Vino Cotto in the Marche: What It Is, How It Is Made and Where to Buy It

Vino Cotto from the Marche: Origin and Characteristics

Vino cotto comes from the hills and foothills of the provinces of Ascoli Piceno, Fermo, Macerata and Ancona, in the Marche, and of Pescara, Teramo and Chieti, in Abruzzo. It is also found in the Valnerina and around Mantua. Those from Lapedona, Loro Piceno, Mosciano Sant'Angelo, San Vito and Roccamontepiano have a particularly good reputation. It should not be confused with the vincotto of Basilicata and Puglia, which is made from fresh must.

Grapes from local varieties are used. Around Acquasanta Terme they are Malvasia and Montonico. Around Arquata del Tronto Pecorino, white and red Moscatello and Zibibbo are used. Elsewhere Maceratino, Sangiovese, Montepulciano and Galloppa are used. In Loro Piceno white and black grapes are used: Trebbiano, Sangiovese and Montepulciano.

Vino cotto ranges in color from garnet to ruby. The aroma is fruity and the flavor sweet and pleasant, with an alcohol content around 14%. The vino cotto of Loro Piceno, however, is amber: in the village they say a good vino cotto should have the color of the “occhio del gallo”, the rooster's eye. On the nose it recalls fruit, with hints of hazelnut. Cooking caramelizes part of the sugars, and this is where the color and intense aroma come from. The Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Teramo has studied its high antioxidant power, due precisely to this caramelization.

The traditional recipe takes time and special tools. After crushing, the must goes into the caldaro, a large copper pot. By tradition a bar of bare iron is placed in it until the must heats up, to keep copper from passing into the liquid. It cooks over a direct flame until the volume drops by between a third and a half. The reduction depends on the sugars in the grapes. In Loro Piceno boiling over a wood fire takes about 10-12 hours. In the Marche some producers add a quince for every quintal of must, to flavor it.

Once cool, the concentrated must is put into small oak casks and left to ferment. Then it goes into a container that already holds vino cotto from previous years. This is the most delicate stage: the new wine must be balanced carefully with the old and drawn off with care, to avoid oxidation that would spoil the fruity aroma. The vino cotto of Loro Piceno ages for at least five years.

The History of Vino Cotto

Boiling must before fermentation dates back to classical antiquity. Back then cooked must was drunk, used as a condiment or used to correct wines. In the 1st century AD Pliny the Elder described in the Naturalis historia a cooked wine similar to today's. Columella also wrote about it in De re rustica. The Romans distinguished three types of cooked must by how much the volume was reduced: caroenum by a third, defrutum by half, sapa by two thirds.

In 1534 Sante Lancerio, wine steward to Pope Paul III, mentioned cooked wines of different quality. In 1595 the physician and philosopher Andrea Bacci described its production in De naturali vinorum historia. In 1870 the Ascoli historian Gabriele Rosa mentioned vino cotto in his Storia di Ascoli Piceno. The Jacini agricultural survey (1877-1886) also discussed it, regarding the Teramo municipalities of Bisenti, Cermignano and Basciano. The survey noted that after at least five years vino cotto becomes flavorful and aromatic, and takes on a “syrupy density”.

For farmers, cooking also had a practical advantage. It made the wine less acidic, so less likely to turn into vinegar. This way the wine lasted all year even when the harvest was poor or the landowner kept the best grapes for himself. Some customs show how closely the drink was tied to family life. An old tradition called for a small barrel to be set aside to age at the birth of every son, to be opened on his wedding day. Vino cotto was once also used to bathe the arms and legs of newborns, to make them stronger.

From a legal point of view, the history of vino cotto has been troubled. In the 1960s a rule required wine production to be kept separate from vino cotto production. Many farmers then abandoned the tradition, because it was less profitable, and made it only for home use. In 1985 a decree banned its sale: since it was cooked, it was not considered a proper wine. The vino cotto of Loro Piceno was added to the national list of traditional products by the Ministerial Decree of July 18, 2000. In 2002 production rules were published in the Official Bulletin of the Marche Region. Even today the rules do not allow it to be sold as wine.

How to Enjoy Marche Vino Cotto

Vino cotto is usually drunk at the end of a meal, in small glasses, with desserts or cheeses. It is a sipping wine (vino da meditazione), to be enjoyed slowly. In the Marche tradition it is served with dry cookies: cantucci, tozzetti or ciambelline al vino. It is generally served at room temperature. It can also be drunk as an aperitivo, topped up with sparkling water.

In the kitchen vino cotto goes into cakes and cookies, such as mostaccioli. It is also used on ice cream and on fresh or canned fruit salads. It works with savory dishes too: it is used to glaze roast meats in the last minutes of cooking, in sweet-and-sour sauces for game and to marinate pears and figs. It pairs well with blue cheeses and aged ones, such as pecorino di fossa. In Umbria, around Assisi and Foligno, it flavors the filling of rocciata, a rolled cake similar to strudel.

It should be distinguished from sapa, a concentrated, syrupy grape must. Sapa is used as a base for many desserts, especially those with cooked fruit, or a few drops on polenta.

Where to Buy Vino Cotto in the Marche

The best place to buy vino cotto near the Sibillini is Loro Piceno. Several wineries in the village open to visitors for tours and tastings, so it can be bought directly from those who make it. Little vino cotto is sold, because most of it is still made at home. That is why it is best bought from local producers. To pair it with other local products, the page on Sibillini local food products covers traditional cured meats, cheeses and sweets.

In August the Vino Cotto Festival takes place. During the festival the cellars of the historic center are open, the village museums can be visited and local products are tasted at the stalls. The festival grew out of the Festa dell'Uva (Grape Festival) of 1948, a popular celebration with carts decorated with vines and wheat.

Loro Piceno also has a permanent exhibition of vino cotto tools. It is in the rooms next to the cloister of the Chiesa di San Francesco, a church consecrated in 1372. The exhibition follows every stage, from the grape harvest to barrel aging. On display are baskets and crates for picking, presses and a reconstructed fornacchiola: the masonry oven where a wood fire heated the copper cauldron. In 2024 the municipality obtained regional funding for a new museum in the basement of Palazzo Mastrocola, an old cellar that still holds the traditional tools. Work was still in progress, so it is best to check where the museum is and whether it is open before going.

A visit to Loro Piceno is easily combined with Urbisaglia, less than ten minutes away by car. There is the Parco archeologico di Urbs Salvia, an archaeological park with a Roman amphitheater.