Pecorino - The Grape not the Cheese…

The rare grape series is back!!!

Today’s subject is Pecorino. The Pecorino grape is yet another case of a variety that was literally brought back from the brink of extinction. There’s a story that goes that just a few examples of Pecorino (but at the time of “re-discovery”, as yet unidentified) were found in a nearly wild state in a narrow gorge in Italy’s Marche region. Clippings were taken, and eventually identified as the Pecorino variety, which was indeed known to “the literature”, but was thought to already have been extinct. A few local growers eventually took up the torch of re-establishing the variety as a missing piece of the local viticultural quilt. There is also some indication that Pecorino is the parent of all of the white Pinot varieties, but this is still not a proven fact. The origin of the clearly odd name is still controversial, but the most common story is that the variety was a favorite snack of the sheep that were often driven through vineyard lands on their way to lower pastures.

To get a bit more into specifics, Pecorino is primarily associated with Marche, and then with Abruzzo, though very small plots of the variety are also to be found scattered in Umbria, Lazio, Toscana, and Liguria. Pecorino is a white-skinned variety, and speaking of skin, Pecorino’s is a thin (one of the things that surely contributed to its slow fade into obscurity - thin skin=problems with rot, splititting, etc.). The variety is only medium-productive (fruit yield) in general, but it is also known for inconsistent yields from harvest to harvest. The berries usually reach full maturity by the middle of September, making it quite a precocious ripener, and therefore well-suited to the often harsh climate in east-central Italy. Pecorino appears as a component in two DOCs, namely the Offida DOC and the Falerio dei Colli Ascolani DOC, as well as in Abruzzo and Marche IGT appellations.

In the glass, Percorino is quite full bodied with only moderate acidity, often showing flavors and aromas of yellow fruits, ground white spices like ginger and white pepper, and nuts, especially almonds and hazelnuts. The structure is usually quite firm with a marked vein of minerality. Not surprisingly, Pecorino pairs quite well with all types of sheeps’ milk cheeses, especially softer ones, as well as simpler preparations of fish and poultry. Below is a link to the two examps that WL currently stocks. As always, I encourage you to post tasting notes here as comments if you’re so inclined.

I LOVE YOU A BUSHEL AND A PECORINO