his wine, which is known throughout the world and is the standard-bearer of the wines of Rome, is produced in the communal territories of Frascati, Grottaferrata and Monteporzio Catone. The district is the "agro tuscolano" or countryside of the ancient, pre-Roman city of Tusculum.It is perhaps the most extensively cited wine in Italian literature. In a sense, Gioacchino Belli, a poet of the last century who wrote in the Roman dialect, Romanesco, spoke for all other literary admirers of the wine when he wrote: "E' bono asciutto, dorce, tonnarello solo e cor pane in zuppa, e si a sincero te se confa' a lo stomico e ar cervello..."
All Roman legends, literature and popular traditions concerning wine begin and end with Frascati, which is surely one of the best known, most celebrated and mythologized wines in the world. The list of tributes and citations is so long that it puts the literature of other wines to shame. Frascati's greatest accomplishment may be the lasting effect it has had on the customs of a city that has always been at the center of the world and of the fascination it has exerted over Rome's innumerable visitors. The city's famous taverns--there were already 1,022 in 1450--were nearly all owned by producers of Frascati wine, who leased them out under contracts resembling the modern franchising agreements of bar, restaurant and fastfood chains.
It is perhaps that commercial aspect that constitutes the current limit on Frascati, a wine that is appreciated and distributed throughout the world but that the consumer often acquires for emotional reasons rather than through an appreciation of its real qualities.
