Dolce vita on the Rimini Romagna Riviera

The Rimini Romagna Riviera faces the sea of "Emilia Romagna"

Emilia-Romagna, which meet at the gastronomic capital of Bologna, rely largely on native vines for wines that are affordable, easy to drink and ideally suited to some of Italy's most delectable cooking. Emilia is the western sector, comprising the towns of Modena, Reggio, Parma and Piacenza, where bubbly wines are preferred, whether white or red. The leading red is Lambrusco, which is dry at home and often sweet when exported. Fizzy white wines dominate in the hills of Piacenza, where the popular Malvasia holds sway. Bologna's hills were noted for bubbly wines in the past, though today fine still wines originate from Cabernet, Merlot, Chardonnay and Pinot Bianco. Romagna, the eastern sector, takes in the towns of Faenza, Forlì, Ravenna and the beach resort of Rimini. Romagna's pride is Albana, which became Italy's first 'guaranteed' white wine, though the red Sangiovese is more popular in the region. Tasty local wines abound in Emilia-Romagna, which ranks second to the Veneto in volume of production in northern Italy.

In Emilia the premier wine is Lambrusco, in frothy shades of purple to pink, made from grapes grown on high trellised vines, mainly in the flatlands south of the Po. Romagna's wines come primarily from the native Sangiovese, Trebbiano and Albana, the variety the accounted for Italy's first. Moving into Romagna, the plains of the Po basin between Ferrara and Ravenna are noted for fruit, vegetables and ultra productive vines, most of which are sources of blending wines. The hills south of Imola, Faenza, Forlì, Cesena and Rimini are known for wines from the native Albana, Sangiovese and Trebbiano all of which carry the name Romagna. Albana di Romagna, is most often dry and still with a distinctive almond undertone and occasionally some complexity. Albana's best expression seems to be as a richly sweet passito from partly dried grapes. The traditional semisweet and bubbly versions are usually consumed at home. Romagna's Trebbiano, distinct from other vines of the name, is almost always light and fresh, whether still or bubbly, with a fragility that makes it best in its youth. The favorite of Romagnans is Sangiovese, usually a robust red with a certain charm in its straightforward fruity flavors. But increasingly producers of Sangiovese are making reserve wines of greater depth of bouquet and flavor with the capacity to age gracefully. In Romagna, too, trends favor Sauvignon, Chardonnay, the Pinots and Cabernet. But many producers are devoting major efforts to developing superior strains of Sangiovese and Albana, while building interest in such rare local wines as the DOC white Pagadebit and red Cagnina and Bosco Eliceo Fortana.

Regional appellations: | (top)

DOCG

• Albana di Romagna

DOC

• Bosco Eliceo
• Cagnina di Romagna
• Colli Bolognesi
• Colli Bolognesi Classico Pignoletto
• Colli della Romagna Centrale
• Colli di Faenza
• Colli di Parma
• Colli di Rimini
• Colli di Scandiano e Canossa
• Colli d'Imola
• Colli Piacentini
• Lambrusco di Sorbara
• Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro
• Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce
• Pagadebit di Romagna
• Reggiano
• Reno
• Romagna Albana Spumante
• Sangiovese di Romagna
• Trebbiano di Romagna

IGT

• Bianco di Castelfranco Emilia
• Emilia or dell'Emilia
• Forlì
• Fortana del Taro
• Modena or Provincia di Modena
• Ravenna
• Rubicone
• Sillaro or Bianco del Sillaro
• Terre di Veleja
• Val Tidone

ALBANA | (top)

The origins of Albana di Romagna are so ancient that it is no longer easy to distinguish between history and legend. It is reported that in 435 Galla Placida, the beautiful daughter of the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II, arrived early one morning in a small village in the Romagna riding a white donkey. The princess's beauty astonished the inhabitants of the place, who, as soon as they saw her, offered her a large terracotta jug of the area's sweet and excellent wine, the Albana. Galla Placida was so taken by the wine that she remarked, "You should not drink this wine in such an humble container. Rather it should be drunk in gold (berti in oro) to render homage to its smoothness."
Since then, the village has been called Bertinoro. And, at the court of Ravenna, Albana was thereafter drunk exclusively in precious goblets. Bertinoro is today an important center for the production of Albana.
There is also a report that the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who was a guest of Countess Frangipane at Bertinoro, was another great admirer of the wine. Setting aside legend, the first historical account concerning Albana di Romagna is contained in the celebrated treatise on agriculture written by Pier de' Crescenzi of Bologna in the 13th century. The treatise contains in fact the first description of the wine and of its production area: "a potent wine with a noble flavor that is quite drinkable and moderately subtle...the best of this type of grape can be had at Forli' and throughout the Romagna."

CAGNINA | (top)

It is virtually certain that the Cagnina variety originated in Friuli and it has been argued that it was introduced into the Romagna around the 13th century when vast quantities of limestone were being imported from the Carso and Dalmatia for the construction of the city's most important Byzantine monuments.
In addition, Cagnina is quite similar to the Terrano (known as Refosco) of Istria and the Carso, both in terms of ampelography and the results achieved in vinification. In the local dialect, the descriptive term "de grasp ros" (or "dal raspo rosso" in Italian, "with a red stalk" in English) is usually added to the name, exactly as in Friuli Terrano is known as "dal peduncolo rosso".
The Cagnina produced today in the Romagna is a red wine that is often sweetish and ready to drink only a few months after the harvest and following quick fining in cask. In some particularly favorable vintages, the wine can be aged a couple of years with outstanding results.

