The bottles that define Abruzzo: what they are, who makes them and what they cost.
The iconic bottles that define Abruzzo: what they are, who makes them and what they cost.
Trebbiano d'Abruzzo is a denomination rather than a grape, and the Valentini family works it at Loreto Aprutino into a white made for bottle age rather than early drinking.
Tasting notes: Luciano Pignataro, opening a 1998 bottle, found bright gold with peach, apricot, pineapple, hazelnut, candied fruit, broom flower and mint, and a palate still young and fresh.
Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo became a DOC in its own right in 2010. Valentini ferments Montepulciano spontaneously in 35 hectolitre oak casks and keeps the rosato a year in wood.
Tasting notes: WineMag tasted the 2016 as coral pink and slow to open, on wild strawberry and orange peel over wet stone, then round on the palate with amalgamated salinity and a long mineral close.
Montepulciano trodden by foot at Torano Nuovo, fermented and raised in glass lined concrete, bottled unfiltered and decanted off its sediment by hand before it is shipped.
Tasting notes: Full in body with firm tannin, high acidity and a long finish, and no oak sweetness anywhere in it, because the wine never sees a barrel.
Hand picked Montepulciano from a single high density vineyard at San Martino sulla Marrucina, raised in French oak barriques and made under this label since 1984.
Tasting notes: Dark fruit, spice and cocoa on a full body with firm tannin, medium acidity and a long finish. Masciarelli describes aromatics that keep changing over years in bottle.
Marramiero draws this Montepulciano from mature stocks at Tenuta Sant'Andrea on the Colline Pescaresi, selects bunches from veraison, and holds the wine ten years before release.
Tasting notes: Ten years in the cellar leave a full body, firm tannin, medium acidity and a long finish, with the tertiary register that only that much time in wood and bottle produces.
Colline Teramane DOCG Riserva from the Zanna vineyard at Controguerra, the first plot Illuminati farmed, at 280 metres on marl with clay, aged two years in Slavonian oak.
Tasting notes: Ruby turning garnet with years, blackberry and wilted flowers on the nose, then a velvety palate with soft tannin, medium acidity and a long finish.
Montepulciano from the small Tullum DOCG at Tollo, matured two thirds in concrete vats and one third in French oak tonneaux after devatting.
Tasting notes: Sour cherry, blackberry, plum, liquorice, cocoa and violet with integrated toast and vanilla, and granular tannins the producer says turn velvety in bottle.
The organic Montepulciano d'Abruzzo that Cantine Agriverde says dates from the beginning of its production at Caldari di Ortona, and the everyday end of the denomination.
Tasting notes: Ruby with violet reflections, wild berries and sour cherry with a floral touch of violet, then a fruity palate with freshness, soft tannins and balance.
Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo Superiore made since 1997 by the old local svacata, a share of red vinification added to a white one at mid fermentation, at Ofena below the Gran Sasso.
Tasting notes: Red fruit with savoury depth, full in body, high in acidity and long on the close. The estate says the wine can read as pink or as red depending on the moment.
Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo Superiore from Montepulciano grown at 450 metres at Capestrano, inside the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga national park.
Tasting notes: Intense cerasuolo pink, marked fresh red fruit of strawberry and cherry, and a palate where acidity and minerality meet a soft structure.
Organic Montepulciano from the Vigna giovane at Collecorvino, known locally as the wine of one night because the skins stay in the must only a few hours.
Tasting notes: Bright pink from a few hours on the skins, red fruit and freshness on a medium body, high acidity and a long close, with no wood anywhere in the wine.
Single vineyard Trebbiano d'Abruzzo from a double Abruzzese pergola over 90 years old at Cugnoli, cropped at 27 hectolitres per hectare and raised without oak.
Tasting notes: Green apple, nectarine, mandarin and lemon peel over white flowers and aniseed, with a citrus palate and the mineral line the estate puts at the centre of the wine.
Trebbiano d'Abruzzo from Miglianico in the Chieti hills, soft pressed, settled without filtration aids and raised in temperature controlled steel by Tenuta I Fauri.
Tasting notes: A fine bouquet of apple and white flowers, apple and flowers again on a medium body, with high acidity and a long finish.
Pecorino from massal selection vines at Cugnoli, given five to six hours of cold skin contact, pressed by gravity alone and kept away from wood.
Tasting notes: Sage, rosemary, green fig, peach and grapefruit, a fresh balanced attack and a close the estate calls enveloping and exotic.
Organic Abruzzo Pecorino from a five hectare east northeast plot planted above Loreto Aprutino in 2005 and cropped at 50 hectolitres per hectare.
Tasting notes: Citrus and white flowers rounded by honey and medicinal herbs, then a soft entry lifted by juicy acidity and a nervy mineral line.
Cococciola is a native white grape of the Frentana hills with its own Abruzzo DOC. The co-operative grows it on pergola and picks slightly early to keep the wine lively.
Tasting notes: Pale straw, white flowers, citrus and light spice, brisk acidity and fruit on a light body, with a faintly almond close.
Peak wine-travel season in Abruzzo is spring through autumn, with harvest the standout window.
classified-growth and grand-cru estates require booking days to weeks ahead; smaller family domaines often take walk-ins midweek.
most estates open 10:00 to 17:00 by appointment, often closed Sunday and Monday.
tipping is not expected at tastings; buying a bottle from the cellar door is the customary thank-you.
If you only open one bottle, open Valentini Trebbiano d'Abruzzo by Valentini. It is the wine most associated with Abruzzo.