Today’s wine of the week is a Centesimino IGT from a winery called La Sabbiona located in Emilia Romagna. This winery is located near a jewel of a city called Faenza which is very famous for its pottery called Faience. Faenza has ceramic museums, a beautiful cathedral and wonderful piazzas with loggia. Here’s Faenza which lies between Bologna and Ravenna.

One of the Italian indigenous grapes that comes from this area is called Centesimino. Centesimino is a red grape that makes easy to drink wines with good alcohol and acidity, aromas of berries and earth, it’s a fun wine to drink with the lovely foods of Emilia-Romagna focused on charcuterie, cheeses with their special bread, piadine and pastas. They also make wines from Albana and Famoso, two white indigenous grapes from the area. I tasted a couple of their wines but not all. I would love to try the sparkling wine made from Famoso with a long charmat method. Of course they grow Sangiovese as well as other grapes such as Malvasia which grow well in these soils. Located on the hills of Oriolo dei Fichi, La Sabbiona is owned by the Altini family.

The winery also has an agriturismo, a restaurant, guest rooms and a pool and lots of helpful information about what to do in the area. They have 28 hectares, 15 of which are planted to vines while the rest is cereals, fruit, olives and scallions which are famous from this part of the Ravenna province. If I could, I would get on a plane tomorrow and go for a week to relax.

Before Covid came to town, the plan was to spend two weeks in Emilia Romagna with most of it spent at the beach in Romagna but also visiting some of the cities I love in Emilia where I went to graduate school, once upon a time. Hopefully, next year. La Sabbiona will definitely be on my list.