Ortrugo wine guide
Ortrugo is the most interesting native white grape variety of the Piacenza hills, an incredibly fresh, pleasant, graceful wine with delicious aromas. It is available in a sparkling, sparkling and still version, but it must be said that the classic wine is the sparkling one, delicate in its aromas and tickling without ever becoming too complex, the convivial wine par excellence, the one you drink as soon as you sit down.
It is not a wine that will make you lose sleep or climb mountains to reach inaccessible cellars nestled on a Caribbean volcano, however it is rare for an Ortrugo to disappoint. The average quality is quite good, the freshness is always pulsating and above all, it is a wine that in a certain way represents, together with Malvasia, the cellars of Piacenza. It is the business card, the (often) sparkling, entry-level wine that sets the pace for the entire winery production. If you do the Ortrugo well, you can’t go wrong with the rest and you present yourself well with a good wine to open the dance; if you do it wrong it is not worth delving further into the relationship.
History of the Ortrugo grape
Legend has it that this vine has been present in the Piacenza hills since time immemorial, even before the Romans, but there are no traces in documents. The first mention of Ortrugo dates back to 1881 and we find it in the large globe of vines that was the “Ampelographic Bulletin”, but with the name of Altrugo. The name is a whole program and in dialect, it means the other grape, because it had always been used as a blending grape to give aromas and freshness. A gregarious fate that would have condemned it to extinction if the Mossi winery had not relaunched it vinified in purity when they discovered its potential. Since then, in the 70s and 80s, the vine has always grown, harvest after harvest, proposing itself as a fragrant and titillating sparkling white.
Organoleptic characteristics of Ortrugo wine
The bouquet is sharp, subtle, aromatic with an epiphanic cornucopia of citrus, aromatic herbs and green fruit. It is not a tornado of perfumes, but it has the great advantage of possessing a precise, measured, sharp, but never intrusive aroma. Flowers and light mineral references in the finish.
On the palate it has a medium-light structure, it is not a wine that bites, but it has a splendid and sunny acidity that takes on flavors of lemon and flint. It’s not too complex or cerebral, but it flows smoothly, juicy and lean.
Classification of the Ortrugo wine
Thanks to its great acidity, the most widespread and appreciated version is sparkling, but we also find more ambitious and structured sparkling wines or still versions. In this case, the wine has rhythm and layers of salt and lemon that alternate in quick sequence. Usually, it does not make wood, certainly never barrique.
Recommended pairings for Ortrugo wine
It has character, so combine it without delay with grilled fish, pasta with pesto, sushi, pad thai, chicken curry and a thousand other spicy dishes. With Thai cuisine, it is perfect thanks to the assonance between citrus and lemongrass in both wine and food. But even with carbonara, it is fine if it is a sparkling wine.