Nino Caravaglio explains Corinto Nero

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The winemaker Caravaglio, from the Aeolian islands, talks about the unique composition of the Corinto Nero grape, of which bunches contain both bigger grapes with seeds, and smaller ones without, plus the different ways they are treated and used.

Transcript:

The Corinto Nero was used in part for wine, and in part for making raisins,
In fact, the other name for this grape in the Aeolian Islands is Passolina di Lipari,
Because it is a seedless varietal, therefore it is suitable for raisins.
The origin of the grape is Greek, just like Malvasia.
Of course we have different types of Malvasia in Italy, such as the Malvasia del Carso,
the Malvasia di Candia Aromatica, the Malvasia Nera Toscana,
The Malvasia Nera di Lecce. Here we have the Malvasia di Lipari
That has similar characteristics to another Southern Italy varietal, the Greco Bianco.
Many books say that they were introduced during Greek colonization.
But I believe that they were introduced by the Venetians during the second half of the 1500s
When they had to leave that area of the Peloponnese and they moved to this side of the Mediterranean.
It's the preferred area for the Corinto Nero. The raisins were good, and so was the wine.
What was the wine made from? From the grapes with the seeds.
The women harvested, they would set aside the grapes with seeds for vinification
And the rest were to become raisins.
See, they are small grapes with some bigger ones containing the seeds.
If we open this one, you can see there is no grape seed.
Not having the lignin from the grape seeds, we can allow ourselves a long maceration.
Of course it's obvious that, once extracted, there's nothing left to extract.
They are not white macerated wines that you might want to leave for 3 or 4 months
So they can further enrich themselves with natural antioxidant substances
But with red wine, after a month of maceration, you have extracted all you need.
We only have the tannins from the skins, that are soft and sweet.
We don't have those from the seeds, that are a little more astringent.

 

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