Grechetto Gentile
Rébola on the Rimini coast, Pignoletto around Bologna — one grape under three names.
Grechetto Gentile is a grape variety most associated in Italy with Rimini.
Grechetto Gentile and Pignoletto are the same grape. The full guide lives on the Pignoletto page, the name under which it is grown and sold in Emilia.
How the names line up Research in 1999 and since established that Grechetto di Todi is Pignoletto, the native of the Emilia side of Emilia-Romagna, also called Rébola in Romagna. Grechetto Gentile is the name some prefer for Grechetto di Todi, though D’Agata notes it is more properly reserved for one specific clone of it. So the same vine is Pignoletto in Bologna and Grechetto di Todi in Umbria.
The part that actually causes trouble Umbria has two Grechettos and they are not related to one another at all. Grechetto di Todi is this grape; Grechetto di Orvieto is an entirely different variety. The two are sometimes described as clones of one another, which is wrong. A label reading simply Grechetto may therefore contain either of two unrelated grapes, or a blend of both.
Why that matters in the glass The Todi vine, which is to say Pignoletto, gives the firmer, more structured and more ageworthy of the two, which is why the Colli Bolognesi built a DOCG on it. Orvieto’s Grechetto is softer and rounder. If a wine labelled Grechetto tastes unexpectedly taut, this is usually the reason.
For origins, viticulture, styles and the wines in full, see Pignoletto.