Italian wine and grape guide : Notardomenico

The Notardomenico grape has been present in the area around Brindisi since ancient times, although the cultivation surfaces are rather modest. Generally, it is grown and vinified in blends with Ottavianello, another indigenous variety of Brindisi, but it tends to overbear it with its olfactory intensity. Rovasenda, in his essay from 1877, makes reference but does not provide descriptions of the grape variety. We do not know anything about the origin of Notardomenico’s unusual name. The berry is black, medium, spheroid, uneven with waxy, thin and tender skin of dark violet-red color. The cluster is medium, conical or cylindrical, simple or winged, medium compact or loose with a medium, pentagonal or orbicular, lobed leaf. The Notardomenico variety has medium vigor and medium age of maturation, provides discrete productions. The grape Notardomenico is not vinified in purity. We are therefore not able to provide the organoleptic description of its wine.