Marzemino is a red Italian wine

Italian wine

Italian wine is wine produced in Italy, a country which is home to some of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world. Italy is the world's largest wine producer, responsible for approximately one-fifth of world wine production in 2005. Italian wine is exported largely around the world and has...

 grape

Grape

A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...

 that is primarily grown around Isera

Isera

Isera ) is a comune in Trentino in the northern Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 20 km southwest of Trento...

, south of Trentino. The wine is most noted for its mention in the opera Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...

of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

 ("Versa il vino! Eccellente Marzemino!"). The vine ripens late and is susceptible to many grape diseases including oidium

Oidium

This article is about a type of fungal spore. For the ascomycete genus, see Oidium . For the fungus that causes powdery mildew on grapes, see Uncinula necator....

. Wine produced from the grape has a characteristic dark tint and light plummy taste. Ampelographers have long theorized that the grape originated in northern Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Recent DNA profiling conducted at the research facility in San Michele all'Adige

San Michele all'Adige

San Michele all'Adige is a comune in Trentino in the northern Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 15 km north of Trento.-Geography:...

 revealed Marzemino to have a parent-offspring relationship with the Friuli-Venezia Giulia wine

Friuli-Venezia Giulia wine

Friuli-Venezia Giulia wine is wine made in the northeastern Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Once part of the Venetian Republic and with sections under the influence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire for some time, The wines of the region have noticeable Slavic and Germanic influences...

 grapes Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso

Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso

Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso is a red Italian wine grape grown predominantly in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of northeast Italy. The grape is a variety in the Refosco family and derives its name from its red stems...

 and Teroldego

Teroldego

Teroldego is a red Italian grape variety grown primarily in the northeastern region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Italy.-Description:Wine has been produced since ancient times in "Campo Rotaliano", an alluvial plain between the rivers Adige and Noce...

 which gives further evidence to its likely origins in this region.

Wine regions

Marzemino is found throughout northern Italy most notably in the Lombardia

Lombardia (wine)

Lombardia wine is the Italian wine produced in the Lombardy region of north central Italy. The region is known particularly for its sparkling wines made in the Franciacorta and Oltrepò Pavese areas...

, Trentino, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia wine region. In Lombardy it is often used as a blending grape, most often partnering with Barbera

Barbera

Barbera is a red Italian wine grape variety that, as of 2000, was the third most-planted red grape variety in Italy . It produces good yields and is known for deep color, low tannins and high levels of acid...

, Groppello, Merlot

Merlot

Merlot is a darkly blue-coloured wine grape, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to derive from the Old French word for young blackbird, merlot, a diminutive of merle, the blackbird , probably from the color of the grape. Merlot-based wines...

 or Sangiovese

Sangiovese

Sangiovese is a red Italian wine grape variety whose name derives from the Latin sanguis Jovis, "the blood of Jove"...

. In Trentino, it is often made as a varietal

Varietal

"Varietal" describes wines made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label. Examples of grape varieties commonly used in varietal wines are Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Merlot...

 wine. While it is believed to have played a minor role in the history of Chianti

History of Chianti

The history of Chianti dates back to at least the 13th century with the earliest incarnations of Chianti as a white wine. Today this Tuscan wine is one of Italy's most well known and recognizable wines...

, today it is rarely seen in Tuscany

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

.

Viticulture and winemaking

Marzemino is very susceptible to various fungal diseases and can be prone to high yields and over cropping. The vine requires a long growing season and ripens late. Marzemino can produce light wines with lively acidity that can be slightly sparkling. In cooler climates, the acidity can come across as grass

Grass

Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...

 with light cherry fruit flavors. Some sweet passito examples of Marzemino, often blended with other grapes, can also be found throughout northern Italy.

In art

In the opera Don Giovanni, the titular character Don Giovanni calls out for a glass of Marzemino just before his deliverance into hell

Hell

In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...

.

Synonyms

Marzemino is known under a variety of synonym

Synonym

Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...

s throughout Italy. These include Balsamina Nera, Barzemin, Bassamino, Berzemino Calopico, Bossamino, Magnacan, Marsemina, Marzamino, Marzemin, Marzemino d'Isera, Marzemino gentile, Marzemino Padovano, Merzemina and Uva Tedesco.