Civita di Bagnoregio

Ever changing, untouched landscapes in the green of winding valleys make Umbria a region that will never fail to amaze. This region comprises mainly hills, mountains, hollows and plains and extends along the Tiber’s central basin. 
At the heart of the boot, Umbria is one of Italy’s few landlocked regions, has a much less illustrious reputation for wine than Tuscany, its neighbor to the west. The small region lies in the shadows of the Apennines, its climate moderated by maritime winds funneling from the Tyrrhenian Sea. The region is slow to develop and rustic in comparison to surrounding regions, however, provided noted physicist Enrico Fermi with a wine to toast the first successful nuclear reaction of the Manhattan Project, Orvieto.  A light white wine produced from blend with Grechetto di Orvieto. 

What are we talking about when we talk about Grechetto?

Grechetto grapes- with it's long bunch and small berries.

Grechetto is an Italian white grape variety that has its origins and is still common in region Umbria (central Italy, to the south-west of Tuscany). It is also cultivated in bordering regions, such as Marche, Lazio and Emilia-Romagna.

The tricky thing about Grechetto, it’s been determined to be two varieties: Grechetto di Orvieto and Grechetto di Todi. Both are occasionally and inadequately referred to as “clones” but the two are not clones at all. In fact, they’re not even related.

Usually, when we talk about Grechetto we refer to the Grechetto di Orvieto variety.

Grechetto di Todi, on the other hand, has been found to be, from the genetic point of view, much similar to Pignoletto, an autochthonous variety of region Emilia.

Where does Grechetto come from?

Orvieto

When it’s about Italian wine, which is something as ancient as the people that produce it (let’s remember that, although wine as we know it is a relatively recent product, ancient Romans already drank a beverage made from fermented crushed grapes), popular tradition can be a reliable source of knowledge.

Given that the Italian words for Greece and Greek are respectively Grecia and Greco, the name “Grechetto” means “a small one from Greece” (from the adjective “greco” and the diminutive suffix “-etto”, with the addition of an /h/ for phonological reasons). The name could in all likelihood reveal the origin of the grape variety, which might have come from Greece through Romans and have found in central Italy a new home. However, Grechetto - or, better to say, Grechetto di Orvieto - is considered an autochthonous variety from Umbria because it is deeply rooted there since a very long time. The variety is most abundant in Umbria, especially in the countryside surrounding Orvieto.

Which wines are made from Grechetto?

Grechetto is a wine variety that can give high yields (which explains its success throughout century) and that, therefore, requires to be work carefully in the vineyard to obtain a quality wine.

Grechetto grapes produce a pretty fresh wine, making uncomplicated, light-bodied, lemony wines that are easygoing, with hints of white flowers, chamomile, lime, and yellow apples, with generally high acidity.

Grechetto di Orvieto is widely used in blends, too, in order to produce more complex wines or to give them a distinctive local note.

This year Wine Spectator selected Arnoldo Caprrai Grecante Grechetto dei Colli Martani 2015, #88 on the list with a rating of 90 points.

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Let’s talk about Some Italian sparkling wines.

From west to east, first comes Asti Spumante, from the town of Asti in Piedmont, probably the most traditional one, the one whose corks had popped into the air on New Year’s eve for decades in the majority of Italian homes, no matter the social class. Asti Spumante is made using the Moscato Bianco grape and originally was processed the traditional method (Champagne techniques) but transitioned to the Martinotti-Charmat (tank method) which better preserves the aromatic richness of the Moscato grape.

Then there is Franciacorta, which takes its name from a sub region of Lombardy, in the province of Brescia. Franciacorta is produced from three varieties: Chardonnay, Pinot Nero and Pinot Bianco. It’s the elegant and precious Italian traditional method that showed the world those great sparkling wines can be produced outside of France, too.

Trento DOC, from Trentino, nowadays successfully follows its footsteps. Trent DOC is a high-quality traditional method sparkling produced from Chardonnay, Pinot Nero with Chardonnay playing the dominant role. They can also be supplemented with Pinot Bianco or Meunier.

