2022 Vinalia x Fausti Falerio Pecorino Marche 750 ml

Pecorino is a grape that was nearly lost to time—but today, it’s one of the most prestigious grapes in Italy, with bottles from top producers easily fetching $100.

This bottle is a stellar example of the grape, showing off the trademark almond-skin texture, stony minerality, and citrus-meets-green-apple fruit that defines Pecorino crafted by skilled winemakers. It’s perfect for those who love crisp whites like Sancerre, Albariño, or Grüner Veltliner.

In the 18th and 19th century, Pecorino was renowned for its flavor, but scant in its yields. Growers replaced it with varieties like Trebbiano, which produced cluster after cluster with little work. Despite the fame of Pecorino’s wines, it was eventually lost to the demands of the modern wine world. Growers in Abruzzo and Le Marche assumed it was extinct.

Then, in the 1980s, one intrepid ampelographer discovered an old, overgrown vineyard with curious grapes near the Adriatic coast—and the rest is history. Soon after, Pecorino was being grown commercially for the first time since the early part of the century.

And while it still suffered from the same problems—it takes a lot of labor to farm, even with modern equipment—the market for Italian wine now is completely different: White wine from the Marche (and nearby Abruzzo) isn’t just a beverage for peasant farmers, it’s found on Michelin-starred wine lists around the globe. The extra costs are worth it.

Fausti is one of the leading lights of Le Marche, a tiny region on the calf of Italy’s boot. Christina Fausti farms her small, 25-acre estate organically, and she tapped locally renowned winemaker Domenico D’Angelo to helm her cellar. She’s based in the town of Fermo, which has been a viticultural center since medieval times, and the proximity to the Adriatic Sea (about a ten-minute drive) makes for an ideal climate to grow grapes—including spectacular Pecorino.