Pecorello

The Story

Pecorello — "little sheep" in Italian — is Calabria's most exciting white discovery of the past decade. Grown almost exclusively in the province of Cosenza in the toe of Italy's boot, it was for generations dismissed as a minor blending grape, lost in the shadow of the region's red powerhouses Gaglioppo and Greco Nero. But DNA work linking it to the ancient Greco family of Cosenza's Rogliano area has reframed it as a noble survival of pre-Greek-colonial viticulture. Today, two estates have almost single-handedly elevated Pecorello to international attention: Roberto Ceraudo, whose organic Grisara bottling earned a Wine Enthusiast score of 89 and Falstaff 87 points for the 2023 vintage; and the historic Ippolito 1845, whose stainless-steel Pecorello Calabria IGT sells on the export market for €13–28 and introduced the variety to a global audience. In the glass, Pecorello delivers a bright straw yellow with intense aromatics — white peach, banana, mango, and subtle almond — driven by the classic Ionian Coast tension between tropical heat and Apennine altitude. It is fermented cold in stainless steel to preserve the precise, linear freshness that makes it a natural match for the region's extraordinary seafood. Calabria is finally having its moment in fine wine, and Pecorello is the white wine leading the charge.

Insider Story

The etymology of the name — "little sheep" — has two competing folk theories: that the berries' shape resembles a sheep's face, or that sheep used to graze freely between the vine rows in Cosenza's hillside plots during winter. The more commercially interesting story is how Ippolito 1845, one of Italy's oldest continuously operating family wineries, pivoted from Cirò DOC reds to champion this obscure white in the mid-2010s. It was a calculated bet on southern Italian white wine's emerging appeal, and it has paid off handsomely. The Ceraudo angle is even more dramatic: Roberto Ceraudo's family estate in Strongoli sits on the ancient Greek colony of Petelia, and the winery's positioning as an organic, archaeologically-rooted estate in a largely ignored region has attracted the kind of press attention that pulls critics and importers in. Pecorello is Ceraudo's white showpiece. Note: the name "Pecorello" is sometimes confused with "Pecorino" — the famous central Italian white grape — but they are entirely unrelated varieties. This confusion has likely suppressed Pecorello's profile in export markets.

Technical Deep Dive

Pecorello is a white-berried variety known since the late 1800s in Calabria's Cosenza province. Genetic studies trace it to the Greco family, specifically the Rogliano clone of Greco indigenous to the Cosenza area — distinct from Greco Bianco of Cirò or the Campanian Greco di Tufo. Bunch: medium-small, cylindrical-conical, compact. Berry: small, golden-yellow at maturity, thin-skinned. Ripening: early September in coastal Calabria. Viticulture: prefers well-drained, clay-rich volcanic soils at 150–400m elevation; heat-tolerant but benefits from cooling Apennine breezes. Winemaking protocol (canonical): manual harvest in early September; cold settling (16–18°C); fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel at 14–16°C; 4–5 months aging on fine lees in stainless; bottled late January for freshness preservation. The result is a wine of 12.5–13% ABV with vivid natural acidity (pH 3.1–3.3) and distinctive tropical-citrus aromatic intensity. No wood contact in standard expressions. Ceraudo's Grisara occasionally uses skin contact or partial amphora maturation for added texture. Classification: Calabria IGT (no dedicated DOC appellation for Pecorello).

Industry Secrets

Calabrian winemakers have been frustrated for years that Pecorello cannot claim a DOC designation — the Cirò DOC is defined around Gaglioppo (red) and Greco Bianco (white), neither of which is Pecorello. Bottling under the Calabria IGT label (or the sub-zone Val di Neto IGT) gives flexibility but lacks the marketing punch of a DOC appellation. There is informal discussion within the Calabrian wine consortium about creating a Cosenza DOC sub-zone that could accommodate Pecorello, but no formal proposal has advanced as of early 2026. The confusion with Pecorino from Abruzzo/Marche is a genuine commercial problem — wine retailers regularly mis-shelf Pecorello next to Pecorino, and consumers unfamiliar with Calabrian wine can be confused. Forward-thinking importers who can articulate the difference clearly are doing well with Pecorello — it fulfils the consumer appetite for "obscure Italian whites" without requiring the premium price tag of Greco di Tufo or Fiano.

More white grapes

• Pecorino
• Pedro Ximénez
• Pepella
• Perruno
• Petit Courbu