The Wine Pair Podcast

Italian Wine Adventure #16: Grechetto!

• The Wine Pair • Season 1 • Episode 166

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Wines from Umbria are often considered “delightfully undervalued.” Right now, that sounds especially appealing! Grechetto is one of those wines from Umbria that is flying under the radar, but it shouldn’t be. This week, we dig into this wonderful white wine from Italy’s “Little Green Heart” - and the exciting part is that we found two very different styles of it, one more like an oaky Chardonnay, and one more like a crisp Sauvignon Blanc, so there’s a version out there for any white wine lover on your list. They have been making wine in Umbria for thousands of years, and many believe that the name Grechetto harkens back to the Magna Graecia period in Italy when the Greeks spread their empire. And, like many Italian wines, Grechetto fell out of favor in the middle of the 20th century before it made its comeback in the 1970’s thanks to the efforts and hardwork of local winemakers. Trust us, it’s worth checking out. Wines reviewed in this episode: 2022 Sant' Angelus Sophia Grechetto di Todi, 2022 Cantina Roccafiore Grechetto di Todi Fiordaliso

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Show Notes

Episode #166: Italian Wine Adventure #16: Grechetto! 00:00

Hello! And welcome to The Wine Pair Podcast. I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and my wine pairing partner in crime, Carmela. And we are The Wine Pair! 

If you are new to our podcast, here is what you can expect. If you love wine and want to find great wines at affordable prices, and you want to expand your wine horizons, and you want to have some fun while doing it - then you are in the right place! Each week we explore a different wine varietal, style, brand, or region of the winemaking world, and learn about what makes them worth knowing about. And then we taste 2-3 of those wines that are reasonably priced to let you know if they are worth your hard earned money. If that feels like something that resonates with you, then we are super happy you are here. And, we are proud to say that we are a top 100 Food Podcast on Apple Podcasts, and that Decanter Magazine calls us fun, irreverent, chatty, and entertaining.

Carmela, it is time for another Italian Wine Adventure, which is appropriate as we are planning a trip to Italy this summer - and this time we are going to focus on a white wine varietal from the Umbria region of Italy that we have sort of touched on in the past - the grape and wine called Grechetto. Now, way back in our Italian Wine Adventure #8, and we are on our 16th Italian Wine Adventure today, by the way, all the way back in August of 2023, we focused on a wine called Orvieto. 

Orvieto is a white wine named after the wine region in Italy called Orvieto - so it’s one of those European wines named after the place rather than the grape. And this is appropriate because Orvieto is actually a blend. To be called an Orvieto white wine, the wine must obviously be from the Orvieto DOC (which again DOC means that it is an officially designated and protected wine region in Italy) and be at least 60% a combination of Trebbiano Toscano and Grechetto, and the remaining 40% can be made up of a few other white wine grapes allowed in the area.

But today, we are going to focus on white wines from around Umbria that are made only with the Grechetto grape, so this is a different wine. 

But, let’s do a quick dive into Umbria where the wine is from because it is not the first area that most people think about when they think of Italy or Italian wine. Umbria is sometimes called the "Green Heart of Italy,” and, we mentioned this in the Orvieto episode, but it is the only landlocked region in all of Italy. It is bordered by Tuscany, Lazio, and Marche, and so really is kind of deadset in the middle of Italy. In fact, Carmela, when I was doing some research, the actual geographical center of Italy is a located near the town of Narni in Umbria. So, some fun facts for you. 

Umbria is also a place where, like many places in Italy, they have been making wine for thousands of years, and the history of winemaking goes back to the Etruscans, who were the big dogs in central Italy before the Romans were the big dogs. Since the Etruscans, Romans and Monks and all sorts of other people have been making wine in Umbria since at least 1100 BC. That’s a long time. 

Although they make some great red wines in Umbria, several of which we need to do wine adventures on, such as Sagrantino and Torgiano Rosso, it is probably best known for its white wines, of which Orvieto is the most well regarded and well known. However, we are guessing that you may not know any of these wines, and for this reason, wines in Umbria are considered to be, and I quote, “delightfully undervalued.” Although, given all the shite with Tariffs going on right now, undervalued is extremely relative when it comes to imported wine.

This area of Italy, as the moniker Little Green Heart of Italy would imply, is known for its agriculture, and along with wine, they are known for olive oil, truffles, cured meats like capocollo, legumes like lentils, chestnuts, pecorino cheese, and, from the famous town of Perugia, chocolate. 

