Crisp Pecorino is perfect for fans of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio, says our wine expert
In both cases, the Italian reds tend to veer towards sweeter, riper styles, often from sun-baked southern Italian regions like Puglia and featuring big, bold grapes such as Primitivo, Negroamaro, Malvasia Nera and Aglianico. The whites tend to be drier, featuring refreshing varietal styles worth having on your radar, from aromatic Fiano (€9.99, Aldi) to herbal Roero Arneis (€12.99, Lidl) to today’s highlighted Pecorino.
The star of Lidl’s current Italian cellar (until October 8) is a Pecorino from Abruzzo, a wine region east of Rome. This white grape variety has been making a quiet comeback. It’s is a nice one for fans of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio to know, with its crisp style and ripe flavours. It is most typically grown in Abruzzo but also the Marche, Umbria, Liguria and Tuscany.
Pecorino translates as ‘little sheep’, and the story goes that, when travelling shepherds were herding sheep south from Abruzzo before the weather turned for winter, these early ripening grapes would be sweet and juicy when the sheep passed through, making a tempting snack. As compensation, shepherds would gift the winegrowers some pecorino cheese to keep things friendly.
When produced as a young and simple white wine, fermented and aged in stainless steel or cement tanks, Pecorino is refreshing, with lots of natural acidity lifting its warm citrus, herbal, floral and sometimes tropical notes. This is the style of today’s cheaper recommendations, which are best drunk young. Pecorino can also offer complexity for ambitious producers, with quality grapes ageing on the lees (spent yeast cells) or in amphora, or sometimes barrels can produce a textured wine with marked minerality that can age for up to six or seven years.
Today’s wild-card tip from Aldi is another treat for fans of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio, but from Slovenia across the border from north-eastern Italy.
Wines of the week
Terre di Chieti IGP Pecorino 2024
Terre di Chieti IGP Pecorino 2024, Abruzzo, Italy, 13pc, €9.99
A clean, simple and well-balanced white wine, this is very tangy and moreish with bright and friendly lemon curd character on the nose and palate. It worked well with fish and chips but its bold and tangy freshness would be great with any fish with some richness from its sauce or cooking method – and, of course, any sheep’s cheese, whether Italian pecorino or Spanish manchego. Or try the crisp Roero Arneis DOCG (€12.99) with its notes of fennel, rosemary, lemon and bitter almond, also from Lidl’s Italian Wine Cellar (until October 8). Lidl
Costellore Pecorino Terre d’Abruzzo IGT 2024
Costellore Pecorino Terre d’Abruzzo IGT 2024, Abruzzo, Italy, 11pc, €8.99
Aldi’s Pecorino is lighter in alcohol and body and leans more to pithy, slightly bitter citrus notes like lemon peel and grapefruit. Opt for simpler, lighter dishes too like poached fish or poultry. Aldi
Cantina Zaccagnini Twiggy Tralcetto Pecorino 2021
Cantina Zaccagnini Twiggy Tralcetto Pecorino 2021, Abruzzo, Italy, 13pc, €18
From the producers of the popular Twiggy Montepulciano d’Abruzzo (a bright medium-bodied red currently €16.50 in Dunnes), this Pecorino adds more body and weight to its fresh citrus character. Molloy’s, Martins, The Vintry, The Wine Centre
Gran Sasso Alta Quota Pecorino 2024
Gran Sasso Alta Quota Pecorino 2024, Terre di Chieti IGT, Abruzzo, Italy, 13pc, €22
If you’d like to see what a little oak can do, this is a more pungent style of Pecorino, thanks to partial oak fermentation (20pc in large oak barrels), which brings some warm spice to its heady herbal character. wineonline.ie
Sonce Pinot Grigio-Sauvignon Blanc 2024
Sonce Pinot Grigio-Sauvignon Blanc 2024, Slovenia, 12.5pc, €11.99
Well worth a spin for its fresh take on two popular grapes, with Sauvignon’s nettle and lemon character leading, supported by Pinot Grigio’s white flower notes, finishing sherbetty and slightly spritzy. Aldi
Dining and Cooking