Lacrima

Lacrima is an aromatic red Italian wine grape grown almost entirely in the Marche, around the town of Morro d'Alba in the province of Ancona, with a little in Calabria. Its total plantings are tiny — a few hundred hectares — and the variety was nearly lost before a revival from the 1980s. The name ('tear') is usually explained by the thick-skinned berries, which can split as they ripen and let the juice weep out.

It is one of Italy's most intensely perfumed reds. Its skins are rich in geraniol, which gives the wine its signature scent of rose, joined by strawberry, cherry, blackberry, blueberry, and violet. The wines are deeply colored with violet reflections, soft and floral, and best drunk young, though a Superiore and a Passito version add structure and sweetness. It is the sole flagship of the Lacrima di Morro d'Alba DOC and a blending grape in Colli Maceratesi.