Tre Bicchieri 2022 Previews. The best wines of Lazio

Tre Bicchieri in Lazio

2021 was certainly not an easy year for Lazio's winemakers, accustomed as they were for centuries to finding in Rome, with its enormous tourist flow, a natural market for their bottles, from the simplest wines to high-end selections. However, the last months of 2021 saw a reversal of the trend, and sales have picked up, alongside large distribution channels,like online portals, that, fortunately, never stopped and proved essential for many producers. A positive aspect of all this is that this year, in many cases, we got the chance to taste more mature and ready wines, given that last year many producers delayed their release. The snapshot of Lazio's vineyards, however, doesn't differ much from those of previous years: the central element remains the individual winery much more than the territory, even if we should note that some consortia and associations are working to play a more active role than in the past.

The best wines of Lazio

We welcome with pleasure a new producer in the small Tre Bicchieri club: the Verdecchia family's Tenuta La Pazzaglia, whose Grechetto Poggio Triale took home a gold. The seriousness and professionalism demonstrated by the winery lifts our spirits, as does the fact that, finally, another Viterbo Grechetto has joined Sergio Mottura's historic bottles. It's certainly not the first time that we've written that, in our opinion, Grechetto is the grape that can put Tuscia on the map. The cultivar's history, however, seems to be another case of the individual winemaker's success, rather than that of the territory, as often happens in the region. Of course, we've long maintained that Tre Bicchieri are only the tip of the iceberg and that the presence of the wineries in the guide (and the broader results) must also be taken into account, as well as the wines that reach our finals or win Due Bicchieri. But there's still a lot of satisfaction from seeing the tip of the iceberg get a bit bigger. Finally, allow us to remember with great affection Dionisio Castello, who left us at the end of this summer. He was a figure with whom we'd shared in tasting Lazio's wines and writing this guide for many years, appreciating his skill, honesty and kind soul.