Bianca is, in spite of its seemingly Italian name, a green grape from Hungary.
Characteristics
Bianca is a hybrid crossing, meaning one of its parents is a Vitis Vinifera variety and the other parent is a variety from another Vitis species, for example Vitis Labrusca or Vitis Rupestris.
Grapes from crossings between different Vitis species are not allowed for wine production within the European Union from 2011.
The Bianca grape will produce a wine that is fairly low in alcohol, and with neutral aromas.
Bianca, as many other hybrids, is more resistant to diseases, which also makes it popular among viticulturists, particularly those that wants to produce in an organic way.
Wines
Bianca is used for making dry organic wines left to ferment without addition of industrial yeast. The wine has a tendency to oxidize.
Food pairing
Given the absence of information regarding varietal Bianca wines, no pairing suggestions can be given.
Where is it grown?
Bianca was, with its 3.513 ha/8,681 ac, the second most planted grape in Russia in 2010.
The main plantings, 2.731 ha/6,748 ac, were in Krasnodar Krái on the eastern side of the Black Sea.
Rostov Oblast, the region directly north of the Krasnodar region, demonstrated plantings of 782 ha/1,932 ac.
Hungary reports plantings of 2.922 ha/7,220 ac, which positions Bianca as the sixth most planted grape in the country.
The vast majority of area planted with this grape is found in Kunsag in the central south with 2.738 ha/6,766 ac. The grape is however represented in all but three regions in Hungary.
There are reports of small plantings also in Moldavia and Romania.
History
Bianca was created in 1963 in a Viticulture research institute in Eger in north-eastern Hungary.