Orvieto

Orvieto is a blend, not a varietal, and getting that straight is the whole point of the appellation. The law asks only that Trebbiano Toscano — called Procanico here — and Grechetto together make at least 60 percent of the wine; Procanico usually supplies the bulk and the freshness, and Grechetto supplies what makes it worth drinking: body, a nutty almond weight and mineral grip. For centuries the wine was off-dry, fermented in cellars cut into the volcanic tufa beneath the city. Today almost all of it is bone dry.