Trebbiano Toscano
By far, Trebbiano Toscano is the most planted white grape in all of Tuscany. The Trebbiano family is the most planted white grape in all of Italy in fact, and the Toscano version is the most common throughout all of Central Italy. In France, the grape is also very popular, especially in the production of Cognac, as the varietal Ugni Blanc. It is a vine that is highly productive, resistant to disease and pests, and naturally high in acidity. All of these qualities made it a very popular vine to grow after World War II when Italy was attempting to rebuild itself and increase its exports to the international market. Most always, if you are drinking the house white in a Tuscan trattoria, you are drinking a Trebbiano based wine. It’s most well known and highest regarded wines are the Vin Santo wines of Tuscany. These are dessert style wines that have a special history. These wines are unique and intense, and with the traditional almond biscotti you truly find a perfect food and wine pairing. In these wines the Trebbiano is blended with Malvasia and the grapes are first dried, passito, so as to concentrate the sugars and intensify the flavors. The juice produced from the dried grapes is vinified in very small barrels, chestnut or oak, and left to age for years without ever topping off the barrels. If one has never experienced these ‘holy wines’ then it is not recommended-but mandatory- to do so, otherwise one cannot truly understand and appreciate a Tuscan meal to its total fulfillment. Don’t forget the almond biscotti for dunking either.
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