Bombino nero

Bombino nero is a red Italian wine grape variety that is grown in southern Italy, particularly the regions of Apulia, Basilicata, and Lazio, as well as on the island of Sardinia. It is a permitted grape variety in the Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) wines of Castel del Monte and Lizzano. The grape is primarily a blending grape but it can also be used as a varietal for red and rosé wines. Though DNA evidence has shown that Bombino nero is not a dark-berried color mutation of the similarly named Bombino bianco, ampelographers still believe that the two varieties are related in some way.

The name "Bombino" means "small bomb" in Italian and probably comes from a description of the globular shape that the clusters of Bombino nero fruit can take. While DNA profiling has confirmed that Bombino nero is a variety distinct from Bombino bianco, evidence does point to the two varieties being related and probably sharing similar origins. While some early wine writers speculated that Bombino bianco may have had Spanish origins, most ampelographers today believe that both Bombino grapes probably originated in the Apulia region of south-eastern Italy.

Bombino nero is a late-ripening variety that is often one of the last red wine grapes to be harvested in a vintage intended for regular table wine and not sweet late harvest wines. The grape is very high phenolics, particularly anthocyanins, which has the potential to produce wines with a deep color though it more often sees only a short maceration time that produces lighter color wines. This is one reason why Bombino nero is often used in rosé production as it can quickly color the juice without requiring a long period of skin contact that can often also extract bitter tannins and other phenolics.

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