Bianchello del Metauro DOC

🇮🇹 Italy

AOC Rare find

DOC 1969 - Ancient white from Metauro river valley, indigenous Biancame grape with EU protected status due to extreme geographic restriction, Battle of Metauro wine legend

Region profile

History

Legend: eve of Battle of Metauro (207 BC), Hasdrubal's Carthaginian army drank so heavily of local Bianchello that they lost to Rome the following day - Tacitus specifically blames this wine for the defeat. Biancame grape cultivated these hills since ~500 BC, one of Italy's oldest continuously grown varieties. DOC 1969 (shortly after Verdicchio). Giacomo Tachis (Italy's greatest enologist) considered Bianchello his favorite Marche white.

Climate
Maritime-continental transition at 80-350m elevation; Metauro river valley corridor from Adriatic to Apennines; sandy clay soils with volcanic tuff pockets near Fano; Garbino wind from south creates dry microclimate; Bora and Tramontana from north reduce humidity and fungal pressure; 700-800mm annual rainfall; 16 communes Pesaro-Urbino province
Signature wines
Claudio Morelli "La Vigna delle Terrazze" (sixth-generation family since 1930s; 1970s-planted vines on volcanic tuff and sand at Metauro mouth; orange blossom, elderflower, Mediterranean herbs with sapid minerality; €15-20); Guerrieri (Pesaro); Fiorini; Di Sante
What sets it apart
DOC 1969; ONLY appellation for Biancame grape - EU protects variety due to geographic restriction to Pesaro-Urbino communes (literally cannot find this wine elsewhere on Earth); Battle of Metauro 207 BC legend (Tacitus blamed wine for Carthaginian defeat); Metauro river valley unique corridor terroir; sandy clay + volcanic tuff soils; Giacomo Tachis's (legendary Italian enologist) favorite Marche white

Facts

  • DOC May 9, 1969 (announced shortly after Marche's Verdicchios)
  • ~120 hectares across 16 communes
  • Biancame grape has EU protection due to geographic restriction
  • Roman historian Tacitus claims wine intoxicated Carthaginian army before Battle of the Metauro 207 BC
  • Biancame origins trace to 500 BC
  • production zone bounded by Cesano river (south), Arzilla river (north), Cesane mountains (west), Adriatic Sea (east)