Talk-A-Vino

Ugni Blanc grapes, as shown in Wikipedia

Welcome to the weekend and your new wine quiz!

We are continuing our grape trivia series, still focusing on the white grapes, and today’s subject is Trebbiano.

Have you had Trebbiano wines? How about Ugni Blanc? Before you answer no, think again. There is a very high degree of probability that you had the wine made either from Trebbiano, a.k.a. Ugni Blanc, or at least with Trebbiano being a part of the blend, as Trebbiano is second most planted grape in the world. Ugni Blanc is the most planted grape in France, spanning from Bordeaux to Provance to Corsica. In Italy, Trebbiano is allowed to be used in more than 80 different DOCs and has 7 DOCs of its own.

The grape’s historical (as well as genetical) roots are still not fully established yet. It seems that the first mentions come from the area of Bologna in Italy in 13th century. In the 14th century, the grape made it to France together with the Papal court, where it became known as Ugni Blanc. Starting from 16th century, the plantings of the Trebbiano increased quite substantially, but the grape practically never made it on its own. Trebbiano’s main characteristics include high acid, low sugar, minimum aromatics and vigorous growth, which are not the star quality when we are talking about the wines. At the same time, these very characteristics make it an excellent foundation for producing all kinds of distilled spirits – this is where majority of the Trebbiano/Ugni Blanc grapes are used today.

And now, to the quiz!

Q1: Ugni Blanc is a main grape in the production of what famous spirit?

Q2: Name the wine, in which Trebbiano was a required part of the blend, and it was considered to be the reason for a bad, flabby quality of that wine (it is no longer required to be used in that wine).

Q3: Trebbiano is often a foundation for the popular food product (containing no alcohol). Do you know what food product it is?

Q4: Contrary to the name, Trebbiano di Lugano is not considered to be a part of the Trebbiano family, but rather related to another Italian grape. Do you know what grape is that?

Q5: When used for the wine production (as opposed to the distilled spirits), Ugni Blanc is rarely used on its own – it is typically a part of the blend.  Name 3 grapes, traditional blending partners of Ugni Blanc.

Good luck, enjoy the quiz and your weekend! Cheers!