But, Carmela, we’re not here to talk about chocolate, we are here to talk about wine, and to learn more about this underrated and underappreciated wine making area of Italy, and we have a couple of Grechetto wines we are going to taste and review today from the beautiful region of Umbria . . . 

But first . . . we have to do our shameless plug.

Thank you for listening to us and for supporting our show, and if you haven’t  had the chance to do so yet, now would be the perfect time to follow or subscribe to our podcast and leave us a nice rating and review  to help us grow our listeners - and a huge thank you to all of you who have subscribed already! 

You can also follow us on Instagram at thewinepairpodcast, and on Bluesky. You can contact us on our website thewinepairpodcast.com, and you can sign up for our email newsletter there and you can also visit our “Shop Wine” section where you can find links to buy the wines that we rate as buys in each episode. 

And we want to make content you care about and you like, so send us a note or DM us and give us some feedback or let us know if there are wines you want us to try or wine making areas of the world you are curious about - and we’ll take care of it! joe@thewinepairpodcast.com. And since it’s been a few weeks since we recorded an episode, we have a nice little list of shoutouts I’ll run through quickly

  • Shoutout to Timmysvino on IG - who said he is a huge fan and sent us a screen shot of a post on Kirkland Premier Cru Chablis and said it made him think of us - which is awesome and we need to find that wine!
  • Christene K sent us an email letting us know she was in Sant sanduri d anoia near Barcelona checking out the Cava wineries - woo hoo!
  • Chris M on IG asking about if we have done a skin contact episode, and we did do one about two years ago on Orange wines, but I think we need to bring that back, so thanks for the suggestion
  • Tips2LiveBy on BS asked us if we have done episodes on Portuguese wine, which we have, but we need to do more, so be on the lookout for more of those in the future
  • Papitoespada on IG sent us some pics of a Priorat and Valpolicella he was drinking, which was awesome
  • Dave Baxter on IG who always gives us the most thoughtful comments on our posts that we really appreciate
  • Brandon on IG who also is super supportive
  • JM Kizer on Bluesky who asked us what wine reviewers we like since we think James Suckling sucks, and we told him we like Wine Spectator and Vinous as well as Decanter and Jancis Robinson

We love, love, love when you reach out to us so thanks very much, and keep it coming. And if you have been wondering if you should reach out to us, please do - we are really nice, I promise!

And, as we do every week, we’ll tell you someone we think you should recommend The Wine Pair Podcast to - because the best way for us to grow listeners is when you tell your family and friends about us - and his week, we want you to recommend us to anyone who just doesn’t feel like they know enough about Italian wines, because they may really appreciate this episode, especially if they are white wine fans!

RESEARCH ARTICLES AND LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE


Topic: WTF is Grechetto? 10:50

Well, Carmela, you know what question we need to ask now, right? Just what the fuck is Grechetto anyway? I am so glad you asked.

Grechetto is a wine with a long history, and it is one of the native vines of Umbria, and one of the oldest in Italy. Although it is not possible to pinpoint how far back it goes, which you always have to point out to me, the name does give some hints into its possible origin. Grechetto would imply Greek, and so many people believe that it was imported during the Magna Graecia period when Greek people moved to the Italian peninsula starting about 2,500 years ago. 

Grechetto, as we said earlier,  was cultivated by the Etruscans in the Umbria region, and the grape was mentioned by the Roman historian Pliny the Elder. So, it has been made for thousands of years in Umbria, but in the mid-20th century, its reputation began to decline due to poor winemaking practices and the grape falling out of favor. This is a story we have heard many times about grapes that were popular, decline, and then are revitalized. And a lot of that probably has to do with post-WWII Italy.

In the story of Grechetto, that comeback started in the late 1970’s when people in Umbria started to revitalize local winemaking, and put lots of care and craft into the making of wines. Today, there is a renewed and growing interest in Grechetto wines, and it is now regarded as one of the finest white wine grapes in the region - helped in part by the rise of interest in Orvieto wine, of which, again, it is part of the blend.

And, on that note, through much of its history, Grechetto was traditionally considered a blending grape, but today, it is considered a wonderful grape on its own.

Not to confuse things, Carmela, but there are actually two Grechetto grapes, which are clones of each other. 

