Grape Guide
Rondinella
RedRondinella is a black-skinned grape of the Verona province, the usual second partner to Corvina in Valpolicella, Amarone and Bardolino. It is a natural offspring of Corvina and an unidentified second parent, prized for generous crops and for staying healthy through the long drying of grapes, rather than for depth of flavour.
Key Characteristics
- Offspring of Corvina Veronese and an unknown second parent
- First recorded in 1882, with no established synonyms
- Heavy cropper that ripens in the middle to later part of the season
- Holds up well against most fungal problems, though esca can affect it
- Capped at 30% in Valpolicella and 40% in Bardolino
Typical Flavors
Major Regions
Valpolicella Classico · Amarone della Valpolicella · Bardolino · Recioto della Valpolicella · Valpolicella Ripasso · Garda Colli Mantovani · Hilltops (New South Wales)
Overview
Rondinella is the workhorse of the Veronese red blend. Almost all of it stands in the hills and plains around Verona, where it is grown alongside Corvina and Corvinone for Valpolicella, Amarone, Recioto and Bardolino. Its appeal to growers is practical: it crops heavily, ripens reliably and tolerates the humid autumns of the Lake Garda basin better than most local varieties. In the glass it is a lighter, simpler partner than Corvina. Varietal wines are fruity and cherry-toned without the structure, aromatic lift or ageing capacity to carry a bottling alone, so it is nearly always blended, with Corvina, Corvinone and, increasingly rarely, Molinara. Producers who aim high tend to treat it as a supporting grape and limit its share, often to well below the legal maximum. Its sturdy health matters most in the drying lofts used for Amarone and Recioto, where grapes spend months losing water and fungal rot is the main risk.
Origins & History
Rondinella is first recorded in 1882. The short documentary history probably explains why the variety has no established synonyms: unlike many Italian grapes, it never travelled under a string of local names. The name is usually taken to derive from rondine, the Italian word for swallow, in reference to the dark, glossy colour of the berries. DNA profiling carried out at the San Michele all'Adige research centre in the mid-2000s showed a parent and offspring relationship between Rondinella and Corvina Veronese. The second parent has not been identified and may be extinct, a common situation among old Italian varieties. Rondinella is therefore a close relative of its main blending partner, and the two have been planted together in the same vineyards for generations. Its spread was driven by yield. When Valpolicella and Bardolino received DOC status in the 1960s, Rondinella was written into the blends as a reliable cropper, and its prolific habit made it popular with growers selling grapes for volume wines of every style. The variety has stayed almost entirely in Veneto. In New South Wales, in the Hilltops zone, a single Australian producer, Freeman Vineyards, grows about one hectare (as of roughly 2010), which goes into a blend with Corvina for a wine modelled on Amarone.
Viticultural Characteristics
Rondinella is a vigorous, very productive vine that ripens mid to late season. Yields are high enough that growers in quality-focused estates thin crops heavily; the Australian plantings, for example, are reported to need green harvesting of as much as 80% of the fruit. The variety resists most fungal diseases well, a trait that makes it especially useful for appassimento, since bunches laid out to dry for Amarone and Recioto must survive months without rotting. Its main vulnerability is esca, the trunk disease that has become a growing concern across Veneto vineyards. Italian plantings were recorded at around 2,500 ha in 2010 and had risen to roughly 2,900 ha by 2016, almost all in Veneto.
Wine Styles & Characteristics
On its own, Rondinella makes pleasant, cherry-flavoured red wine of modest weight, which is why it is almost always blended. In Valpolicella and Bardolino it supports Corvina and Corvinone, adding fruit, colour and volume to wines that range from light and fresh to fuller, riper bottlings. In Amarone della Valpolicella the rules require 5% to 30% Rondinella alongside Corvina and Corvinone, and its disease resistance during drying helps keep the dried fruit clean. It also contributes to Recioto della Valpolicella, the sweet red made from dried grapes, and to Valpolicella Ripasso, where the base wine is refermented on Amarone pomace. Under the DOC rules Rondinella is allowed up to 30% in Valpolicella and up to 40% in Bardolino, though producers often use less. Rosato versions are also made in Bardolino.