Latium

Lazio has more than Frascati and Est! Est! Est!!! to offer.

For many years wine lovers thought only of Frascati or Est! Est! Est!!!, when the speech came on wines from Latium. This has changed considerably in recent years, as the entire wine industry in the region around Rome has undergone almost radical changes. Although white wines still dominate with a share of almost three quarters of all wines from Lazio, the red wines are clearly catching up with the quality wines.

The change is particularly noticeable when one looks at the share of the three DOCG and 27 DOC regions, as more than half of all wines in Lazio are already labelled in this way. If the IGT wines are added, the figure is 76 percent. Ten years ago this was exactly the other way round, when simple wines dominated with over 70 percent. Of course, this is also due to the consumer behaviour of the Italians themselves. This is because significantly less quantity is consumed, but higher quality is required. Especially in big cities like Rome. And since the main sales of Lazio wine are in the Rome region, wine producers have had to change their minds. That was an excellent success.

Wine has always been drunk in Rome.

Actually logical, because both the Caesars and the popes were never contemptuous of food, this can be read in all Latin books. This is why names such as Falerner or Caecuber - the classic wines of antiquity - are still known to many wine lovers. The hilly landscape around the state capital Rome has much more to offer than popular and historical plants. Only 21,800 hectares of the former 100,000 hectares of vineyards are still cultivated. This produces around 170 million litres of wine. This is about three and a half percent of total Italian production.

The number one grape variety is Malvasia, which occurs here in two varieties: Malvasia Bianca and Malvasia del Lazio. It is complemented by Procanico, as the small berry variety of Trebbiano Toscano is called here, and by Roscetto, Grechetto di Orvieto, Drupeggio and Verdello. The Orvieto area stretches as far as Umbria, and some wineries in the border area therefore cultivate vineyards in both regions.

In the middle of the boot.

Lazio, as the region is called in Italian, is located in the centre of Italy and is the knee of the boot. 320 kilometres of the west coast on the Tyrrhenian Sea are among them. All other central regions of Italy border Lazio. Tuscany, Umbria, Marches, Abruzzo, Molise and Campania. The climate on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea is dry and hot. In the interior, formed by former volcanoes and their crater lakes, it is much cooler and wetter. The soils are almost entirely ancient volcanic and tuff rocks, alternately interspersed with clay and sand towards the coast. With the exception of the up to 2.200m high Apennines, vines are cultivated almost everywhere. A few grapes of Fiorano even in the urban area of Rome, on the Via Appia.

A total of around 200 varieties are permitted. Many of them are descendants of ancient grape varieties, but only a dozen are important. The main red varieties are Sangiovese and Montepulciano. For the ancient Cesanese, even special DOC zones were established. In the meantime, the vineyards are also more frequently planted with international grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, mostly as cuvée partners, occasionally also as surprisingly good single varieties. Above all the famous oenologist family Cotarella with their winery Falesco.

Older semesters will remember that Frascati, produced from Malvasia and Trebbiano, used to be omnipresent, especially in Italian restaurants in Germany. It was even called the Italian equivalent of Liebfrauenmilch. But Frascati went out of fashion. Today, the picturesque wine-growing village in the Albanian mountains in the north of the Castelli Romani is surrounded by much less, but also much better quality produced, gradually the image turns and the fine mineral whites are again more appreciated.

Cesanese, fragrant, dark, dense and beguiling.

A few kilometres east of the Castelli Romani, the red wine is in the centre of the cultivation. Around the wine village of Piglio, Cesanese produces tannin-rich, fragrant wines of deep colour, which can be aged in the bottle for several years. There are some flavors, the DOCG Cesanese del Piglio is considered the best.

The legendary ancient wines, such as the Caecuber, highly appreciated in ancient Rome, and the Falerner, came from today's province of Latina, located in the south of Lazio on the border with Campania. Around the small village of Gaeta, a small reminiscence of Cècubo is produced, an exciting red wine.

Even the famous Est! Est! Est!!! di Montefiascone has seen better sales. All too long the winegrowers have rested on the degree of popularity and pressed quite arbitrary wines for the numerous tourists. And yet there are really excellent conditions for elegant white wine around the Lago di Bolsena, as some producers also prove. Most are dry, but it also comes in a semi-dry and even sweet version in the bottle.

Est! Est! Est!!! di Montefiascone - white wine steeped in legend.

The strange name is based on the legend that the Augsburg bishop Johannes Fugger sent a servant ahead on a trip in 1111 to test the quarters and wines of the area. It was agreed that he would use chalk to build those locations with a „Est!“ (mutatis mutandis: „That's him!“) should identify the good ones, and a two-fold „Est! Est!“who offered particularly good wine. In an inn in Montefiascone, he was so enthusiastic about the wine that he decided to do so with a triple „Est! Est! Est!!!“ at the inn door. By the way, according to legend, Bishop Fugger never reached the Pope - and is buried in the church of San Flaviano in Montefiascone. In his honour, a wine festival is celebrated every year, with a bottle of Est! Est! Est!!! poured on his grave. At that time, however, the wine was made from Moscato Bianco and was probably sweet. Today's white wine is produced from Procanico, the small berry variety of Trebbiano Toscano, Roscetto and Malvasia and is aged as secco, abboccato and amabile. It is also available as a spumante - exclusively as secco. SUPERIORE.DE