Offida is the flagship appellation of Piceno, the southern part of the Marche between Ascoli and the sea. Created as a DOC in 2001 and promoted to DOCG in 2011, it takes its name from a hilltop town in the province of Ascoli Piceno and today covers about 513 hectares of vineyard, with an output of 17,700 hectolitres.
Three wines, three grapes
Unlike many appellations, Offida is not one wine but three, each with its own dominant variety, which must make up at least 85%. Pecorino gives a savoury, structured white with notes of herbs and citrus; Passerina a fresher, more floral white; Montepulciano a full, spicy red. Minimum alcohol is 11.5%.
The whites are released early, from 1 March after the harvest, after a few months of ageing. The Rosso, by contrast, ages for at least 24 months, 12 of them in wood and three in bottle, and cannot be released before 1 November of the second year.
From the hills to the sea
For Pecorino and Passerina the area covers the whole of municipalities such as Offida, Acquaviva Picena, Castignano, Cossignano, Ripatransone and Montefiore dell'Aso, part of Ascoli Piceno, San Benedetto del Tronto, Grottammare and Cupra Marittima, and three municipalities in the province of Fermo: Campofilone, Pedaso and Petritoli. For the Rosso the area is smaller and stays in the hilly heart of the Ascoli countryside. The appellation borders and partly overlaps with Rosso Piceno, the area's other great red.
Born from a zoning study
Behind the appellation lies a zoning study promoted by the producers' association Vinea together with the University of Milan, to assess how well suited Passerina, Pecorino and Montepulciano were to the Piceno environment. The result gave southern Marche a DOCG able to stand, on the white-wine side, alongside Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi.