Finally comes Prosecco, which is produced in almost the whole Veneto region and part of Friuli Venezia Giulia. Prosecco is the name of the wine and Glera is the name of the grape that is dominant in the sparkling that is made the by Martinotti-Charmat method. It may not be the most traditional or refined one, but it is surely the most popular at the moment and the one that is being produced and sold the most at present. The highest quality and most famous Proseccos being produced in in the Cartizze region.

And yet, that’s not all.

In Monti Lessini, a district in the province of Verona, to the east of the Lake Garda and practically halfway between Franciacorta and Prosecco they still grow and produce wine from a lesser known autochthonous variety called Durella.

What is Durella?

Durella is an Italian autochthonous grape variety, known for its high acid, originated and grown on the Lessini Mountains area, which more or less means to the north / north-east of Valpolicella. There are two DOCs within the Monti Lessini district base on Durella, Monti Lessini DOC & Lessini Durello DOC.

From the Durella grape they produce Durello sparkling wine from the Lessini Durello DOC.  As it often happens with wines, its name has a popular origin. It comes from the adjective “duro”, that means “hard”, and refers to the thickness of the peel of its berries and to its capability to stand hardships and, therefore, to provide regular harvests and pretty good yields.

The popular origin of the name is also the reason why the grape variety is often called Durello (with a mutation from feminine to masculine gender) as the wine itself. Although it’s not an error to talk about Durello (masculine) variety, you can’t refer to the wine with the noun Durella (feminine).

And what is Durello?

Proven that it is a wine with a long history, it was found that it has been produced since the 18th century. Lessini Durello is an expressive sparkling white wine with a minimum of 85% Durella and made in two versions; Spumante, which is made the Martinotti-Charmat method and Spumante Riserva, which is made traditional method.

What’s special with Durello Sparkling wine?

The grape and the winemaking style, as it often happens when it’s about wines, play a pivotal role, but what’s really different, here, is the land.

Lessini Mountains have a volcanic soil that provides the grapes with a distinctive minerality, that can’t be found elsewhere.

The wines are characterized with bigger structure and acidity than Prosecco with recognizable honey, orchard fruit with aromas and flavors complimented by lemony and intense mineral presence. The wine is less creamy than Franciacorta but better acidity and lift. This all makes for great aging potential.

Best Durello sparkling wines are those who rested on their yeasts long enough to allow them counterbalance primary aromas of the berries, so that the wine develops its full aromatic potential.

A couple of my favorite producers:

Sandro de Bruno

Torre dei Vescovi

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“The largest event dedicated to the world of wine: business, internationalization and training” - so it is told to be Vinitaly by its own organizers on the website’s event, and so it is, at least for Italy.

In 2016, Vinitaly celebrates its 50th edition, and Italy celebrates this goal with a dedicated stamp, meaning that this fair is not for wine lovers only.

Wine, indeed, plays a pivotal role in Italy’s agricultural economy, and promoting quality wine production and consolidating reputation of Italian wines is something Italy must bet on.

When it Started

The exhibition first took place in 1967, but was quite different from the fair we see nowadays.

At the beginning it just consisted of a series of conferences, and we had to wait until 1969 for the first 130 winemakers to exhibit their wines.

In 1978 Vinitaly becomes “international” and exhibitors from outside of Italy started to take part in it.

During the Eighties and the Nineties the fair takes its present shapes: collateral, smaller fairs on olive oil and on spirits are held and prizes for wines and - later - for packages are established.

For Whom

Vinitaly is meant to be a “business to business” event, because only wine professionals are allowed, but being that this definition pretty broad, it results in about 150.000 participants visiting the fair every year. They are wholesalers and distributors, retailers (wine stores, wine bars, restaurants, catering, hotels…), sommeliers, bar tenders, wine makers, enologist and technicians, wine and trade journalists, and, obviously, authorities and institutions.

Such diversity of visitors makes Vinitaly a quite popular fair, both because professional standards can sometimes be a little lower than wished, and because each visitor can become an evangelist of the tasted wines, really giving exhibitors’ business a boost.

And What

Vinitaly, however, is not just a mere exhibition of the wines of about 4.000 winemakers, in which more or less experienced wine professionals try to drink as much wine as they can for the entrance fee (which is € 80 for one day, or € 120 for four days, with a further rebate of € 5 if purchased online here: http://www.vinitaly.com/en/Ticket-and-coupon/).

