Minutolo

Minutolo is Puglia’s aromatic white, grown in the Valle d’Itria since around 1200 and mistaken for a kind of Fiano for most of that time. It is not Fiano, which is not an aromatic variety at all, and establishing that took a determined local winemaker and a decade of genetic work. The grape has since become one of southern Italy’s more fashionable whites.

Origins and history Because it smelled aromatic and grew where Fiano grew, it was called Fiano Aromatico, Fiano Minutolo, Moscatellina or Fianello, the last coined by Fonseca in 1892, who is thought to have described the variety first. The name Minutola had itself been used as a synonym for Fiano in the 1800s, which did nothing to help. The confusion was reasonable but persistent, and it kept a distinctive grape filed under someone else’s name for centuries.

The rescue Lino Carparelli, long-serving director of the Cantina Sociale Locorotondo and later head winemaker at Torrevento, knew the vineyards of his region as few others did and had always wanted to make wine from the variety. In 2000 he went looking for surviving vines with local farmers and old-timers, then pushed researchers to characterise a grape he was certain could not be Fiano. In 2001 a team established through ampelographic, isoenzymatic and DNA analysis that the two were distinct.

Settling the name Fiano Minutolo was made official in 2006, but a change was proposed in 2009 to either Minutolo or Moscato Minutolo di Puglia, on the strength of earlier work showing a close family relationship between the variety, Moscato di Alessandria and Moscato Bianco. Minutolo was chosen. The Muscat connection is the more honest description of what the grape actually is.

In the vineyard Minutolo carries medium bunches and medium berries, with high vigour and average productivity. Two clones have been developed at the Institute Basile Caramia in Puglia, CRSA-Regione Puglia B7 and B11. B7 has loosely packed bunches and is not very productive, but reportedly gives the better wine. The variety is concentrated in the Valle d’Itria in the province of Bari, and its success has pushed plantings into Brindisi and Taranto as well.

Appearance and structure The wines are fresh and light-bodied, closer to Moscato Bianco than to Moscato di Alessandria, and they never carry the oily richness or weight of the latter. This matters practically: anyone expecting a broad, unctuous aromatic white will find something far more delicate. The acidity is good and the finish clean.

Aromatic profile White flowers, ginger and yellow fruit form the core, with the ginger note particularly distinctive. Clone choice shows through: B7 gives intensely ripe apricot and peach, while B11 leans herbal with stronger acidity, which suggests a future in sparkling wine that nobody has yet pursued seriously.

In the cellar Every Minutolo currently made is dry. There are monovarietal IGT bottlings, and the grape is also permitted in the Locorotondo and Martina Franca DOC blends, where it is used to lift otherwise neutral whites. A word of caution is in order: Minutolo is a hot commodity, and too many wildly different wines carry the name, some bearing no resemblance to what Minutolo should taste like.

Key expressions

• Monovarietal IGT whites from the Valle d’Itria.
• Locorotondo and Martina Franca DOC blends, where it supplies the aromatics.
• Ripe, apricot-scented wines from the B7 clone.
• Herbal, higher-acid wines from B11, the likeliest base for a future sparkling.

The question of aging Aromatic whites of this weight are made to be drunk young, and Minutolo is no exception. Its floral and ginger character is at its most vivid in the first two years and fades rather than transforms, so there is no case for cellaring it. The higher-acid B11 wines hold their line a little longer.

At the table It makes an excellent aperitif, and its combination of perfume and light body suits shellfish, spicy fish dishes and simple pastas particularly well. The ginger note is unexpectedly good with lightly spiced south-east Asian cooking. Serve it well chilled, around eight to ten degrees.

Why it matters Minutolo is the clearest recent case of a grape recovered from misidentification and turned into a commercial success within a generation, and it owes that almost entirely to one winemaker who refused to accept that it was Fiano. The speed of its rise is also its risk, since the name now sells more wine than the variety can honestly account for. Bought carefully, it is one of the more distinctive whites in the south.