Each Friday, David Brenner of Villasfor2 in Abruzzo selects a delicious, top-value 'Everday Italian Wine' for you to enjoy at home or on your Abruzzo vacation !

Bianchello del Metauro 'Fortunae'. Umani Ronchi. 2007 
One of the unexpected - and therefore more pleasurable - aspects of writing these weekly reviews is coming across wines I'd never heard of before. Bianchello del Metauro is one of these and although you might have to look hard, it is available on both UK and US lists and is a good way to round off this little summer foray into some perfect hot-weather white wines. 

Bianchello del Metauro's been a well-kept secret, with its DOC status awarded as far back as 1969. It comes from vineyards in the Metauro River valley, a little to the south of Fano on the Adriatic coast of Le Marche - a region, when it comes to white wine, that's far better-known for its trademark Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi. And it's from the Roman name for Fano - Fanum Fortunae - that this wine gets its brand-name.

The grape in use here is the bianchello - another of the seemingly endless heritage varities that so delight Italian wine-makers. There's a slight spritz in the glass with an appealing colour of sun-bleached hay; an unmistakable scent of candied angelica; and a thoroughly pleasing and refreshing taste of green apples.

This wine will provide the perfect partner - surprise surprise - to a big bowl of fresh seafood salad; some plain poached salmon with new potatoes and cucumber; a beautiful grilled Dover sole; or maybe just a little pasta, simply dressed with a little butter and grated parmesan. Or you could drink this Bianchello quite happily on its own. And as ever, the usual advice about light whites - drink young !

In the past couple of weeks, we've tasted a Vermentino di Sardegna and a Gavi on this little foray into white wines for summer and although the Vermentino is my runaway favourite, I'd be anything but disappointed if this was the only one of the trio that happened to be available.

At A Glance…

• This week's featured wine: Bianchello del Metauro 'Fortunae'
• Vintage: 2007
• Producer: Umani Ronchi
• Designation: DOC
• Strength: 12.5%
• Closure: Cork
• This bottle cost: €4.48

Umani Ronchi
A family-owned cantina that's just celebrated it's 50th birthday, Umani Ronchi is based right in the heartland of verdicchio production, just south of Ancona, so it's hardly surprising that Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi provides the backbone of its white wine list, while the reds are headed by the much-praised DOCG 'Cumero'. Unusually for a Marche winery, Umani Ronche has significant holdings here in Abruzzo too, with Montepulciano and Trebbiano d'Abruzzo both featuring - and it's heartening to see a couple of other heritage varieties on its list, with wines made from pecorino and lacrima grapes in evidence alongside the Bianchello. A pat on the back too for the inclusion of several IGT wines, typical of Le Marche, that you might not see on other lists. Good winery - good wines.

Click on the pictures in the text for larger images - and if you like Italian-style drinks, why not check out last week's post, where we showed you how to make home-made Limoncello ! 

Next Week: The Good, the Bad - and the Bubbly ! 'Everyday Italian Wine' is 6 months old, so there'll be links to all the wines we've featured for drinking at home or on your Villasfor2 Abruzzo vacation - and we'll name the best and shame the worst !

Abruzzo vacation, Bianchello del Metauro, Everyday Italian Wine, Villasfor2

This entry was posted on Friday, August 15th, 2008 at 2:30 am and is filed under David's 'Everyday Italian Wine', Eating and Drinking, Vineyards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.