Livia vino cotto, Abruzzo tradition by Marramiero

Livia is the name of the mother of Enrico Marramiero, owner of the eponymous Abruzzo winery we have featured before. It is a vino cotto, a wine rooted in the region's tradition stretching back many centuries. Historically it was produced and kept until the birth of the first male child, or even until his wedding day. Livia is a wine produced from Montepulciano grapes and is well suited to accompany dessert, but also capable of enhancing aged cheeses and, as we shall see, blue-veined cheeses as well.

This Abruzzo specialty could not be absent from the Marramiero wine range, alongside the other great wines of the territory such as Montepulciano Inferi, Dante Marramiero, Trebbiano Altare, and Pecorino d'Abruzzo – wines we have already covered.

At Vinitaly, I had the pleasure of attending an event where Livia was paired with no fewer than six different cheeses. In addition to the winery owner Enrico and winemaker Romeo Taramborrelli, the tasting featured journalist Rosa Capece and was led by Francesco D'Agostino, Editor of Cucina & Vini. But before recounting the tasting, let us look at how Marramiero's vino cotto is technically produced.

Vino cotto cannot strictly be called a wine, but rather a fermented grape must product. Livia is cooked over a low flame in stainless steel vats until it has reduced to one third of its original volume, and is then aged in small wooden barrels. The first bottle reaches the market 10 years after production began, with a sugar concentration of 170 g/litre. After 10 years, one third of the product is bottled. The bottled portion is topped up with production from nine years prior, and so on. Thanks to this continuous blending of previous vintages – a kind of Solera method – each release is quite consistent with those that came before.

Livia has a very dark, captivating colour, a complex nose with pronounced caramel notes, red fruit jam (cherry, sour cherry), dried fig, then chocolate, sweet spices, and a hint of mint. Fresh on the palate, never cloying, despite its marked sweetness and softness, thanks to a high acidity of 11 g/litre. The intense aromatic finish is very long.

Let us now look at how Livia fared paired with the cheeses.

Bitto Storico dell'Alpe Cavizzola

From the Valtellina valleys, this is a full-fat cheese among the lightest in the world, made from the milk of goats and cows that feed exclusively on grass. The texture of the cheese balances the structure of the wine well, though Livia proves to be the more persistent of the two. The aromatic qualities of both the wine and the cheese are mutually enhanced.

Blu di bufala

A blue-veined cheese with a creamy, semi-firm cream-coloured paste marked by distinct blue-green veins. An intense aroma, an aromatic flavour that, when paired with the wine, melts pleasantly on the palate. A good gustatory and olfactory marriage.

Blu di pecora

A considerably more pronounced aromatic intensity than the previous, with a different texture too: decidedly drier and more granular. On the palate, the cheese tasted alongside the wine delivers beautiful harmonious sensations, with a coherent and persistent finish.

Blu dolce di capra

A blue-veined cheese with a more delicate flavour than the previous ones, the result of a refined balance between the characteristics of goat's milk and the fragrant notes of the blue veining. The paste is very soft. The pairing puts us to the test, yet Livia nonetheless enhances the aromatic character of the cheese.

Gorgonzola affinato nelle vinacce

A blue-veined cheese aged for six months in Primitivo grape pomace, soft and very flavourful on the palate. It expresses bold, piquant blue-cheese notes alongside honeyed tones. Tasted alongside Livia, cheese and wine enhance one another.

Cacio Marcetto dell'Abruzzo

A local cheese of very ancient, traditionally home-based production. The cheese transforms into marcetto through the action and development of larvae in the cracks of the rind. The paste thus takes on a creamy consistency with a very strong, pungent flavour. A curious regional pairing, and one worth trying nonetheless.

What more can be said? Perhaps only that we would love to revisit the Livia pairing with other blue-veined cheeses or aged and hard-paste varieties – to keep exploring with curiosity and enjoyment the new gustatory and olfactory sensations these combinations so generously offer.