The Colli Lanuvini white wine

guido · Site Admin Joined: Oct 18, 2004 Posts: 390 Location: Italy

I have a good friend in UK and she is used to say she could not live without hel Colli Lanuvini ....
This white wine is perfect for every meal, but expecially with vegetables, (roasted or boiled) as well with veil or chicken based dished.

The Colli Lanuvini wines are produced in the communal territories of Genzano and Lanuvio in the heart of the Castelli Romani district. In the area, winemaking is such an integral part of the inhabitants' daily lives that it was once customary for the men to observe that a woman was worth a determined number of casks of wine. The expression had nothing to do with her looks but to the fact that anyone marrying her would receive in dowry a vineyard that would provide the stipulated number of casks of wine annually. The expression was also linked to the habitual use of small barrels of chestnut, the wood of the local forests, in fining the wine. The standard capacity of the casks was 1,000 liters.

The Colli Lanuvini wine is produced from the classic varieties of the Castelli Romani: Malvasia Bianca and Puntinata, Trebbiano Verde and Giallo. The Trebbiano family, which is widely diffused in Latium and provides the base for a major part of the white wines of central Italy, was probably developed through a selection process carried out by the Etruscans, who made a significant contribution to the spread of viticulture in the areas they controlled.

As in the case of the other wines of the Roman countryside, the Colli Lanuvini has had its cultured devotees since the days of ancient Rome and many of them have engaged in bouts of a literary nature over which of the Castelli wines is superior to all others. The Latin writers Horace, Pliny and Martial were among the commentators on the vineyards' output, while the Baroque poet Pietro Metastasio discussed the wine at the time when the papal court reached the peak of its splendor.
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In vino veritas!