenous varieties. Produced by Azienda Agricola Giribaldi Mario, this wine has Nebbiolo (Michet) as half the component. Remaining 50% are other varieties, over a 100 being indigenous, and hence the name Cento Uve.
Fewer than 140 cases of Cento Uve are produced annually. Mario says, 'we planted 280 varieties in 1999 with 2 plants each which make up a fence around our winery in Rodello d' Alba and though not really commercially viable wine, we are very happy to showcase it.'
The varietal collection is thanks to their collaboration with Prof. Anna Schneider, Director of the Agronomy Faculty at the Torino University and the Oenological School in Conegliano, Veneto. It was apparently her idea to encourage Giribaldi to work more with the indigenous grapes'
 Majority of the grapes used are red but several white varietals have also been used in the blend which is dark ruby coloured, almost inky. With spicy notes, complex aromas and red berry fruity flavours with mild tannins this dry medium-to full bodied wine rolls beautifully in the mouth.
Cento Uve is a unique, collectible wine for connoisseurs who love a story in a wine; the story of autochthonous grapes of Italy. Perhaps, you may like to celebrate the 150 years of Italy unification with this 150+ grape varietal wine at the Giribaldi stand in Piemonte pavilion in Vinitaly next week, from April 7-11.
Vinitaly is one of the most important wine shows in the world with over 4,000 exhibitors and 150,000 visitors, a third of whom come from 114 countries. It also organises international editions in the US, Brazil,Russia, India, China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, and Brazil.
For the earlier article on Cento Uve, please visit our article of June, 2008
Record Varietals in 'Cento Uve' Giribaldi
Subhash Arora
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