The DOC sparkling wines of Liguria, Italy

The world of Italian sparkling wine is vast. And I have been capturing it graphically, one region at a time. To date I have mapped Piemonte, Valle d'Aosta, Lombardia, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna. In this post I present a picture of Ligurian sparkling wines.

As shown in the map below, Liguria, the third smallest of the Italian regions, hugs the coast of the Gulf of Genoa and the Ligurian Sea in a thin semi-circle that runs from France to Tuscany. Squeezed between the Maritime Alps, the Ligurian Apennines, and the sea, this relatively skinny region is sized at 5422 km2 and is home to a population numbering 1.567 million.

The region is characterized by mountainous hinterlands and a lengthy coastline which is itself separated into the Riviera di Ponente and Riviera di Levante by the capital city of Genoa. The cliffs of the former fall to the sea whiole the latter is noted for its bays and beaches.

Liguria has a relatively warm climate given its northerly location. There is some agricultural activity in the region -- mainly flowers, olive trees, and vineyards -- but the bulk of economic activity is attributable to tourism and shipping through the ports.

The region supports about 6000 ha of vineyards, of which 500 ha is DOC. Vineyards are small and non-contiguous with most of the wine produced by artisans who grow, tend, and harvest the grapes heroically on steep limestone slopes. Annual wine production is approximately 280,000 hL, of which 75% is white. Only Valle d'Aosta produces less wine than does Liguria.

As shown in the chart below, sparkling wine is produced in the Val Polcèvera and Golfo del Tigullio - Portofino DOCs.

In both of these DOCs, Bianchetto Genovese and Vermentino are featured players while a variety called Albarola is additionally given prominence in Val Polcèvera DOC. It should be noted that a 2009 DNA study has concluded that Albarola and Bianchetto Genovese are genetically identical.

As was the case in Valle d'Aosta, neither Chardonnay, Pinot Nero, or Pinot Bianco feature in the production of sparkling wine in Liguria.

Abissi Sparkling Wine
Bisson Winery has been aging its Metodo Classico wines in 60 meters of water off the coast of Portofino since 2005. The wines -- there are three of them: Spumante Classico, Spumante Riserva, and Spumante Rosé -- are fermented traditionally to produce the base wines and are then bottled and lowered into the sea in July so that the second fermentation can be completed in the anaerobic conditions below the surface of the water.

The Spumante Classico and Riserva are blends of Bianchetto Genovese, Vermentino, and a third cultivar called Cimixià. The Rosé is a blend of Granaccia and Ciliegiolo.

The innovative method of aging is the brainchild of Pierluigi Lugano, the enterprise's winemaker. "When the wine bottles are picked up, they are enriched with incrustations (sic), seaweeds (and sometimes shellfishes, too) ... For health and sanitary reasons, bottles are then dried and wrapped under a protective, clear film, which also serves the purpose of preserving the natural ornament made by the sea,"

Source: Cellartracker.com

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