Like many native Italian grape varieties, it has risked extinction to now find its revenge between the province of Ascoli Piceno and Abruzzo. We point out two from Abruzzo with excellent value for money: Barba and Citra.
In the mid-nineteenth century, Pecorino vines were grown in the Marche, Abruzzo, Umbria, Lazio and Puglia regions. However, the low yields of this variety prompted producers to abandon the vine in favor of other more prolific ones.
Rediscovery in the Marches
His return to the Marche is due to a producer from the Marche region, whose winery has vineyards located in the Falerio DOC area of the Colli Ascolani. The specification for this appellation included the addition of Pecorino grapes. Due to the success of 100% Pecorino winemaking, the variety obtained its specific DOC designation in 2001 under the name Pecorino di Offida.
A perfect habitat in Abruzzo
In Abruzzo, Pecorino finds a perfect habitat and here, too, producers have begun to produce pure Pecorino with high quality results and growing commercial success. It is also included in some sparkling wines produced in the Controguerra DOC area.
It is an early maturing variety, preferring cool and elevated hilly sites. The reason this grape variety shares its name with the well-known cheese of the same name remains uncertain, but it may refer to the seasonal movements of shepherds and their flocks, which traditionally occur in regions where precisely the Pecorino grape variety is found.
Pecorino cheese in other regions
In Apulia (where it sometimes goes by the name Uva Piccoletta or Uvina), in Umbria (where it is known as Uva delle Pecore or Uva Pecorina) and in Latium (where it is often identified as Trebbiano Vicio), Pecorino may be used as a minor component in dry whites.
Pecorino-based wines have good alcohol and acidity, so they possess the potential to age quite well.
We report two from Abruzzo, one from a private entity and one from a social winery, both of excellent quality.
Barba, a real farm in the Teramo area
The Barba brothers’ is a real, large farm in the Teramo area, with more than 680 hectares of property, 400 of which are dedicated to animal husbandry and milk production, 62 to viticulture and a hundred to other agricultural crops. Vineyards located in the most vocated areas of Colle Morino, Casal Thaulero and San Lorenzo. This is the small empire of Vincenzo, Giovanni and Domenico Barba, who offer wines that are always very well made, with some peaks of absolute excellence and surprising value for money.
Citra, the Abruzzi giant
This giant of Abruzzo winemaking brings together the production of9 cooperative wineries of Abruzzo Citra, which roughly corresponds to the province of Chieti, involves three thousand winegrowing families in the area, who own as many as six thousand hectares under vine, and represents the most interesting example of a second-tier cooperative in central-southern Italy. It has 22 technicians, including agronomists and oenologists, who follow production from the vineyard to the winery for a very wide range of wines, focused mainly on traditional grape varieties: Montepulciano, Trebbiano, Pecorino Passerina, Cococciola and Montonico.
TO READ THE WINE DESCRIPTIONS, WITH SCORE AND AVERAGE SHELF PRICE, CLICK ON THE TABS BELOW.
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