Winemaker Notes
Ideal with fish and seafood, poultry, veal, pork, goat cheese; or simply as an aperitif.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Pecorino—one of the unsung white wines from the Marche, Abruzzo, Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio—is a wine that I have overlooked. The 2013 Cerulli Spinozzi Pecorino exhibits a charming brightness that is sometimes missing in certain international grape varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. The wine exhibits dried citrus and mineral aromas and flavors. Its dry yet soft finish makes it a beautiful appetizer wine. (Tasted: January 26, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
There are hundreds of white grape varieties grown throughout the world. Some are indigenous specialties capable of producing excellent single varietal wines. Each has its own distinct viticultural characteristics, as well as aroma and flavor profiles.
A warm, Mediterranean vine-growing paradise, in Abruzzo, the distance from mountains to seaside is relatively short. The Apenniness, which run through the center of Italy, rise up on its western side while the Adriatic Sea defines its eastern border.
Wine composition tends to two varieties: Abruzzo’s red grape, Montepulciano and its white, Trebbiano. Montepulciano d’Abruzzo can come in a quaffable, rustic and fruity style that generally drinks best young. It is also capable of making a more serious style, where oak aging tames its purely wild fruit.
Trebbiano in Abruzzo also comes in a couple of varieties. Trebbiano Toscana makes a simple and fruity white. However when meticulously tended, the specific Trebbiano d’Abruzzo-based white wines can be complex and long-lived.
In the region’s efforts to focus on better sites and lower yields, vine acreage has decreased in recent years while quality has increased.