Rubicone IGT is a key IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) title of the Emilia-Romagna region in central Italy. It covers an area which corresponds almost precisely to the former Romagna region that was absorbed into Emilia-Romagna in 1860 during Italy's Risorgimento (unification).
This includes the provinces of Forli-Cesena, Ravenna and Rimini, as well as the south-eastern half of Bologna. There have been ongoing proposals to unite the above three provinces once again into a 'Romagna' province, but none has so far succeeded.
Just like Emilia IGT, which covers the western two-thirds of Emilia-Romagna, Rubicone IGT focuses strongly on varietal wines. The founding principle of the IGT category was to free winemakers from the constraints of tradition, and of restrictive DOC laws which permitted just a small number of grape varieties to be used. The Rubicone IGT legal documentation sanctions almost 40 grape varieties for use in varietal wines.
These include local, traditional varieties such as Ancellotta and Fortana, those from other Italian regions (exemplified by Raboso from Veneto and Ciliegiolo from Tuscany) and a wide selection of the ever-more-popular French varieties Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah.
The usual rule for a 85 percent minimum component applies to all varietal wines. Wines labeled as dual variety wines must feature at least 50 percent of the first named variety. Blends may contain any proportions of those permitted varieties.
The same applies to three colors of Mosto from partially fermented grapes. Rosso Passito is slightly more restrictive as the blend must feature an unspecified percentage of one or more of Malbo Gentile, Sangiovese or Uva Longanesi.
Of the two grape varieties to have reached DOCG status in Emilia-Romagna, Pignoletto is included on the list of permitted varietals, but Albana is not. Whatever the reason behind this selectivity, neither variety has been used to any great extent in Rubicone IGT wines.
So far, the most enthusiastic up-take of the Rubicone IGT title has been for varietal Sangiovese and for Sangiovese blends with Cabernet Sauvignon and/or Merlot. This is only logical, given that these are the three key varieties used for the local Colli di Rimini and Sangiovese di Romagna DOCs. Likewise, the most common white wine made under the Rubicone name is Trebbiano, the variety behind Trebbiano di Romagna wines.
The name is taken from the famous Rubicon River, crossed by Julius Caesar at the start of the Great Roman Civil War (49-45 BC). It was also chosen as the name for the Forli-Cesena province during the period of Napoleonic rule in the final years of the 18th Century.
