Grape Variety: Tintore

Colour: Red

Tintore di Tramonti is grown almost exclusively in the Monte Lattari Valley.  “ In Italy in the past all grape varieties belonging to the Tenturier family were conventionally referred to as “tintore”, although 19th century ampelographic research, notably by the Campanian scholar Giuseppe Froio, already distinguished between the Tintore di Tramonti, Tintora di Lanzara and Olivella Tingitora, with “Tintora”, a variety cultivated on the island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples, appeared to have no relationship with the Tramonti variety either.The Tintore di Tramonti is characterised by elongated loose bunches with small berries, which makes it much less prone to fungal diseases than varieties with compact bunches. It is an early ripener, at least to Campanian standards, as it is normally harvested at the end of September, a full four to six weeks earlier than Aglianico, Campania’s signature grape. The variety is almost exclusively confined to the Monte Lattari valley, where Alfonso’s vineyards lie. Its existence, however, is duly acknowledged in the larger Costa d’Amalfi DOC, in which it can be a minor ingredient in a blend featuring Campania’s most universal red varieties Piedirosso, Sciascinoso and Aglianico. Curiously, the Costa d’Amalfi distinguishes officially three subzones, of which Tramonti is one (the others being Furore and Ravello), but its historical and cultural vineyards of Tintore have been completely ignored when the regulations were drawn up in 1995. Hence a Tintore “in purezza” can only be marketed under the modest IGT designation, which is basically no more than a table wine with a geographical indication.” (Walter Speller)

The grape is harvested at the end of September which makes it an early ripener for this area. This indigenous red grape variety belongs to the Teinturier family.  Teinturier means dyed or stained in French. The flesh and the juice of these grapes are red in colour. The anthocyanin pigments accumulate in the grape berry itself. The free run juice is therefore red.

Consider 120 year old vines from ungrafted vines unaffected by phylloxera.  The organic methods used at Monte di Grazia also further limit the yields. The vines were planted in the traditional “tendone method”, their leaves trained to form a canopy that protects the grapes from the sun.  It is like a pergola with an overhead trellis from which the grapes hang down.  The poles that hold up the tendone are made of chestnut wood from trees in the nearby hills and the vine “branches” are attached to the tendone by willow shoots. All the grapes are naturally picked by hand (usually in the first ten days of November) and yields are typically low: 30 hl/ha. Different vineyards are vinified separately and, while malolactic fermentation is hoped for it does not always occur. Sulphur is never added to the wine. The first impression is of aromatic woody spices like cloves and allspice, with that hint of astringency that allspice conveys. Macerated and roasted black and red currants and plums are packed with spice, with liquorice and dried orange rind and black tea deeply imbued with robust tannins and a dauntless mineral quality.