Mantonico Bianco

Vines called Mantonico have been written about since the thirteenth century, and the white one settled on Calabria's Ionian toe, in the Locride. Its second name, Mantonico di Bianco, comes from the town of Bianco, whose growers dry the grapes for sweet wine in the same hills as Greco di Bianco DOC. Locals called it Mantonacu viru, the true Mantonico, to set it apart from the lookalikes that borrowed the name. It ripens late, into October, and holds pronounced acidity even then: the reason its passito never turns cloying.

DNA work then made the old grape famous twice over. Paired with Sangiovese, Mantonico Bianco turns out to be a parent of Gaglioppo, the red behind Cirò, and of Etna's Nerello Mascalese. A quiet white grape from the Locride sits at the head of southern Italy's red-wine family tree.

It nearly disappeared anyway. Central Italy's separate Montonico Bianco traded under the name Mantonico on wine labels, and Italy's vine register records how that mix-up delayed the Calabrian grape's own recognition. Librandi led the revival, replanting it at Tenuta Rosaneti between Rocca di Neto and Casabona. Picked in early October, their Efeso shows peach, apricot and flint, rich but zesty, at its best over three to five years. The same house dries it for Le Passule, and Statti bottles a version near Lamezia. UK merchants list all three styles.