Meet Schiopettino. Your grape of the day.
It’s sundown here at the Bastianch winery, and things have been progressing well. Our staple wine, (tocai) Friulano has been coming in beautifully this week, and as that’s finishing up, it’s starting to look like time to pick the reds.
I’ll be talking about more abundant varieties in the next couple of days, but today I wanted to start with something of a rarity.
Schiopettino is a grape that has its origins in the small subzone known as Cialla, about 3 or 4 miles from here. Schiopettino is difficult to grow and ripen and it’s thick skins cuase the grapes to POP in your mouth when you bite them. Hence Schiopettino literally means “little explosion”. But when it comes around (like it’s ornery cousin Pignolo) it’s a deeply colored, spicy and big-shouldered wine that needs plenty of time to round out.
We have just a little Schiopettino here, and being a native grape variety, we hold it in high esteem. This year’s cool temps mean a fat Schiopettino isn’t likely, but a good acidic backbone and lots of color might make it a likely candidate for something very particular…
Can’t reveal any more secrets, sorry…
BTW… the weather here has been quite lovely during the day. Today it was actually around 80 degrees, so reds are still ripening away. But the chilly nights are shutting down the vines, and as you can see from the picture, the leaves are starting to turn… Autumn!
THE BUZZ at Bastianich Winery 
Hello Wayne – I just discovered your blog and found it very interesting, and entertaining. I am Wes’ mom. I like to read what you have written and have passed on the website info. to friends here. Say hello to Wes, and Happy Birthday on Friday the 26th. Thanks for helping him out when he arrived. He sounds quite happy at the winery.
Stacy Tomaselli
nice picture i would try and show more of the leaf…or a seperate picture of the leaf….cia JVB