Roussin de Morgex

Roussin de Morgex
Grape (Vitis)
Color of berry skinPink
OriginItaly
Notable regionsValle d'Aosta
VIVC number22741

Roussin de Morgex is an Italian grape variety, native to the western part of the Aosta Valley in the municipality of Morgex.[1] It is a pink-skinned teinturier grape that produced a light pink juice. Although it may by used as one of the autochthonous varieties allowed in the red DOC wine from the region, Valle d'Aosta Rosso or Vallée d'Aoste Rouge, in 2010 it was not cultivated commercially; according to wine writer Ian D'Agata nobody had made wine from it in 300 years.[2] Since then, small experimental plantings have been made, and a subsequent 20 bottle batch of pink sparkling wine produced by Cave Mont Blanc in 2014 showed sufficient promise to spur further research and planting.[3]

Origin

Roussin de Morgex belongs to a group of grape varieties geographically isolated in the Alpine regions of Italy and Valais, in Switzerland. DNA analyses suggest that while unrelated to Roussin, it is related to the Prié variety, and more distantly to Rèze, from the Swiss Alps.[4] The grape was rescued by Giulio Moriondo of the Institut Agricole Régional in Aoste in 1998.[5][2]

Further reading

References

  1. ^ Galet, Pierre (2000). Dictionnaire encyclopédique des cépages (in French). Hachette Pratique. ISBN 9782012363311.
  2. ^ a b Gray, W. Blake (21 February 2017). "Tasting the world's rarest wine grape". The Gray Report. Archived from the original on 2021-04-20. Retrieved 2018-06-29.
  3. ^ d'Agata, Ian (19 June 2018). "Mountain Magic: The Wines of Valle d'Aosta". Vinous. Archived from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  4. ^ Vouillamoz, José F.; Schneider, Anna; Grando, M. Stella (August 2007). "Microsatellite analysis of Alpine grape cultivars (Vitis vinifera L.): alleged descendants of Pliny the Elder's Raetica are genetically related" (PDF). Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. 54 (5): 1095–1104. doi:10.1007/s10722-006-9001-z. S2CID 3126298. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-04-30. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
  5. ^ Vouillamoz, José F; Moriondo, Giulio (2012). Origine des cépages valaisans et valdôtains (in French). Fleurier: Éditions du Belvédère. p. 224. ISBN 978-2-884-19216-3. OCLC 794527653.