Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

You can find Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Negro and Merlot in the Trentino region of Italy, but you can find those grapes all over the world. What is special to the northern region is Marzemino, which produces a light, fruity and very drinkable red wine. We certainly drank enough of it last week to stand by that statement. Factoid: In his opera Don Giovanni, Mozart repeatedly mentions Marzemino: "Pour the wine, excellent Marzemino." Rovereto, the second town in Trentino, and a center of Marzemino growing, hosted Mozart and his father Leopold on many occasions. On 26 December 1769, the thirteen-year-old Wolfgang held his first public concert in Italy, in the Church of S. Marco, Rovereto, before a great crowd fascinated by so young a genius. Today, the town holds a Mozart festival in memory of the musician who helped put it on the map. And a Marzemino tip? Try the Battistotti, 2002 Trentino Marzemino. It opens with berry and spice fragrances and tastes of earthy fruit with the tannins adding a somewhat harsh edge to the wine's inherent thinness.

If you'd prefer a wine with a lower tannin level, the Marzemino Mozart is recommended. Pour a glass and put on his motet Exsultate, jubilate, K.165, which he composed when he was just sixteen. The story goes that Wolfgang and his father had traveled to Milan in October 1772 for the premiere of the opera Lucio Silla. The famous castrato Venanzio Rauzzini had sung the role of Cecillo. Why Mozart composed the motet for Rauzzini and not a female soprano is not known. The florid, coloratura style of the piece give us some idea today of the quality of Rauzzini's voice. Exsultate, jubilate received its first performance on 17 January 1773, in the Church of San Antonio, Milan.