Winemaking regions in this brave new century can be loosely broken down into two categories: Places that have been doing it the same way with the same plant material forever and places that grow cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah, chardonnay and pinot noir.
OK, we’ll tease out France’s Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhône Valley regions because they have been growing the above-mentioned international varieties, as they’ve come to be known, since Julius Caesar was in diapers.
Over the past 45 years, these scant few varieties have stuck their tentacles in vineyards around the globe. Their popularity have muscled out many fledgling varieties in the New World (Did you know that Napa Valley is great place to grow riesling?) Perhaps more disconcerting is this: traditional grapes (vines that have grown in places for centuries if not millennia) are being ripped up only to be replaced by this gang of usual suspects.
Credit: Gil Kulers
Credit: Gil Kulers
Not every region is throwing its hands up and plunking yet another chardonnay vine in the ground. In the volcanic hillsides about 15 miles southeast of the Spanish Steps in Rome, Italy, lies the Frascati wine region. Its star is the white malvasia grape with a supporting cast including trebbiano, greco and bombino.
Recent decades of subpar winemaking belies its 3,000 years of winemaking glory. If you were a pope for the first 1,700 years that there were popes, you were drinking the white wines of Frascati. Unfortunately, the 20th century found Frascati winemakers focusing more on quantity, rather than quality.
During the rise of chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio in the 1980s, Frascati winemakers had a choice. Take the path of the well-known international varieties—and perhaps an easier road to prosperity—or turn toward its celebrated past. Eschewing the lure of more popular grapes, winemakers planted better clones of malvasia, even though they were more difficult to cultivate. They also concentrated flavors by reducing crop yields, among other techniques, to produce better wines.
Quality improved. So much so that in 2011, Frascati was awarded DOCG status, Italy’s highest quality level.
Today’s Frascati wines brandish bright, crisp citrus flavors with hypnotic, perfume-like aromas of honeysuckle, courtesy of malvasia del lazio, the local clone of the grape. Some winemakers, like Fontana Candida, have taken matters a step further by releasing a reserve line of Frascati wines. Its Luna Mater Frascati is partially fermented in wooden barrels and aged a year before release. Without sacrificing freshness, it gains a subtle complexity that begs for a plate of grilled pork or pasta carbonara, which is not too hard to find in any Roman trattoria.
And speaking of Roman trattorias, in March I was in one. And, not surprisingly, I had a plate of pasta cacao e pepe (very similar to carbonara) in front of me. I asked the waiter what he thought of my wine choice (a Frascati wine, whose name now escapes me). He pointed to a less expensive, locally produced chardonnay based blend that he liked a lot.
Sometimes when you’re in Rome, you don’t do as the Romans do. I happily went with the Frascati.
Gil Kulers is a sommelier and maitre d’ for an Atlanta country club. You can reach him at gil.kulers@winekulers.com.
2014 Fontana Candida Frascati, Italy
- $9
- Two Thumbs Up
- Fresh aromas of green apples, pears, lemons and white flowers. Tart flavors that follow the aromas plus notes of lime zest, fresh green pepper and a jalapeño-like zing.
2012 Fontana Candida, Luna Mater, Frascati Superiore, Italy
- $22
- Two Thumbs Way Up
- Aromas of fresh-cut flowers and a chalky mineral note along with crisp, green apples and lemony citrus. Intense flavors of tart fruit are balanced by equally intense flavors of spice, vanilla and a subtle raw almond quality.
Note: Wines are rated on a scale ranging up from Thumbs Down, One Thumb Mostly Up, One Thumb Up, Two Thumbs Up, Two Thumbs Way Up and Golden Thumb Award. Prices are suggested retail prices as provided by the winery, one of its agents, a local distributor or retailer.
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