Trebbiano Romagnolo

Trebbiano Romagnolo was Italy’s tenth most planted variety in 2010, at 16,285 hectares, and D’Agata immediately adds the obvious caveat: how many of those vines are actually Trebbiano Romagnolo rather than Trebbiano Toscano. So much Toscano grows in Emilia-Romagna that the two stand side by side in the same rows, and growers who believe they have one frequently have the other.

Origins and history The variety is ancient, documented in Romagna by Pier de’ Crescenzi in 1303, or at least a Trebbiano then grown in Romagna was. Around Lugo in the province of Ravenna it is also called Trebbiano della Fiamma, of the flame, because its berries turn a bright golden-bronze at full ripeness. That name properly belongs to a specific high-quality biotype rather than to the variety as a whole.

Two biotypes, two different grapes in practice. Of the many biotypes, two dominate. The flatland one can produce as much as four hundred quintals per hectare, a ridiculous figure, and carries a medium-small compact cluster with medium-large round berries. The hill biotype is the one that usually looks like Trebbiano della Fiamma: reddish in hue, very rich in acid, with a long compact bunch and larger leaves, preferring clay-loam soils. It gives markedly more complex wine and began disappearing in the 1960s and 1970s precisely because it produces so little.

In the vineyard Trebbiano Romagnolo has medium pentagonal leaves and medium pyramid-shaped bunches with one or two wings, and round berries. It is very resistant to peronospora and botrytis, less so to oidium, and like every Trebbiano it is vigorous and crops regularly and abundantly. Ten official clones exist, of which TR 8 T stands out: earlier ripening, less vigorous, and used for more complex, deeper wines.

Appearance and structure The authentic variety gives a wine noticeably richer and more complex than even old-vine Trebbiano Toscano, with a fuller texture. Many wines labelled trebbiano romagnolo are nonetheless insipid and neutral, which is most likely a matter of which biotype went into them. The better biotypes have the acidity, the flesh and the capacity to age and improve.

Aromatic profile Riper yellow fruit leads, with chlorophyll and aniseed underneath, the aniseed being the most identifiable marker. Nothing here is aromatic in the Muscat sense; the interest is in texture and in a savoury, herbal register that Trebbiano Toscano does not offer.

A warning on the label The Trebbiano di Romagna DOC requires only a minimum of 85 per cent Trebbiano Romagnolo, so a label bearing that name does not guarantee a wine made wholly from the variety. Given how freely Toscano grows interplanted in the same vineyards, the practical purity of any given bottle is often unknowable. The producer’s name remains the only reliable guide.

In the cellar Because so much of what is picked is neutral, a great deal of Trebbiano Romagnolo is made into inexpensive, uncomplicated sparkling wine intended for drinking within a year of the vintage. That is an honest use of the lesser biotype. The hill fruit deserves better and occasionally gets it, in still wines made by producers who know which vines they have.

Key expressions

• Trebbiano di Romagna DOC from growers working the hill biotype.
• Wines from the Trebbiano della Fiamma selection, golden-bronze and high-acid.
• Bottlings made from the TR 8 T clone, earlier and less vigorous.
• Everyday sparkling versions, the honest use of the flatland fruit.

The question of aging This depends entirely on which grape is actually in the bottle. Flatland fruit is finished within a year and the sparkling versions are made on that assumption. Wines from the hill biotype, with their high acidity and fuller texture, will age and improve over five years or more, which is not something anyone expects of a Trebbiano.

At the table It is built for Romagnolo food: piadina, squacquerone, salumi, fried fish from the Adriatic and pasta with light sauces. The acidity does the work and the aniseed note suits herb-driven dishes. Serve it around ten degrees.

Why it matters Trebbiano Romagnolo is a case study in how a variety’s reputation is set by its worst material. The grape that made Italy’s tenth-largest planting its name is mostly the high-yielding flatland biotype, while the hill selection that can genuinely age was abandoned for producing too little. Both are called the same thing, and almost nobody distinguishes them on a label.