From oblivion rises an Italian white star

Offida, Italy

IT IS the rising star of Italian wine, a greeny-gold white starting to earn an international reputation for its distinctive minerally edge and ageing potential.

Yet pecorino, which shares its name with one of Italy's best-known cheeses, might not even exist but for the vision of a trailblazing pioneer fondly remembered by his daughters as being "a little bit crazy".

The late Guido Cocci Griffoni is revered as a hero of Italian viticulture and his native region of Marche for having hauled the ancient grape back from the brink of extinction.

In the early 1980s however, the self-taught winemaker was almost alone in identifying…