The Lazio wine region in Central Italy isn't one wine consumers discuss too often. Did you know that Rome is located in Lazio? So if you thought you had never heard of it or visited Lazio, you have been if you've visited Italy's capital. This is a white wine dominated region with wines I've shared in the past, including Est Est Est di Montefiascone and Frascati, made primarily from Malvasia and Trebbiano grapes. Merlot is one of the leading red grapes produced in Lazio, but today we will highlight a native red grape, Cesanese.
Cesanese is named after the town of Cesano located in the Castelli Romani south and southeast of Rome. Most of the Cesanese vineyards are grown in this area in the high hill towns of Affile and Piglio overlooking the Sacco and Aniene river valleys. Lazio has a few appellations based on the Cesanese grape including two DOC's, Cesanese di Olevano Romano and Cesanese di Affile. These DOC's make up a large portion of the vineyards for the region. There is also one DOCG, Cesanese del Piglio, that was established in 2008 and is the only DOCG of Lazio based on red grapes. For those more technical and interested in clones, a few Cesanese clones are used in producing these wines, including Cesanese Comune, Cesanese d'Affile, and the latest clone, Cesanese Nostrano. Cesanese d'Affile is known to be the better clone of the bunch.
Lazio wine regions copyright of Federdoc
Cesanese, pronounced chay-sah-nay-say, is a grape that produces low yields and is known to ripen late into the season, well into October. This can be one of the challenges for this grape based on the climate, as it may not fully reach ripeness in certain vintages. It produces medium-bodied wines with fruity and floral aromas, lively acidity, and softer tannins. The fruit tends to be rich and ripe cherry with spice and some earthly characteristics. It's best enjoyed in its youth.
Andiamo a Roma! Yesterday you may have caught my podcast with Rick Zullo discussing an introduction to Italian wines including the Lazio wine region. If you have been to Italy, most likely you have visited Rome, the capital of Italy in the central region of Lazio along the Tyrrhenian Sea. As we all know, Rome is rich in history, art, architecture, and much more, but let's escape today from the city and chaos and journey to wine country outside of Rome. Here are some of the best areas to visit outside of Rome for a day trip to experience the wines of Lazio.
You may not immediately gravitate to the Lazio region when it comes to wine. Lazio is known for producing easy drinking, simple table wines, without drawing much excitement, but there are some top whites and reds that you can find that are worth experiencing. Plus, any time you visit a wine region you learn so much about the cultural history of an area, plus the climate, terrain, and much more.
If you are a lover of whites you will be able to appreciate this region. My first suggestion, that is near to Rome, is to venture out to the Castelli Romani area to see the production of frascati, the primary white wine. There are a number of towns in this area in the Alban hills, Colli Albani, which is about 12 miles south of Rome. Wine lovers have enjoyed Frascati for over 3,000 years in this region. What makes the winemaking of this region unique is the volcanic soil. Volcanic soil imparts lots of character to wine that is grown on it, especially minerality and complexity. Frascati wine is a blend of the malvasia bianca, trebbiano and bombino bianco grapes. Check out the Frascati Superiore DOCG wines as well as the Cannellino di Frascati DOCG, which is a dessert wine.
The Alban Hills of Frascati by CucombreLibre
If you're a red wine lover, the best wine area outside of Rome to visit would be the town of Piglio, about 30 miles southeast of Rome in the Frosinone province. The primary red grape of Lazio is the unique cesanese del Piglio made with 90% of the cesanese grape. Cesanese is an aromatic red grape producing wines with spice, ina concentration that shows the ability to age. Outside of the cesanese grape, most of what you'll find in this region for red wines are your typical international varieties like cabernet sauvignon and merlot.
Don't get me wrong, no one should miss visiting Rome for its history alone, but take a day off and enrich your experience with a visit to the wine region. It might be overwhelming with the number of choices available to stay in Rome, but if you are looking to base yourself out of Rome for your vacation and excursions, consider Worldhotel Ripa Roma in the Trastevere district of Rome.
For a gastronomic Lazio experience, check out my blog with a food and wine pairing of Lazio featuring saltimbocca alla romana with Casale del Giglio petit verdot, and get a sample of what this region has to offer from a culinary perspective.
Since I have
covered many Italian wine regions throughout my Italian wine blog
journey I don't want to forget about some of the others we haven't
discussed yet, even though some of them aren't that well known for
producing high quality wines. Just like the United States has every
state producing wine, so does Italy with wine regions. Today we're
going to cover the Lazio wine region, also known as Latium. Without
knowing it most of you will be familiar with it or have even been to
it as it houses the capital of Italy, Rome.
The white wines of Lazio A lot of the wine
in the Lazio region is white and is made mostly from the trebbiano or
malvasia grapes. There are 25 DOC wine regions within Lazio. One of
the DOC regions you may have heard of or have tried yourself is
Frascati, but not many of the wines from this region will pop into
your mind firsthand when you think of Italian wines. Most of the
wines in this region can be found around the Alban Hills, which are
located south of Rome. According to Vino Italiano, 80% of all the
wine in the DOC wine regions of Lazio are produced here. The
elevations are higher and the volcanic soil is well drained.
One of the most interesting names for a DOC wine region resides in Lazio named Est! Est! Est! Di Montefiascone, or also just known as Est! Est! Est! It translates in latin to “it is”. The story is that a German bishop was en route to watch the coronation of Henry V and sent his scout ahead of him to mark the places that had the best wine with est!. Upon his arrival in Montefiascone he was overly impressed so he marked the door with Est! Est! Est! The story may be more entertaining than the wine is known for though.
The red wines of Lazio Although this area
produces mostly whites it does have an indigenous red to the area
known as cesanese, but outside of that you will find your
international varieties like merlot and cabernet sauvignon and some
of the other red grapes produced within Italy. There originally was
1 region that was granted the DOCG designation, Cesanese di Piglio,
from the Piglio region. In 2011 two more regions joined in,
Frascati Superiore and Cannellino di Frascati.
Foods of Lazio Traditional foods
of the Lazio region that you will want to sample when tasting wines
from this region include spaghetti alla carbonara, cacio e pepe
“cheese and pepper” and bucatini all' amatriciana. If you want something on the lighter side there is fresh pecorino romano or fried artichokes.
