Castelli Romani
ROMAN CASTLES (DOC)
Wine production in and around Rome goes back many thousands of years, starting from the moment, when the Romans learned from the Persians how to grow grapevines and established vineyards in Lazio. The ancients toasted with Cecubo and Falernum wines, which were among the favorite drinks of Horace, and wines produced in the Lazio hills, which we now call Castelli wines. Horace maintained, that the wines from Castelli are so delicious, that they can violate even Cato's strict sense of morality. Juvenalis, on the other hand, argued, that the innkeepers kept the Castelli wine to themselves, giving customers disastrous wine, which they should have used to remove grease from wool.
The underlying reason, thanks to which the wines from Castelli, produced south-east of Rome, they are so good a fact, that they arise from a vine growing on a volcanic one, rich in potassium, the soil of this area. These areas are also characterized by extremely favorable climatic conditions, which led to the natural selection of vines, that once covered these hills. Strains, which eventually survived this natural selection were Malvasia di Candia and Malvasia del Lazio, as well as a number of Trebbiano varieties (bright vine) and Cesanese, Montepulciano, Sangiovese i Merlot (dark vine). It is these grape varieties that form the basis of most of the famous DOC wines from Lazio. But, despite the success, DOC wines did not manage to fully displace the other wines known under the general name of Castelli wine, which are still hugely popular in the Eternal City.
Award decision, w 1996 year, Castelli Romani wines the right to use the DOC appeal was related to the desire to promote the image of these wines, combined with increasing their quality through the introduction of rigid regulations, which bring significant results each year.