Lacrima di Morro d’Alba wine is a red wine from the Marche region of central Italy. It has a distinctive aroma and taste. The wine’s floral scent smells of lavender, roses and violets, as well as strawberries. However, the wine’s flavour is no less impressive. It tastes of vanilla-tinged blueberry brioche with a hint of cinnamon. Although typically mid-bodied, dry and relatively tannic, the wine can also be produced in a sweet passito style. Finally, Lacrima di Morro d’Alba wine is made from the ancient Lacrima grape variety, in the area surrounding the hilltop village of Morro d’Alba.
THE HISTORY OF LACRIMA
DI MORRO D’ALBA WINE
Lacrima di Morro d’Alba wine has an ancient heritage and a distinctive style. However, it couldn’t compete with Italy’s most famous wines, such as Barolo and Chianti. In fact, the wine was slowly going extinct and only received official recognition in 1985, when it was awarded the DOC title. Prior to then, plantings of Lacrima vines only amounted to 2.5 acres (1 hectare). Luckily, they have now expanded to cover almost 100 times that area.
The wine’s evocative name “lacrima” means teardrop in Italian. There are a few different stories that explain this name. For instance, this name could be due to the wine’s teardrop-shaped grapes or grape bunches. Another theory is that the Lacrima grapes have a tendency to split, or perhaps “cry”, forming tears of grape juice.
HOW THE LACRIMA WINES ARE MADE
Lacrima variety wines usually contain 100% Lacrima grapes. However, some varieties may contain up to 15% Montepulciano or Verdicchio grapes. Since Verdicchio is a white wine, it may seem an unusual addition to Lacrima di Morro d’Alba wine. However, using a small amount of white wine grapes in red wine is far from unheard-of and in fact it was common practice in Chianti in the 20th century. Morro d’Alba is just north of Jesi and 25 miles from Matelica, the main areas of Verdicchio production. This makes Verdicchio the obvious choice of grape to add.
