by Ian D’Agata

Pelaverga Piccolo (also referred to at times as Pelaverga Comune) is the grape native to, and that grows only in, the territory of the commune of Verduno (with minimal historical holdings in La Morra and Roddi, two small nearby towns that along with Verduno are actually better-known for being three of only eleven communes that can produce Barolo). This grape is used to make the just as rare but exceptionally popular and well-selling wine called Verduno Pelaverga. Currently, less than twenty wineries estate-bottle the wine (though that number is rising year after year). There are also about fifteen bottlers. You realize that’s not a lot of people who get to make Verduno Pelaverga, in a country that is 55 million strong.

Beware that you do not confuse the Pelaverga Piccolo and its wine, Verduno Pelaverga, with another Pelaverga variety that also lives in Piedmont, and its wine. Pelaverga Grosso, also known as Pelaverga tout court, is typical of Piedmont’s Salluzzese sub-region, and the wine it is associated with is called Cari. Pelaverga Grosso and Pelaverga Piccolo have been officially part of the National Registry of Italy’s Grape Varieties as of 1981 and 1994, respectively: the two, despite carrying similar names, are unrelated, with the latter perhaps brought over in the eighteen century to the Verduno area by Sebastian Valfrê from his native Saluzzo (though this story, perhaps even legend, has come under considerable scrutiny of late). Birthplace and territory are but two of the differences between these two grapes: the two Pelavergas have also very different-looking bunches and berries (clearly, Pelaverga Grosso is so-called because it has the bigger bunches and much bigger berries: it’s the latter that is the real distinction between the two cultivars). Most importantly, unlike Pelaverga Piccolo which is a moderately aromatic red grape (its wine has one of the higher concentrations of rotundone, for example), Pelaverga Grosso is a non-aromatic variety. It follows that with the two grapes being so completely different in colour, aroma and flavour profile, the wines are completely different too. And so it is (or should be): just like we all realize a wine made with Riesling offers different aromas, flavours, and tannic power from one made with Welshriesling (also known as Italian Riesling), the same applies to the two distinct Pelaverga grapes. They are distinct grapes: hence, they give different wines. It behooves people who talk and write about wine to do their job proudly and well: talking or writing about a wine made with Riesling and Welshriesling, or with Cabernet Sauvignon versus one made with Cabernet Franc, as if they were the same thing is so wrong it’s laughable, and in fact few wine experts make a mistake so grave. But then it follows that they should also speak and write with the same clarity when broaching the two different Pelaverga grapes and their respective wines. So I repeat, there are only two Pelaverga grapes and wines, and they have very little in common, save for parts of their names. Furthermore, there is no such thing as a Verduno Pelaverga grape: that’s the name of a wine, made with Pelaverga Piccolo, and not of a third, non-existent, Pelaverga variety (which, believe it or not, I have actually seen written on the good old internet).