Italian Wine – The Wines of Piemonte

Consorzio – Italian for consortium.  In wine this refers to an association of independent organizations to achieve a business objective e.g., a co-operative for producing wine cost effectively or a group of producers or negotiants with a shared marketing objective.  It can also refer to the group associated with a particular DOC or DOCG that is charged with protecting the value of that term/classification including efforts to prevent the unauthorized use of the term (even by members) or counterfeit.  In France this is the role of the Comite Interprofessionnel and in Spain, the Consejo Regulador does this.

Consejo Regulador – The “regulating council” in Spain charged with making sure that the regulations of the DO are enforced – similar to the Comite Interprofessionnel in France and the Consorzio in Italy.  Each DO has such a council and it is generally made up of a mix of people representing growers, producers, and merchants.  This council also has the power to make or change the rule.

Bush vines – Just as it sounds, the vines are trained to be short, “bush”-like and generally without wires or a trellis system.  Vines that are trained in the Goblet style can also be said to be bush vines but there is a more structured way of tying the spurs together at the to, “head” of the vine.  Training vines in the bush style helps control vigor.  It is  largely being replaced with more formal trellis systems but is still popular in Australia and South Africa.

Colli (e?) – Italian for “hill” or Colline when referring to multiple “hills”.  Similar in usage to the French term cote, Cotes, and Coteaux. The term is used to indicate that the vines are planted on a slope without a specific grade or elevation requirement, so the vines could be on a steep slope at high elevations or simply planted on a rolling hill.  Several DOCs use the term Colli as part of their official name e.g., Colli Orientali del Friuli DOC.  Although many Italian wines are made from hillside plantings or even steep slopes e.g, the most of the wines from Piemonte, without using the term, some wines use this term to indicate that the grapes were source from a particular hillside e.g., Chianti from the Colli Senesi.

Ronco – A term used mostly in Northeast Italy that, like Colli, means “hill”.  The term is sometimes used on labels, like colli to indicate that the fruit comes from a hillside vineyard.  Rocco has been used this way in Tuscany, Alto Adige, Romagna and Lombardy where it was first used by Mario Pasolini on a bottle of “Ronco di Mompiano”  which is an outstanding vino da tavola wine made with Merlot and Marzemino grapes from grapes grown within the walls surrounding the town of Brescia.

Botte – Italian for a large wooden cask. pl Botti

Frizzzante – Italian word for a wine that has some bubbles (generally from a second fermentation in the tank), but is not fully sparkling (called Spumante in Italy).  A fully sparkling Spumante must have at least 3 bar of pressure and Frizzante must have between 1 and 2.5 bar pressure.