A vintage traditional method sparkling at 21.50 euros from the Vasto estate, which also bottles ancestral method pet nat in white and rosato at 14.50 euros each.
Tip: Traditional method sparkling is not what Abruzzo is known for, which is exactly why it is worth twenty two euros to see what the region does with it.
The Casanova Montepulciano at fifteen euros from a Torano Nuovo estate whose whole production is certified organic. Torano Nuovo sits inside the Colline Teramane DOCG zone.
Tip: Casanova is the entry range across Montepulciano, Cerasuolo and Trebbiano, all fifteen euros, with the Passerina and Pecorino a little below.
A skin contact Trebbiano d'Abruzzo at twenty euros, under the estate's Poggio Varano label. Luciano Pignataro covered its presentation when the estate first showed the macerated white.
Tip: The Poggio Varano line also runs an amphora Montepulciano and a Colline Teramane Cerasuolo Superiore, all twenty euros, for a three bottle set.
A DOCG Montepulciano at fourteen euros from a Tortoreto estate a few kilometres from the Adriatic. The denomination asks for at least 90 percent Montepulciano and a year of ageing.
Tip: The estate's Lui and Polifemo from the same DOCG start at twenty and twenty nine euros, so this is the cheapest entry to Abruzzo's 2003 DOCG.
Giusi is the Terraviva Cerasuolo, fourteen euros from the cellar door at Tortoreto. Winemag grouped the estate with De Fermo when it wrote about Abruzzo's natural wine side.
Tip: The cellar door publishes its hours and takes Saturday mornings, which is rare enough on this coast to plan a trip around.
The organic Montepulciano from the Tollo cooperative, priced at 7.40 euros on its own shop. The 2024 is the current bottling and it is the cheapest honest way into the denomination.
Tip: Buy it beside the organic Trebbiano at the same price and you have both sides of Abruzzo for under fifteen euros.
Organic Trebbiano d'Abruzzo at 7.40 euros from the Tollo cooperative, which draws on 2,700 hectares of member vineyard across the Chieti hills. Current vintage 2024.
Tip: A useful reference point: taste it against a grower Trebbiano at three times the price to see what the denomination gives you and what the estate adds.