COLLI DI RIMINI | (top)

Rimini is famed the world over for its beaches and its frantic nightlife. Yet, just beyond Europe's most frequented town, the landscape is dotted with fortresses and castles, medieval burgs, rolling hills, fields and vineyards - a countryside rich in history, which conveys great emotions with its quiet autumnal scenery, mild winters, colorful springs, and tranquil summers. However, good wine has not always been produced in these hills. For many decades, the wealth of beach tourism had lured the inhabitants to the coast and left the vineyards in a state of tired resignation. Local winegrowers adopted the principles of quantity rather than of quality. Fortunately, things have changed for the better in the last twenty years, thanks to a group of small producers and the new cultural awareness of the cooperative cellars. The wines of this area have gradually improved to the point that they were deemed worthy of a D.O.C. appellation in 1996.
Colli di Rimini D.O.C. includes several types of wine, among which the Biancame, made with a traditional Rimini grape variety, and the Rebola, made with Pignoletto grapes, deserve a special mention. The former is a dry white wine of great personality that is best drunk over a fish dish, while the latter is a rare dessert wine that is unfortunately produced in too small quantities to become as famous abroad as it should be.

LAMBRUSCO | (top)

In the provinces of Reggio Emilia and Modena, Lambrusco vineyards extend from the slopes of the hills to the line of the Po river, which separates the district from Mantuan territory. All four of the existing Lambrusco Denominazioni di Origine Controllata are found in that zone. In fact, Lambrusco virtually monopolizes viticultural output. While Bianco di Scandiano is made in the district, the output is insignificant in comparison with the production of Lambrusco. Lambrusco has an extremely noble background. The wild vine from which the existing variety originated, called labrusca by the Latins, was known to the Etruscans and Romans. And its fossilized remains have been found in soils of the Eocene period.
The Romans made a bitterish beverage from "labrusca" grapes, which Pliny the Elder recommended for its supposed therapeutic effects. The elder Cato cited the productiveness of the Emilian vines, which he described as "tricentennary" because a single jugerum (about half an acre) yielded 300 amphoras of wine.
Despite its extremely ancient origin, Lambrusco was never well known or appreciated outside its production area until it achieved a remarkable commercial success in the United States in the seventies and eighties.
Despite the fact that it is now widely distributed, there are still many prejudices about the wine. Matters are not made easier by the widespread conviction that there is only one Lambrusco when, in reality, there are many, each different from the other in sensory characteristics and composition, whether in terms of the subvariety used or in those of area of origin.

SANGIOVESE | (top)

Sangiovese is clearly a native variety but there are many hypotheses as to the exact origin of its name, which, in the local dialect, is Sanzvès. The most widely accepted explanation was advanced by glottologist F. Schurr, Tribune of the Wines of the Romagna, who died several years ago.
According to Schurr, the denomination of the variety was derived from Monte Giove, a hill located in the vicinity of Sant'Angelo di Romagna. That argument is bolstered by a local legend, according to which the Cappuchin friars, who among their other activities cultivated vineyards, were entertaining an illustrious guest one day at their convent, which stood then, as it still does today, on a hill known as Collis Jovis near Sant'Angelo di Romagna. The guest greatly appreciated the friars' wine and asked them its name, which greatly embarrassed the clerics, since they had never thought to give it one. One friar who was faster on the uptake than the others promptly replied that it was called Sanguis di Jovis.
Sanguis di Jovis was soon converted into Sangue di Giove, which was inevitably contracted to Sangiovese.
The first historical accounts of the Sangiovese variety go back to the 17th century. Toward the end of the 18th century, the "red wine of the Romagna," as it was then known, became popular as Sangiovese, in part because of some short poems written on the occasions of various wedding feasts by Pier Maria De' Minimi and Jacopo Landoni.

TREBBIANO | (top)

The Trebbiano variety appeared in the Romagna during the Etruscan period. In fact, the Etruscans reclaimed and put into cultivation a major part of the whole region. The wine of that time was certainly much different from the modern product, since in the ancient world the wines were aromatized through the addition of pitch or resin and even scents that were the same as those used in making the perfumes worn by Roman girls and women. In 1305, the Bolognese agronomist Pier de' Crescenzi in his treatise Liber ruralium commodorum discussed the Trebbiano variety, describing it as "a white, with a small, round grape that it bears abundantly. In its youth, the vine does not bear fruit but when it grows older it becomes fecund." However, it should be understood that before the 14th century it was not customary to give wines proper names. It was only in 1364 that Trebbiano began to be indicated by that name in the list of wines stored in the Palazzo della Signoria in Florence, which was then the headquarters of the Priors.
Trebbiano now holds an important place in the enology of the Romagna.
Throughout the region, depending upon location and system of vinification, the ancient variety yields wines that are light, delicately odorous and sapid. They are wines that should be drunk in their youth.
Over the centuries, the old Trebbiano has produced numerous subvarieties that are widely cultivated in Italy and in some zones in France, where the grapes and the wines they yield are used in making Cognac.