Lazio is a region in central Italy, whose capital is Rome. When one thinks of wine in Italy, it is often Tuscany and Piedmont that come to mind first, yet the region of Lazio has been growing wine for thousands of years, even before the domination of the Roman Empire, during the Etruscan civilization. Historically, the vineyards around Rome have always been known for producing white wines, to be drunk young, and intended for consumption in the region. Even today, the majority of Lazio’s wine production is made up of cheap white wines shipped to the capital, but fortunately some producers have chosen the path of quality.
Wine Appellations
The Lazio region has no less than 27 DOCs (Denominazione di Origine Controllata), of which about 20 are dedicated to the production of white wine. In addition, there are 3 DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) and 6 IGT (Indicazione geografica tipica). To find your way around, you can consult the map of Lazio’s wine appellations below, which comes from the website federdoc.com.
© FederDOC.com
Grape Varieties
In white, we find in Lazio: mostly malvasia and trebbiano, but also some sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and viognier. In red: cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, cesanese, syrah, petit verdot, sangiovese and montepulciano.
Cesanese is an indigenous variety of Lazio. For a long time it has been used to make dessert wines and sparkling wine. One of its characteristics is that it ripens very late and it is sometimes difficult to harvest it at optimum maturity. It does not support too much ageing in wood either. It is therefore a very difficult grape variety, but it can give very good results. It is called the “pinot noir” of Lazio.
Wineries Recommended
Here is a list, of course, not complete, of good producers of Lazio (and in parenthesis one of their wines to discover):
– Casale Cento Corvi (Giacchè Rosso : 100% giacchè). casalecentocorvi.it
– Casale del Giglio (Faro della Guardia : 100% biancolella). casaledelgiglio.it
– Castel de Paolis (Donna Adriana : viognier, malvasia and sauvignon blanc). casteldepaolis.it
– Coletti Conti (Hernicus : 100% cesanese del piglio). coletticonti.it
– Colle Picchioni (Le Vignole : malvasia, trebbiano and sauvignon blanc). collepicchioni.it
– Damiano Ciolli (Cirsium : 100% cesanese di affile). damianociolli.it
– Falesco (Montiano : 100% merlot). falesco.it
– Formiconi (Capozzano : 100% cesanese di affile). cantinaformiconi.it
– Marco Carpineti (Capolemole bianco : 80% bellone, 20% greco moro). marcocarpineti.com
– Poggio Le Volpi (Baccarossa : 100% nero buono). poggiolevolpi.it
– Principe Pallavicini (Poggio Verde : malvasia di candia, malvasia del Lazio, trebbiano greco and grechetto). principepallavicini.com
– Sergio Mottura (Poggio della Costa : 100% grechetto). sergiomottura.com
– Tenuta di Fiorano (Fiorano bianco : grechetto and viognier). tenutadifiorano.it
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