It’s a larger project that nowadays consists in a rich calendar of events and conferences organized and held by the same exhibitors and taking place continuously throughout the duration of the fair. There is also a conference whose title dares to be “Wine as a health food”.

5 Stars Wines and prizes

Wine exhibiting also means wine tasting, and Vinitaly is the occasion to compare wines and elect the ones that best represents today’s taste.

Prior to the exhibition itself, in the town of Verona as well, the Vinitaly International Wine Award 2016 will take place.

2016 news is that the prize system changes: no more medals, but a clear, understandable score from 1 to 100 points. Only the wines that will reach the score of 90 points will be classified as 5 Stars Wines.

Yet, not only the wines receive prizes in Vinitaly.

In 1996 a prize for persons or companies that stood out in promoting wine culture was established, and it was given to journalists like Monica Larner (who won it twice as a “young journalist” and a third time just as a journalist) and the Lifestyle Food channel star and head sommelier at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Matt Skinner.

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Among Italian wine region, Tuscany surely deserves a special place, thanks to the several top quality cellars producing long lasting, full-bodied, renowned red wines.

One of the wines that made the myth of Tuscan wine is Brunello di Montalcino, which also is, together with Barolo from Piedmont, the most long-living Italian wine, as it can age for decades.

What is Brunello made of?

Until the XIX century, Brunello di Montalcino was thought to be produced from an autochthonous, unique, grape variety, but in 1879 a group of scientists found out that it was a clone of Sangiovese.

The wrong belief about the uniqueness of the variety from which Brunello is made from was probably due to the particular expression Sangiovese has in the area. Local special climate and soil, in other words, give the grapes a character they don’t get elsewhere.

Brunello di Montalcino, indeed, is made of 100% Sangiovese and no other grape variety is allowed in its production, therefor its roundness, complexity and variety of aromas all come from a fully developed single kind of grape.

Where is Brunello produced?

As its same name says, Brunello comes from Montalcino, a medieval small town in the province of Siena, by the border with the province of Grosseto. This means that Montalcino lies in the southern part of Tuscany, only 200 kilometers to the north of Rome and only 40 kilometers as the crow flies from the Mediterranean Sea.

Which are the main Brunello di Montalcino production guidelines?

Brunello is a DOCG wine, which is the highest level for an Italian wine. Yet, it is a relatively recent DOGC wine, as the wine received the “denominations” in 1998.

According to its production guidelines, grapes from which Brunello di Montalcino will be made must come from vineyards growing on slopes only, and on soils that can be dated back between Cretaceous and Pliocene ages.

The maximum allowed altitude is 600 meters on sea level and any forcing is forbidden, including rescue irrigation.

Brunello must age for at least 24 months in oak barrels - no matter their size, there’s no need for them to be actual barriques - and then at least four months in bottle (that become six if it is Brunello “Riserva”) before being marketed.

Brunello di Montalcino can only be marketed after January the 1^st of the fifth year after the harvest (the sixth when it’s about “Riserva”). This means that wines from grapes harvested in Fall 2015 will be sold from January 1^st 2020 on.

What is Brunello di Montalcino Riserva?

As it happens with many DOCG wines, according to production guidelines, it is forbidden to put on Brunello bottles misleading labels, for instance containing adjectives that somehow suggest a special, superior quality, like, indeed, “superior”, “selected”, “fine”, “aged”, “picked” and so on.

When we se the word “Riserva” on a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino, it means that that bottle comes from a special reserve, allowed and guaranteed by law, that aged longer in bottle.

With which dishes should be paired Brunello di Montalcino?

Brunello has a wide, composite and complex bouquet, as well as full and elegant body.

This makes of it a perfect wine to be tasted alone, too, but it is traditionally paired with intense-flavored meat dishes, even with those dressed with truffle, and with tasty, aged cheeses, especially the pungent ones produced in Tuscany and Umbria.

Suggested Producers:

Altesino BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO D.O.C.G. RISERVA

San Polo BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO RISERVAPoggio 

Antico Brunello di Montalcino D.O.C.G. Riserva

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