One of my favorite restaurants in Rome is Checchino del 1887 and Michele and I have been going there for over 40 years. The slaughterhouses of Rome used to be located nearby in Testaccio, and the restaurant still specializes in the innards and other spare parts, called the quinto quarto, which the poor people of Rome used to eat.
This time we went with Daniele Cernilli (aka Doctor Wine) and his wife Marina Thompson. Daniele is Italy’s foremost wine critic and both he and Marina are old friends. Daniele has been going to Checchino even longer than I have.
The Essential Guide to Italian Wine 2025
Daniele’s book is my go-to reference book for Italian wines since, as Daniele said, “All the wines worth drinking are in the pages of this guide.” Both Italian and English versions of the book are available. https://www.doctorwine.wine/prodotto/the-essential-guide-to-italian-wine-2025/?lang=en
The wines for our lunch were brought by Daniele. We started with a Spumante.
Giu Inte Concarena made from 50% Chardonnay and 50% Pinot Noir Concarena from a single vineyard. Zero dosage-there is no additional sugar or liqueur added after the second fermentation. The wine spent 26 months on the lees and was disgorged in March 2024. Organic certification both in the vineyard and in the winery since 2002. I was unfamiliar with the winery so I asked Daniele to tell me about it. He said it is located in Capo di Ponte in Valcamonica in Lombardy, a place famous for its prehistoric rock carvings, but for some years also for the production of wine, Riesling Renano in particular. A vertical valley, exposed to the north winds but sheltered enough to offer an ideal home to vines like those that love temperature variations. Concarena is a small company with totally sustainable production. Photovoltaic energy, no fertilization and all manual work. In winter the sheep graze among the vineyards and in September nomadic beekeepers are hosted. This is an elegant spumante with citrus fruit, a touch of spice and a hint of strawberry.
Appetizer pastries to enjoy with the spumante
My first course was the Assaggio di Fagioli e Cotiche, pig skin and borlotti beans cooked with tomato. This dish is so good, so intense and so Roman!
Pasta Alla Matriciana — my favorite and I always have it with bucatini.
Daniele had the pasta with pajata
Michele likes her Pasta Alla Matriciana with Mezza Manica and I did not take a picture of it.
Trippa alla Romana, tripe Roman style in tomato sauce with grated pecorino.
Marnia had-Lamb chops scottadito
Padellotto della macelleria — mixed grilled innards sauteed with rosemary and garlic for Marina
Recioto Valpolicella Amarone 2009 Bertani 70% Corvina Veronese, 30% Rondinella. Carefully selected grape bunches are hand-harvested in Bertani’s best Valpolicella vineyards in Fumane, Marano and the Novare Valley. Vines are cultivated using the “spalliera” method while pruning is done using the Guyot method with 5.000 vines/ha.
Unlike most leading Amarone producers who buy grapes from outside growers, Bertani’s harvest originates entirely in the firm’s own vineyards. With marly-calcareous soil sheltered by surrounding woodland, these vineyards offer the ideal terroir for Amarone. Harvest begins in early October and extends over a two-week period. After harvest, ripe, unblemished grapes from the uppermost portions of each cluster — those grapes richest in sugar and extracts — are painstakingly detached and laid out to dry on cane mats. The mats are stored on raised platforms in airy lofts, sheltered by a roof but otherwise exposed to drying breezes on all sides. By the time they are ready to undergo maceration and fermentation in February, they will have lost up to 60% of their water content (appassimento). A lengthy maceration period ensues, a factor responsible for Amarone’s tremendous body and structure. After a controlled fermentation, the wine is transferred into oak casks for a period of 5-8 years (the 1961, I believe, spent a longer time in wood) during which it was racked twice annually prior to bottling. Dry, full-bodied, and amply structured with hints of cherries, red berries and spice and a rich aftertaste and long finish, this is a wonderful wine.
Checchino restaurant in Testaccio since 1887 for 6 generations
via di Monte Testaccio, 30 00153 Rome
tel 0039 065743816
email: checchino_roma@tin.it
reservations by sms +39 3335855055
Open from Wednesday to Sunday from 12:30 to 15:00 and from 19:30 to 23:00
Closed Monday and Tuesday.
Weekly day off: Monday and Tuesday
Schioppettino 2023 I Clivi Venezia Giulia IGT made from 100% Schioppettino from vineyards facing south-east on the hills of Prepotto in the Province of Udine. The soil is ponca and the harvest is in early October. The vines are about 30 yers old. Alcoholic fermentation takes place in temperature controlled steel tanks with indigenous yeast and maceration is with submerged cap. The wine remains on the lees for a few months before release. This is a fresh light wine with red fruit aromas and flavors and hints of cherry, strawberry, pepper, spice and a touch of licorice.
We started with an antipasto consisting of vegetables preserved in olive oil. There were olives, artichokes, onions, sun dried tomatoes and pickled peppers stuffed with breadcrumbs, anchovies and herbs.
Then we had an assortment of local sheeps’ milk cheeses ranging from young and mild to mature and deeply flavorful. They were served with a pear compote.
We also shared an assortment of cured meats including mortadella, coppa, salame and prosciutto
Ravioli stuffed with ricotta and anchovy was served in a light tomato sauce.
Strawberries in Rome are incredibly flavorful this time of year. These were bathed in Marsala wine.
L’Angolo Divino
