Rosso Piceno 2004, Fattoria Laila
2nd February 2008
“Hannibal pressed further down the Adriatic coast. He ordered that his cavalry horses be bathed with old wine, which was plentiful in that area. This quickly healed the ulcers that had made the horses unfit for service.” Polybius Histories
“That area” was Picenum, in the part of central Italy now called the Marches. Hannibal was the North African general who invaded ancient Italy and nearly conquered Rome. A brilliant strategist, undoubtedly, and a fearsome tactician, but even so . . . Any soldier who uses vintage wine for veterinary purposes should be tried as a war criminal.
Thank goodness no one would so abuse Picenum wine today. Perhaps the best known is the white Verdicchio, but I am more interested in the area’s reds, Rosso Conero and Rosso Piceno. Although less fashionable than their cousins from Tuscany, these wines can show just as much flair while costing markedly less.
Wines with the denomination “Rosso Piceno” may be grown in the provinces of Ancona, Ascoli Piceno and Macerata. This one is from the hills near Ancona. It is a mixture of 80% Montepulciano grapes and 20% Sangiovese, grown at fairly high altitude in chalky soil. Its makers have successfully combined traditional, low-intervention growing methods with modern techniques such as low crop yields and rigorous grape selection.
All this results in a polished, medium-bodied wine with very good structure. Its odours are of leather and blackberry jam, its flavours of smoke, spice and plum pudding. It may only cost $12 in the US, £8 in the UK, but that is no excuse whatever for pouring it over a horse.
