Mammolo
Flowers for the nose
This red variety comes from Italy and produces red wines with a clear scent of violets. This explains its name, as the violet is called “mammole” in Italian.
This vine is known under various synonyms, the most well-known of which is probably Malvasia.
In Corsica, where it is grown on an area of around 800 hectares, Mammolo is known as Sciaccarello. It is happily blended there with Sangiovese, which the locals call Nielluccio. Mammolo probably made its way to Corsica when Genoese merchants controlled large swathes of Mediterranean trade. They supposedly brought the originally-Tuscan vine to the island, where it quickly established itself.
In Italy today, the vine is only seldom found. There are at most 200 hectares throughout the entire country.
