he Trebbiano d'Abruzzo production area is extremely vast and takes in practically the whole of the region. The wine is made from the "flower" must of the variety of the same name and has a bright golden straw-yellow color.The Trebbiano d'Abruzzo variety is also known as Bombino bianco. Its cluster is of average size, pyramidal in form and winged. Since the cluster supposedly resembles a baby (bambino) with its arms outstretched, the variety was given the name Bambino, which then became Bombino.
In addition to Trebbiano d'Abruzzo and Trebbiano toscano, the Passerina and Cococciola varieties are also used, although in small amounts, in making Trebbiano d'Abruzzo. The Cococciola, which is a moderately vigorous variety with constant and abundant production, originated in the Abruzzi.
It is not easy etymologically to determine the origin of the name Trebbiano. In his Natural History, Pliny the Elder discusses a Trebulanum, which seems to have originated in Campania and precisely in the Caserta district from which it may have been imported into the Abruzzi.
The Abruzzi has been noted since extremely ancient times for its grapes and its wines. The Latin poet Ovid, a native of Sulmona, remarks in the second book of his Amores: "I am at Sulmona, third department of the Paelignan district, a small region but salubrious because of the water that irrigates it...A fertile land of wheat and abounding in grapes." That Ovid wrote grapes in the plural is significant, since it clearly represents an allusion to the varied output of the Valle Peligna, which had made the district famous throughout the world.
While the Trebbiano enjoyed little success with the refined connoisseurs of the imperial capital, it was highly popular with the army so that it was known as "the soldier's wine."
