Native of
Arquata del Tronto in the
Ascoli Piceno province in the
Marche. Ampelographers believe that Pecorino is a very old variety that, originated by Benedictine monks cross as a wild grapevine growing in Arquata del Tronto that was eventually domesticated for wine production. The name is direct link between the Pecorino grape and
pecorino cheese. Ampelographers believe that the grape's name derives from the
Italian word
pecorino. Starting in the late 19th century, Count Gallo, the leading local winemaker, began to associate the term Pecorino with Verdicchio Bastardo Bianco di Arquata, both to distinguish it from the Verdicchio of the same name and because the term Bastardo was considered a negative term at the time. In 1903, the agronomist Salvatore Mondini published "Foreign Wine Grape Varieties Cultivated in Italy," a leading technical text of the time. In this volume, Mondini describes a well-established viticultural tradition in the province of Ascoli Piceno, and specifically in the Arquata del Tronto area, comparing Pecorino to Riesling. In the Province of Ascoli Piceno, according to information kindly provided by the local agricultural department, a special grape variety called Pecorino has been cultivated for a very long time in the mountains of Arquata. It is a Riesling, and produces a very abundant and highly regarded product. Rhine Riesling wines in the province of Ascoli Piceno are excellent, and with a little aging, they can become refined. Commendatore Tranquilli also noted that Riesling grapes can be successfully blended with red wines, resulting in a product with a spicy and lively character, well-received by consumers who appreciate these qualities. In the province of Perugia, Riesling was introduced with the aim of improving the production of local white wines. Grafting Riesling onto several low-yielding vines, the graft took very well, immediately producing vigorous shoots, bearing a few small bunches from the very first year. In the ancient times,
Romans considered central Italy as very important for wine production, especially processed from this grape. This cultivation is widely documented from the second part of the 19th century. In the documented history, in the year 1526 anyone who damaged the vineyards of the Pecorino grape in the territory of
Arquata del Tronto had to pay a fine of 10 coins, according to the government local laws called the Statuti di Norcia (
Umbria region). In 1876, the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce published an exhaustive list of variety of the grapes growing on the Italian soil; the list identified the areas of
Pesaro,
Ancona,
Macerata and
Teramo as the specific areas where mostly Pecorino grape was being grown. ==Viticulture==