An ancient grape not seen much outside of the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, the Albana dates back at least to 435 A.D. when the daughter of Roman emperor Theodosius II remarked that such a grape should be drunk in gold (bert in oro.) Today the town of Bertinoro lays at the heart of Albana di Romagna, the first region to acheive DOCG status in 1986. A thick-skinned varietal, Albana exhibits in dry form aromas and flavors of apricots, pineapple and honey. A sweet version is made from the passito method of drying the grapes the before fermentation.
The best expressions of Albana come from the hills east of the town of Forli in the southern part of the Albana di Romagna DOCG.
White