red grape · regional specialty
Perricone
western Sicily, Italy
Say it
peh·ree·koh·neh
Four syllables; final -e is voiced as in Italian; the common synonym Pignatello is stressed peen-ya-TEL-loh
On the palate
Body
full
Acidity
medium minus
Tannin
high
Aromatics
pronounced
black cherryblackberryblack plumjuniperblack pepperdried herbs
How you spot it blind: juniper berry and black pepper spice, diagnostic among southern Italian reds
The story
First written down · 1870, Sicily (Ampelographic Bulletin, Nicolosi)
Confirmed by DNA as a Sangiovese offspring, Perricone once blanketed ~34,000 ha of western Sicily as the backbone of Ruby Marsala before collapsing to 264 ha by 2012; a producer-led revival more than doubled plantings to 584 ha by 2021.
Family tree: SANGIOVESE × unknown
Where it lives
western Sicily (Trapani and Palermo provinces) · Monreale DOC · Sicilia DOC/IGT
Shows up as
still redroséfortified