Verdea (grape)

Verdea is a white

The earliest mentioning of Verdea was by Pietro de' Crescenzi in his 1303 account of grape varieties growing in Tuscany. The grape was later described by Giovan Vettorio Soderini in his posthumously published work Trattato della coltivazione delle viti, e del frutto che se ne puô cavare (1600) as one of the Tuscan grape varieties that was much admired in the region.^[1]

In 2007,

In 2000, there were 152 hectares (380 acres) of Verdea growing in Italy, the vast majority of it in the Lombardy region around the village of San Colombano al Lambro in the province of Milan. Outside of Lombardy, the grape can also be found growing in the province of Pisa in Tuscany and in the province of Piacenza in the Emilia-Romagna region.^[1]

Up until the mid-20th century, Verdea was widely grown in the

Verdea is a versatile wine grape that can be produced in a variety of styles ranging from sweet, late-harvest and passito style dessert wines (such as the notable Vin Santo wines) or as dry, sparkling wine. While often used as a blending variety (including with Riesling by at least one Italian producer in Lombardy), the grape can be made a varietal in both a sweet and dry style.^[1]

Synonyms

Over the years, Verdea has been known under a variety of synonyms including: Colombana, Colombana bianca (in Tuscany), Colombana del Picciolli, Colombana di Peccioli (in Tuscany), Colombano, Doree d'Italia, Doree d'Italie, Gambo rosso, Paradisa, Paradisa di Bologne, Paradssiotto, Paradizia, S. Colombano, San Colombano, San Colombano Paradiso d'Italia, Sancolombana, Vardea, Verdea di Montalto, Verdecana and Verdicchio Giallo.^[1][2]

References