Wines of the Lazio wine region

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.

Montefiascone by Superdealer100

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.

Bucatini all' amatriciana by Stu_spivack

What have folks found for wines from this region in your country? Has anyone visited the wineries of this region? Share your stories with me!

When you head to Rome and Lazio don't forget this useful detailed map.
 

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Dolcetto of the Piedmont region in Italy they call "little sweet one"

Late last week I sampled a variety of Italian wines that I mentioned in an earlier blog this week with a lineup of wines from Vinilandia's portfolio at The Wine Steward. The wines we tried included:

• 2012 Cappella Saint Andrea Vernaccia di San Gimignano
• 2011 Tola Grillo Sicilia IGT (I wrote about this earlier in the week)
• 2007 Luigi Baudana Dolcetto d'Alba Piedmont
• Villa di Corlo “Giaco di Viano” Rosso Emilia, Emilia-Romagna
• Scagliola Primo Bacio Moscato d'Asti Piedmont

My favorite wine from the whole tasting was the Luigi Baudana Dolcetto d'Alba. The owners Luigi Baudana and his wife Florina reside in the Serralunga d'Alba part of the Langhe section in the Piedmont region. In 2009 G.D. Vajra family took over the family history of winemaking in the Baudana family. The dolcetto d'Alba was a beautiful medium bodied wine, soft tannins and a nice acidic backbone following by some juicy black fruit with a little bit of spiciness. 

Dolcetto

Vinilandia recommends some veal chops, game hen or some wild mushroom ravioli to food pair with it. When you're looking to pair food with wine think of food from that region the wine is from or search for what foods are from that region online. It's the best way! On September 13^th I will be sharing with you a wine and food pairing group I belong to with our theme of the month, which is regional wine and food pairings. I will be featuring the Piedmont region of Italy. With Italy there are so many great food and wine regions so it's hard to chose, but I am a big fan of Piedmont and I don't think it gets the recognition that it is due.

Truffles

If you aren't familiar with dolcetto it is one of the most popular red grapes of the Piedmont wine region in Italy along with nebbiolo and barbera. Dolcetto, meaning “sweet little one”, is mostly enjoyed in its youthfulness. It's a deeply purplish hued wine that is typically very accessible with plump juicy fruit. Dolcetto d'Alba comes from the town of Alba. It became a DOC in 1974, but there are 7 other DOC's with dolcetto including:

• dolcetto d'Asti
• dolcetto d'Alba
• dolcetto di dogliani
• dolcetto di diano di Alba
• dolcetto d'acqui
• dolcetto delle langhe monregalesi
• dolcetto di ovada

I've had some really great dolcetto's from a few of these regions and for your first red wine as an introduction to the region of Piedmont a dolcetto or barbera is a great way to start. Don't miss out on their whites as well. We'll cover that some more in the future. Have a great holiday weekend and try lots of wine!

On your next voyage to Italy, hopefully Piedmont, make sure to use this beautiful and detailed map.
 

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Grillo from Marsala, Sicily & I'm not talking grasshoppers

I went to a fun Italian wine sampling last week at one of my local wine shops, The Wine Steward. They specialize in small wineries that you may not see at all the big retailers in mass production. Kevin Powell, from Vinilandia, conducted the tasting and provided a very fun and informative tasting paired with his personal experiences meeting some of the owners in Italy himself. I'll cover a couple of these wines this week starting today with the grape grillo from Sicily.

Grillo is a grape that has always been understood for its contributions in the fortified wine, marsala. Marsala is not just the fortified wine, but is also a town located in western Italy. Most of the grillo grapes are used in production for the gold, oro, or amber, ambra, levels of marsala wines. Over the years grillo, also known as riddu, has been making it's way to being produced more as a still wine either blended with other grapes or being able to express itself solo as it was in the wine I sampled.

Marsala, Sicily sunset by Amaya and Laurent

The struggle with this grape for production of a still wine are the temperatures in Sicily.  With the sun beating down and the hot days that the climate there provides the grapes can potentially over-ripen, hence why it's always been successful in producing the fortified marsala wines. Luckily they have sea breezes blowing in to mediate the affect of the temperatures, but it's important to harvest these grapes before it gets to that point. 

I sampled the 2011 Grillo from producer Tola. It is made of 100% grillo. The Tola family has been making wine for three generations. This grillo was soft pressed and fermented in stainless steel. On the palate it shows citrus with lemon shining through, combined with some ripe pineapple and fresh acidity. It's good to pair it with chicken or fish that has a lemon or cream based sauce.  

Tola Winery

I have another wine from this tasting that was my favorite of the evening. Next, we will be covering Dolcetto d'Alba from one of my favorite wine regions, Piedmont. Don't miss it! 

You can find more about the Italian wine regions including Sicily using this beautiful and detailed map.
 

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