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PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
A fresh fruit product obtained from the cultivation of the following varieties of dessert
grapes (Vitis vinifera sp. sativa): Regina bianca or Pergolone and Cardinal.
Grapes are an infructescence derived from an effuse inflorescence that develops into a
compound bunch or panicle, generally just called a “bunch”. It comprises: a rasp that is
made up of a main axis; shaft with many side axes; grapes attached to the abovementioned
ramifications by short peduncles that end in a visible dilatation. The grapes are
the edible part of the fruits and make up 93-96% of the weight of the entire bunch. These
berries made up of a pruinose epicarp (skin), which is membranous, variably elastic and
resilient; a thick mesocarp made up of numerous layers of juicy, plump cells; a fragile,
imperceptible endocarp that envelops the two housings that may contain pips. The mesocarp
and the endocarp make up the pulp that accounts for 89-95% of the entire grape.
Ripe grapes contain: flavonic pigments (white grapes) or anthocyanins (black grapes);
sugars made up almost solely of practically equal amounts of glucose and fructose; acids
including mainly malic, tartaric and citric; aromatic substances.
POMOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE CULTIVARS
Pergolone. Panicle: large, long, pyramidal or cylindrical with adequately sparse, alates
with one or two wings, average weight 600-700g. Grape: large, elliptical, pruinose skin,
average thickness, golden yellow colour, especially when ripe, crispy pulp, sweet, neutral
flavour, 2 pips per grape, average weight 9-15g, sugar content 14-17.5%. Ripe in late
August-early September. Excellent flavour, travels well and resistant on the vine, withstands
tineids and powdery mildew.
Cardinal. Panicle: quite large, tapering cylindrical, sparse, alate, average weight 500-
600g. Grape: medium-large, rounded or sub rounded, medium thick pruinose skin, irregular
violet colour, pleasant sweet, crispy flesh of a neutral flavour, 2 pips per grape, average
weight 9-12g, sugar content 15-16%, total water 5.6%, pH 3.4. Ripe in late July-early
August when in the open, and late June-early July when covered.
PROCESSING AND CONSERVATION METHODS
Vine installation. The first operations include choice of the plants, for the success of
the vineyard will depend extensively on plants being healthy and agriculturally sound.
Consequently, whether dealing with grafted rooted vine cuttings or root stock, the material
purchased must be certified. The terrain must be prepared with a series of farming
operations (ploughing, in-depth fertilization, digging over of the soil) to improve the physical,
chemical and microbiological characteristics of the land and to create the best possible
conditions for vine root development and activity. The terrain is squared off in winter
and the posts and wire for sustaining the vine are set in place. Also in winter the
rooted vine cuttings or, more rarely, the root stock, are set in place. The most recommended
root stock are: Kober 5 BB, 140 Ru, 157.11 C.
Cultivation: lasts 2-3 years, depending on the technique preferred. Dessert grapes are
cultivated in arbour-trained vineyards. This layout became popular after WWI and spread
not only through Abruzzo, where it is called “a capanna”, but also in Latium, Apulia and
Sicily. In the first year of cultivation the rooted vine cutting’s best shoot is gradually trained
to just over half way up the supporting post, then it is trimmed and the early shoots, if
healthy, are used directly for training; otherwise the following year’s shoots are used as
they sprout, when the arbour is completed, training the shoots out over the pergola wires.
Nitrogen is the best fertilizer for encouraging fast rooted vine cutting growth and in this
phase is extremely important. No other fertilization will be required as the dose provided
at the time of installation is sufficient. Special attention must be given to phytosanitary
protection against the vegetative apparatus’ worst enemies: downy mildew and pow-
dery mildew. Terrain must be managed in such a way as to include a range of procedures
to free the soil of weeds that will compete with the young vines.
Production phase: all cultivation technique operations required will be performed to
keep the vines in the best state of vegetative and production equilibrium.
Pruning: this operation involves eliminating shoots that have borne fruit and replacing
them with others from the spur, specifically set aside the previous year to ensure renewal.
For the Cardinal cultivar the number varies from 4 to 7-8, depending on the strength
of the vines. For Pergolone 4-5 shoots are left. This type of pruning is done in winter (dry
pruning). During the vegetative period, operations are required both on the greenery and
on the vegetation of the panicle. The grapes that seem too weak to evolve will be removed
from the bunch.
Fertilization: the vines are dressed differently, depending on whether it is producing
Cardinal or Pergolone. Cardinal, in point of fact, is generally more demanding in its fertilizer
needs and is also known to be very sensitive to nitrogen-based fertilization. If the
fertilizer is applied correctly the grape will produce crispy pulp, but an excess will burst
the skins. Pergolone is less demanding and overdressing can actually compromise product
quality.
Soil management: in almost all instance this requires a varying number of operations
that include winter spadework, and four or more surface millings during spring-summer.
Phytosanitary protection: using integrated batch criteria that will cut interventions to
a minimum and use specific, low-environmental impact products. Special protection is
required against tineids and powdery mildew, which are the key enemies in the cultivation
area. Other, less aggressive, pests are: downy mildew, botrytis, thunderfly, etc.
Irrigation: indispensable, especially for growing the Cardinal grape, whereas for Pergolone
it is less important except to note that in some conditions it will cause damage.
Harvest: dessert grapes are picked only by hand, cutting the peduncle near where it enters
the shoot. This is a very delicate operation that requires attention and experience in
selecting the best bunches to be cut and whose poor handling can compromise the integrity
of the bunch by removing the bloom (very negative, above all for Cardinal) or the
peduncle, and causing lesions. The number of harvests from the same vineyard varies
from 1-3, depending on the ripening stages of the grapes. Cut bunches are placed delicately,
with the shaft exposed, in the various types of packaging available: crates or punnets.
Crates may be 30x40cm (weighing about 7kg), 30x50cm (about 9kg), 40x60cm (about
11kg), and may be in wood, cardboard or recyclable plastic. The punnets may have a handle
(weighing about 1kg) or a lid (weighing about 750g), in polypropylene or cardboard.
In addition to punnets, trays of varying sizes are also used, whose measurements are
usually submultiples of the pallets on which they are loaded after packaging. The product
is sent on to wholesalers or, more frequently, to cooperative structures.
Early harvest: apart from growing out in the open, Cardinal grapes can be cultivated using
a semi-forced system to achieve an earlier harvest. This technique basically means
covering the vines before vegetation begins, usually late February up to mid-March. For
this purpose various sorts of PE plastic sheeting are normally used; occasionally PVC or
EVA are chosen. Traditionally the supporting structures for the vines are unheated greenhouses
made from wooden frames (regular pavilion greenhouses) or more functional metal
frames (semicircular pavilion greenhouses), in any case they are large capacity (3.3-
3.5 cubic metres per square metre of surface area). The technique of covering the vines
brings forward the date of budding and flowering so the fruit can be picked a month or
so earlier than the grapes out in the field. A very delicate greenhouse operation is the
maximum temperature aspect, as it must never exceed 35°C when the vine is covered
and 30°C during the very delicate flowering-grape development phase.
On the whole, the cultivation technique operations are those applied for field cultivation.
NATURAL OR TRANSFORMED VEGETABLE PRODUCTS 229