THE BUNCH

The bunch is stocky, pyramid-shaped trunk with one or two  extremely well-defined branches.
The berries are large, with a thick waxy but fragile skin. Irregular violet-blue colour.
The pulp is succulent, colourless and sweet.

BRIEF HISTORY

The prime area for this variety are the Berici Hills that overlook the city of Vicenza, but it is also found in the provinces of Treviso and Venice.
There is no confirmed information about its origins, and all we have are the stories passed down through the centuries. It is said that this unusual and curious stock had as its godfather a simple "marangon", a carpenter from Barbarano Vicentino who, upon completing his military service with the Hungarian contingent of the Zemplen at the time of Marie Therese of Austria, brought home with him the roots of a red grape vine cultivated in the area of Tokaji and whose wine he had had the opportunity to taste and enjoy. And so, in Barbarano, a new grape was planted that the local wine-growers dubbed "Marangona", which means "the carpenter’s daughter" and, at least until the early 1800s, the wine was called "Tocai del Marangon".
Thanks to ampelography, we can link Tocai Rosso with Sardinian Cannonau, Grenache from south-east France and red (or black) Alicante of Spain, especially from around the area of Barcelona. Grenache was probably introduced in Sardinia by Spain, and from here to the area around Vicenza (given the trading relations Vicenza had with Sardinia in the late 1700s).
Around 1980, the Istituto Sperimentale per la Viticoltura in Conegliano performed comparative tests in order to resolve these questions of identity. On the basis of ampelographic, ampelometric, isoenzymatic and chemical tests, it is clearly evident that the vines identified as Cannonau, Tocai Rosso and Grenache belong to the same varietal population known as Garnache Spagnola. The slight differences noted depend exclusively on the variations in the biotypes examined.

APPROFONDIMENTI