Poor Lazio… (Located at Italy’s “knee”) The first I ever heard of winemaking around Rome, was in a guidebook about the majestic city.  It warned that if you were offered “local wine” to immediately demand something from Tuscany.  While in general it is best to drink local, the Lazio wine scene was sufficiently underwhelming to deserve this disparagement.  Even in Jancis Robinson’s latest edition of the World Atlas of Wine, a thorough ode to the vine if ever there has been one, she devotes only 59 words to cover the region!  However, when we decided to tackle Lazio this month given its proximity to Umbria, we were delighted to see the first signs of improvement.  Read on…The simple quaffing whites of Frascati are showing more structure and substance and we were delighted with the depth of the local cesanese.  The region boasts volcanic soils, the must-have footwear for vines, and of course la cucina romana!  Being the cutting-edge trendsetters that we are, we would like to be the first to note that Lazio is on the move!

2007 Pietra Porzia Dioscuri Regello Frascati, Lombardy  

It used to be that most of the white wines produced in Lazio, the area around Rome, were not very memorable at best, and flabby or oxidized at worst. But somehow they’d be a lovely accompaniment to a local dish while you’re visiting, and you’d have memories of lively, fresh, zingy table wines at inexpensive prices. Unfortunately, by the time the wines from the big producers are prepped for travel much of that character is lost, and every time it passes through another set of hands the price creeps up. So we were very happy to find this Frascati from artisanal producer Tenuta di Pietra Porzia at such a good value. Grown in accordance with EU standards of sustainable agriculture, the grapes (mostly Trebbiano and Malvasia) are pressed without the use of sulphur dioxide and fermented in steel to retain that memorable zip. Perfect as an aperitif, or with lighter fare- spring is coming!

2007 Corte di Papi Colli Ticchio Cesanese, Lazio  

Trust The Wine Bottega to bring you even more unique wines than you may have bargained for! There are actually two Cesanese grapes, genetically dissimilar from one another, that are blended within this wine. Follow along with me here- “Cesanese del Piglio” is the DOC (regulation of the production of Cesanese wine within the municipality of Piglio). Then we’ve got “Cesanese Comune” (literally “local Cesanese”) and “Cesanese di Affile” (named for the commune where it was first discovered). Got it? No matter- what’s important is that this is deliciously different stuff. Corte dei Papi has based their brand on the 12^th-century mosaics in a nearby church whose small size belied its influence upon the Roman papacy (“Corte dei Papi” = “Court of the Popes”). Likewise, this small producer is leading its peers toward greater quality, and blends the best of modern winemaking technology with respect to the ancient local cultural traditions.

2005 Casale Cento Corvi Giacche Rosso IGT

Interestingly enough, Clyde Thomas, an importer of Italian wines, swung by the store this week.  He was unaware that we were featuring the wines of Lazio and just happened to have this incredibly unique wine from Lazio with him.  Usually when people tell us they are about to show us a grape that we have never tried before, we eagerly anticipate shooting them down (although we always secretly hope that it really is something new).  This time we were delighted to sample something not only that we had never had, but had never even heard of!  While the giacche grape was apparently an ancient Etruscan favorite, it has fallen out of favor over the last 2,000 years and now there is only one vineyard remaining.  The Collaciani family is extremely proud of the one hectare of this grape and handcrafts a stunning, bold, sour cherry, dark under-bellied powerhouse. Very cool.