Italian Vino Novello 2008
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By law, in Italy, you can only sell ‘novello’ wine from the 4th of November onwards every year – the new wine fresh from the wine harvest is one of the treats of Autumn when it comes on to the market.
What is Vino Novello?
In simple translation it’s New Wine – appropriate, but misleading – there’s also Vino Nuovo. There’s more to it than that, though, as the wine is produced in a very specific way using carbonic maceration, or whole-berry fermentation. Normal wine is produced, generally, after the grapes have been crushed to release their juices and yeast has been introduced as a catlyst to aid the conversion of sugars into ethanol.
In carbonic maceration the grapes are left whole in a special carbon-dioxide rich atmosphere which allows the fermentation process to happen inside the actual grape, producing a wine that is light, fruity, and with less tannins than conventionallly produced wine. Tannins, of course, aid longevity in wine – but can also make a ‘young’ wine bitter and difficult to drink.
Italian Vino Novello is similar, then, to the French Beaujolais Nouveau (also released in november), but there are some differences. By law in France 100% of the wine must be produced using the carbonic maceration process, while in Italy at least 30% of the wine must be obtained from the whole-berry fermentation process, while the rest can be made up of wine obtained from conventional fermentation. The date of release is also different – stabilised in italy as the 6th of November each year, while in France it is the third thursday of november.
<h2>What to eat with a Vino Novello</h2>
It’s hard to be specific, given that there are numerous types of Vino Novello, produced from different grapes and with different flavours. A traditional tasting session, though, usually revolves around Vino Novello accompanied by an appropriately autumnal dish of roasted chestnuts.
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Tags: beaujolais nouveau, carbonic maceration, italian wines, vino novello, whole berrry fermentation
