Trebbiano Abruzzese

Trebbiano Abruzzese is a markedly better grape than Trebbiano Toscano, and the wine made from it is markedly better too. The difficulty is knowing whether you have it at all: it has been confused with Bombino Bianco, Trebbiano Toscano and Passerina for so long that one of Abruzzo’s leading growers reckons only a fifth of the region’s Trebbiano is genuinely this variety.

A note on the name The official name of the grape is Trebbiano Abruzzese. Trebbiano d’Abruzzo is the name of the wine made from it, and the habit of using the two interchangeably is part of why the variety has been so hard to pin down. The earliest reference is Molon’s in 1906, who noted it differed from Trebbiano Campolese, which had larger berries.

Sorting it from its neighbours Trebbiano Abruzzese has most often been mistaken for Bombino Bianco, and only recently been clearly distinguished from it; the National Registry now lists both Bombino Bianco and Empibotte, a common local name for Trebbiano Abruzzese, as erroneous synonyms. Domenico Pasetti holds that the variety derives from Biancame, itself derived from Trebbiano Toscano, a link first suggested in 2006. Cristiana Tiberio of the Tiberio estate disagrees that Bombino is the usual confusion, arguing it is Passerina that most often gets mislabelled as Trebbiano Abruzzese.

How much is really out there Luigi Cataldi Madonna estimates that perhaps 20 per cent of all the Trebbianos grown in Abruzzo are truly of the Abruzzese variety, though everything ends up labelled Trebbiano d’Abruzzo once it is in bottle. His own winemaker takes a less bleak view. Francesco Valentini, whose Trebbiano d’Abruzzo is among Italy’s most celebrated whites, holds that his vines are for the most part the true variety and not Bombino Bianco as has been written elsewhere.

In the vineyard The variety carries large five-lobed leaves and large, long, pyramid-shaped bunches with medium-large berries bearing little bloom. It is vigorous, sensitive to oidium and dislikes excessively windy sites, and its acidity drops very quickly if the fruit overripens. Those large leaves shade the berries so effectively that the grapes rarely darken beyond a deep straw-green even at full ripeness, unlike other Trebbianos, and this holds true even where the grower deleafs.

Two biotypes Two certified clones exist, VCR 3 and UBA-RA TR27, but numerous biotypes complicate identification further. Sbaganina, typical of the Vasto area, has a medium-large bunch, very thin-skinned berries and as many as three wings; Svagarina, more typical of the Marruccina area, has a larger bunch, thicker skins and usually two wings. It is Svagarina that most resembles Bombino Bianco and is most often taken for it.

Appearance and structure Good Trebbiano d’Abruzzo has a creamy mouthfeel carried on plenty of acidity, with a citrusy minerality running underneath. It offers a genuine alternative to Abruzzo’s other whites, being less structured and less overtly saline than Pecorino while having more to say than the region’s industrial whites ever did.

Aromatic profile The nose is understated by design, a hint of white flowers and stone fruit rather than anything showy. Cristiana Tiberio argues the variety is better picked sooner rather than later, since late harvesting gives wines that are dull and devoid of perfume. Harvesting a few days early, or at optimal ripeness, produces wines far better than the grape’s reputation would suggest.

In the cellar The variety’s high polyphenol content means the must oxidises easily, which in Italy’s less accomplished winemaking past gave flat, dull, overly dark whites and did much to damage the grape’s name. Modern producers counter this with hyper-reductive handling, including presses operating under inert gas. Decades of misidentification also meant the fruit was rarely picked at the right moment, so the variety was never allowed to show what it could do.

Key expressions

• Trebbiano d’Abruzzo DOC from producers who know their vines are the true variety.
• Single-vineyard bottlings such as Tiberio’s Fonte Canale.
• Long-lived, deliberately traditional interpretations of the Valentini school.
• Reductively made modern wines built on citrus and minerality.

The question of aging Most Trebbiano d’Abruzzo is made to be drunk within three or four years, and does that well. The exception is real and important: the finest examples from old vines are among the longest-lived white wines in Italy, capable of twenty years and more, developing honey, hazelnut and a deep saline complexity while the acidity holds firm. Few whites anywhere are so underestimated.

At the table The creamy texture and firm acidity suit the Adriatic cooking of the region, from brodetto and grilled fish to scrippelle mbusse and vegetable dishes with plenty of olive oil. It handles fried food particularly well. Serve it around ten to twelve degrees, warmer for the serious bottlings.

Why it matters Trebbiano has become shorthand in Italy for dilute, anonymous white wine, and Trebbiano Abruzzese is the strongest argument that the shorthand is unjust. The problem was never the grape but the confusion surrounding it, the yields it was asked to carry and the moment it was picked. Where those are put right, it produces whites that rank with anything the country makes.