he Vernaccia di Serrapetrona is a veritable gem of the enology of the Marches, since it is as rare as it is ancient. According to historical accounts, in the Middle Ages a Polish soldier, campaigning in the Marches with a mercenary army, was so fascinated by the wine at Borgianastri which is a little village near Serrapetrona, that he coined the saying about the area that has survived in the town's dialect.
Poetic echoes of the wine's existence go back to the 14th century and Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy." If the hypothesis is accepted that eels turn out more savory when marinated in red rather than in white wine, then the poet was referring to Serrapetrona's wine in the 24th Canto of "Il Purgatorio."
Theories abound to explain the origin of the name Serrapetrona. Some say it is derived from Petronius, an exiled Roman noble who was supposed to have settled in the area, or it could simply be due to the stony (petrus) fields in the surrounding area.
It is certain that in 1893 the production of the wine was so limited that there was a widespread assumption that the Vernaccia Nera variety had become extinct. Nearly two decades earlier, in 1876, the Ampelographical Bulletin of the Agriculture Ministry published that the Serrapetrona Vernaccia "was, as late as 1872, considered the leading red variety for the production of excellent table wines."
Despite the fine quality of this naturally sparkling red wine, which is produced from a special harvest in which half of the grapes are put out to dry on mats before being pressed, the output oveall is still limited.
