RedLead grape in 3
Pinot Nero
Also called Focara.
Grown in Alto Adige, in Franciacorta, and in quantity in the Oltrepò Pavese. As a still red it works in the cool high sites of Alto Adige and in a few spots in Lombardy, where it gives the pale, red fruited, savoury wine it gives anywhere it is happy. Most of the Italian crop never sees a red wine glass.
Worth knowing
The Oltrepò Pavese has one of the largest plantings of Pinot Nero in Europe and almost nobody knows it, because the fruit goes into sparkling base wine and much of that leaves the region in tanks with someone else's name on the finished bottle.
Where it is allowed24 appellations