The blends of Orvieto Classico and Ruffino's history with this wine

I just came back from an amazing two week vacation to the wonderful state of Alaska. Such untouched beauty and nature. The pictures don't do this land any justice and the emotions you experience while viewing the vast, untouched land is amazing. I attended two of the wine events while I was aboard the Princess Cruise ship for a week that I will write about further, but today I wanted to share with you a bottle that I ordered at dinner, 2012 Ruffino Orvieto Classico.

I have written previously about Orvieto and wines of the Umbria, but today I wanted to focus more on the wine that I tried on my vacation. I purchased a bottle of 2012 Orvieto Classico from the well-known producer, Ruffino. This wine is produced in the region of Umbria in the town of Orvieto. Orvieto is located in the southwestern part of the region close to the Lazio region. This was my first visit to Orvieto this past October. It's a medieval town set up on a hill overlooking the highway, the autostrada, which is the road that leads you from Florence to Rome. It's a great city with a beautiful gothic style church, duomo, in the square known as Piazza del Duomo.

As in Tuscany you have Chianti and a subzone called Chianti Classico, in Umbria you have Orvieto with it's subzone Orvieto Classico from a smaller parcel of land. The white wine from here is the most popular of the region. Orvieto and Orvieto Classico is primarily made up of the grape, trebbiano, also known here as procanico. The grape, grechetto, is the secondary grape. Added to the blend as well is verdello, canaiolo bianco (known as drupeggio) and malvasia. Due to a larger variety of grapes to be blended there are different variations of this wine depending on the producer. Today more producers are using higher amounts of grechetto than in the past.

The Orvieto DOC was created in 1971. In the past this wine was made in a sweeter style where today it's drier. Ruffino has been producing this Orvieto Classico since the late 1950's. This 2012 Ruffino Orvieto Classico is from the Orvieto Classico region, which surrounds the town of Orvieto and extends toward Lake Corbara. It's made of 40% grechetto, 20% trebbiano, and the rest blended with canaiolo bianco and verdello. This crisp wine was medium bodied with a fruit profile of green apple and I picked up a little petrol as well. It had a mouthwatering acidity with nice length on the finish. As the wine sat the fruit became more prevalent. Ruffino recommends pairing this wine with crostini topped with roasted tomatoes and olive oil, grilled fish seasoned with olive oil and rosemary and mild cheese.

Have fun with it this summer and try the different variations of Orvieto Classico that are blended. As always, I'd love to hear of your adventures to this town and wine region.

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