  • Grechetto di Todi (also known as Grechetto gentile) which, as you would guess, is used most widely in the Todi area. This grape is described as having a more delicate and elegant aroma
  • Grechetto di Orvieto (also known as Grechetto Bianco or Grechetto Spoletino) which is, you guessed it, more often used in the Orvieto region. This grape is known as being more rustic and a bit more tannic

Historically, these were often not distinguished in labeling, and even DOC regulations do not require it, which made things very confusing. However, Grechetto di Todi is considered by some to be more accurately referred to as Pignoletto. 

Just so you know, these two areas, Todi and Orvieto, are like 35 kilometers from each other, so, that’s something.

I will also note that both of the wines we are tasting today are Grechetto di Todi, so we will not have the opportunity to see if we can tell the difference between the two clones.

A few more quick fun facts for you:

  • Grechetto is known for its thick skin, which provides good resistance to mildew and allows the grape to be harvested later and therefore with higher sugar levels - and so it is good for making dessert wines as well like Vin Santo Umbro. 
  • It is usually made into a dry white wine, and is sometimes described as having peach, apple, flower, and citrus flavors, and sometimes tropical fruit. 
  • While it is usually unoaked, some producers are experimenting with oak aging, sometimes combined with malolactic fermentation, which can give the wine a richer, more "buttery" quality similar to some Chardonnays. And, one of the wines we have today is oaked, so that will be fun to see the difference


But I think this is enough information, so why don’t we learn a bit more about the wines we chose for this episode, whaddya say?


Grechetto Wines We Chose for This Episode 17:22

As usual, the wines we have chosen for this episode are under $25, and at least one of them should be relatively easy to find because I bought it at wine.com. The other wine we found at the local wine shop we really like here in Seattle called Esquin.

Now, Grechetto may not be the easiest wine to find, but if you go to a wine shop with a good wine selection, and particularly a good Italian wine section, you will find it, and as always, go to your local wine store and ask the person running the store if they can get it for you, and I am sure they will be happy to do so. 

The first wine we are going to try tonight is the 2022 Sant' Angelus Sophia Grechetto di Todi. And right off the bat, this is going to be an interesting wine experience because this wine is oaked and is super high in alcohol at 14%. 

This wine is made from 100% Grechetto and it is fermented in stainless steel but finished in new French oak for 45 days. The grapes grow in loam soil (which means it is a mixture of sand, silt, and clay particles, along with organic matter) and the winery uses the double arch Guyot (Ghee-oh) vine training method for their Grechetto. I know, that sounds nerdy, but it’s kind of cool:

  • Double Arch Guyot is a way to train grape vines to grow in a certain shape so the grapes can grow better.
  • Imagine a grapevine like a long plant with arms. In Double Arch Guyot, the grower picks two arms from the vine and bends them into a rainbow shape—one going left, and one going right. These two arms are tied down with wires, and new shoots grow up from them in the spring.
  • This rainbow shape helps the grapevine grow evenly and makes sure the grapes get enough sun and air. That way, the grapes ripen nicely and taste better!


So, there you go! 

On to the next wine. It is the 2022 Cantina Roccafiore Grechetto di Todi Fiordaliso. This wine is going to be a very different wine than the first. The grapes are 100% hand-picked and then fermented with wild yeast in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks, and it is aged for 6 months on the lees in stainless steel. So no oak.

We have said this many times, but the lees are tiny bits of dead yeast and grape pieces that sink to the bottom of the wine juice after it’s been made, and give the wine a creamier feel and sometimes nutty taste. The wine is then bottled and allowed to age for 3 more months before it is released. 

Not only is this wine not oaked, it is much lighter in alcohol at only 12.5%. It also only goes through a Single Guyot training system, so there’s that! In Single Guyot, the farmer picks one long branch from the vine and ties it sideways along a wire—kind of like stretching one arm out. This branch will grow new shoots and grapes and it keeps the vines tidy and controls how many grapes grow on the vine. 

But, that is enough fun facts - let’s get to drinking! We’ll take a quick break and be right back. And, if you have these wines or similar wines, drink along with us to get some participation points, which you can trade-in for free stickers. You just need to send me an email with your mailing address, and I will get those “I drink with The Wine Pair Podcast” stickers over to you!



