As the it was quite warm during a trip to Umbria in June, white wines were very much welcome, especially so since our villa did not have the air conditioning as was advertised. Thankfully, the white wines of Italy have gotten so much better in the past couple of decades, it’s gotten easy to find a palatable one for a comparative song in much of the country. And Umbria has been known for years for Orvieto that’s produced around the town in the southern part of the region. It’s made with at least 40% Grechetto, which gives it most of its character. About which, the useful Wine Folly website opines about Umbria: “Find yourself an Orvieto, or better yet, a wine made with the region’s star white grape: Grechetto.”
We did. Very nicely, the Chiorri Winery was essentially across the street from the property we were renting and we made good use of the proximity. Among our first purchases were a couple of 5-liter boxes of Grechetto for the astoundingly low price of €2.10 per liter. This was a ridiculously low price for a quality wine and a nice expression of the Grechetto grape, made simply with fermentation and a brief amount of aging in stainless steel. Medium-bodied, dry, and featuring pleasant aromas of tropical fruit, it had a welcome balance of fruit and acidity on the palate and a longer finish than might be expected for something dispensed from a cardboard box. It was very easy to drink alone, a nice pairing to the heat and humidity, and also complemented most of the lighter fare we had before dinner. We ended up splurging another $15 or so for five more liters before the week was out. Even my brother, who usually only drinks whites with fish and other foods when necessary, really enjoyed the Grechetto during our stay in Umbria.
What he liked even more was a more serious, and expensive, version from nearby Terre di Margaritelli winey, their Greco di Renabianca, made from 100% Grechetto and seeing some time in French barriques, an unusual treatment for this varietal. Fuller-bodied than the other Grechettos we had, it still had the pleasant fruitiness and good acidity but a deeper and richer flavorful though still balanced. The oak aging seemed to provide more character than it took from the natural fruit flavors and the acid. Though it similarly utilized small oak barrels common with many of the New World chardonnays, this wine did not have rich buttery and brioche notes and muted acidity that I find in too many of those. As I was enjoying in their tasting room, an early thought was how well it would go with roast chicken. And that it would be an excellent choice for Thanksgiving, too, helping out that inevitably dry turkey meat. At around €15-20 per bottle, I thought it was a wise purchase – and I should have a few bottles coming my way if the winery every fulfills my order from June.
The wines of Chiorri and Terre di Margaritelli are available in a few states, though, unfortunately not yet in Texas. And Grechetto can be tough to find here. It’s worth keeping it in mind, though.
A bunch of Grecchetto grapes in Umbria. By marco valerio - originally posted to Flickr as uva, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4170841
We did. Very nicely, the Chiorri Winery was essentially across the street from the property we were renting and we made good use of the proximity. Among our first purchases were a couple of 5-liter boxes of Grechetto for the astoundingly low price of €2.10 per liter. This was a ridiculously low price for a quality wine and a nice expression of the Grechetto grape, made simply with fermentation and a brief amount of aging in stainless steel. Medium-bodied, dry, and featuring pleasant aromas of tropical fruit, it had a welcome balance of fruit and acidity on the palate and a longer finish than might be expected for something dispensed from a cardboard box. It was very easy to drink alone, a nice pairing to the heat and humidity, and also complemented most of the lighter fare we had before dinner. We ended up splurging another $15 or so for five more liters before the week was out. Even my brother, who usually only drinks whites with fish and other foods when necessary, really enjoyed the Grechetto during our stay in Umbria.
What he liked even more was a more serious, and expensive, version from nearby Terre di Margaritelli winey, their Greco di Renabianca, made from 100% Grechetto and seeing some time in French barriques, an unusual treatment for this varietal. Fuller-bodied than the other Grechettos we had, it still had the pleasant fruitiness and good acidity but a deeper and richer flavorful though still balanced. The oak aging seemed to provide more character than it took from the natural fruit flavors and the acid. Though it similarly utilized small oak barrels common with many of the New World chardonnays, this wine did not have rich buttery and brioche notes and muted acidity that I find in too many of those. As I was enjoying in their tasting room, an early thought was how well it would go with roast chicken. And that it would be an excellent choice for Thanksgiving, too, helping out that inevitably dry turkey meat. At around €15-20 per bottle, I thought it was a wise purchase – and I should have a few bottles coming my way if the winery every fulfills my order from June.
The wines of Chiorri and Terre di Margaritelli are available in a few states, though, unfortunately not yet in Texas. And Grechetto can be tough to find here. It’s worth keeping it in mind, though.
A bunch of Grecchetto grapes in Umbria. By marco valerio - originally posted to Flickr as uva, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4170841
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