Passerina is grown across the Marche, Abruzzo and Lazio, and for generations it was either confused with other varieties or sold generically as Trebbiano. DNA analysis has given it back an identity of its own, and with it a name that is new on labels while being very old in the vineyard. The origin is rural here too: it is traced to passera, the sparrow that pecked at the bunches.
It is a hardy grape, thick-skinned, holding its acidity even in warm vintages. The still wine is citrussy and direct, lower in alcohol than Pecorino, with green apple and a herbal edge. It does not ask for attention; it earns it at the table, as the everyday white of this coast.
That acidity explains its second life. A substantial share of the Passerina we track is tank-method sparkling — Brut or Extra Dry — and it occupies the space where a drinker wants an Italian sparkling wine without paying for a famous DOCG. It is one of the few honest answers to that question.
On labels it appears as Abruzzo Passerina DOC and under the local IGTs, Terre di Chieti and Colli Aprutini among the commonest; in the Marche it goes into the Offida DOCG and into Falerio.