LINKS TO SOURCES FOR THESE SPECIFIC WINES


2022 Sant' Angelus Sophia Grechetto di Todi, 2022 Cantina Roccafiore Grechetto di Todi Fiordaliso Wine Tasting, Pairing, and Review 22:29

Wine: Sant' Angelus Sophia Grechetto di Todi
Region: Italy, Umbria
Year: 2023
Price: $19.99
Retailer: Esquin
Alcohol: 14%
Grapes: Grechetto
Professional Rating: Vivino

What we tasted and smelled in this Sant' Angelus Sophia Grechetto di Todi:

  • Color: Very dark yellow, almost like a beer or apple juice. Like someone who did not drink enough water before they went to the bathroom
  • On the nose: Apple, pear, pineapple, honey, vanilla, sweetness, peach candy, creamy, 
  • In the mouth: Caramel, buttery popcorn, kettle corn, saline, big, if you like a oaky Chardonnay this is a good choice, pineapple, peach, lime pith on the back end of it, almond, rich, a cocktail wine


Food to pair with this Sant' Angelus Sophia Grechetto di Todi: Nuts, charcuterie, candied nuts, Poppycock or Fiddle Faddle, fried food, fish and chips
 
As a reminder on our rating scale, we rate on a scale of 1-10, with no half points, where 7 and above means that we would buy it, and 4 and below means that we are likely to pour it down the sink, and a 5 or 6 means we are likely to drink it and finish it, but we are probably not going to buy it. 

Sant' Angelus Sophia Grechetto di Todi Wine Rating: 

  • Joe: 7/10
  • Carmela: 7/10


Wine: Cantina Roccafiore Grechetto di Todi Fiordaliso (Click here to find this wine on wine.com. We may be compensated if you purchase)
Region: Italy, Umbria
Year: 2022
Price: $19.99
Retailer: wine.com
Alcohol: 12.5%
Grapes: Grechetto
Professional Rating: Vivino 3.9

What we tasted and smelled in this Cantina Roccafiore Grechetto di Todi Fiordaliso:

  • Color: Light straw color
  • On the nose: Fruity, flowers, apricot, apple, lemon, dried fruit, dried banana, dried apricot, candied
  • In the mouth: Tart, crisp, apple, citrus, banana Laffy Taffy, banana Now and Later


Food to pair with this Cantina Roccafiore Grechetto di Todi Fiordaliso: Seafood, because it is sweet to the taste you need to be thoughtful about what kind of food you eat, spaghetti and breadcrumbs, bruschetta with tapenade, tomatoes, creamy pesto, garlic bread

Cantina Roccafiore Grechetto di Todi Fiordaliso Wine Rating: 

  • Joe: 7/10
  • Carmela: 8/10



Which one of these are you finishing tonight?

  • Carmela: Cantina Roccafiore Grechetto di Todi Fiordaliso
  • Joe: Cantina Roccafiore Grechetto di Todi Fiordaliso



Taste profiles expected from Grechetto  34:58

  • General 
    • Aromas: white flowers, peach, apricot, lemon, almond, herbs
    • Tastes: Pear, apple, peach, citrus zest, blanched almond
  • Sant' Angelus Sophia Grechetto di Todi
    • Winery: It has a beautiful floral nose with peach and pear notes and minerality creating a crisp refreshing wine with enough acidity that it tastes great with food or can stand alone.
    • Sommsation: This wine has an intense straw color and golden reflections with notes of flowers and ripe fruit. Refreshing, balanced and delicate, with a typical hint of stone fruit on the finish, characteristic of the varietal. With the initial aging in French oak, one can better taste the minerality and natural flavor typical of clayey soils.
  • Cantina Roccafiore Grechetto di Todi Fiordaliso
    • Winery: Aromas: bouquets of white flowers, pleasant pink grapefruit and green apple notes. Taste: dry, fresh and salty, adequately vibrant, it tastes lingers and mineral.


What is the verdict on Grechetto? 36:40
Loved it. Super fun, really good wine, and worth trying and worth going to Umbria.

Outro and how to find The Wine Pair Podcast 37:22
Ok, so, Carmela, it’s time for us to go, but before we do, we want to thank you very much for listening to us - and if you haven’t done so yet, now would be the perfect time to follow or subscribe to our podcast and also a fantastic time to leave us a nice rating and review on our website or Apple podcasts or other podcast app - and it is an awesome and free way to support us and help us grow listeners.

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Alright, with that, we are going to sign off, so thanks again, and we will see you next time. And, as we say, life is short, so stop drinking shitty wine.

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