Say it with me: mon-tuh-pul-CHEE-an-no dah BROOT-zo.
It’s one of my favorite Italian wines and not just because it’s fun to say. It’s a very approachable Italian country wine that is often overlooked. Yet it is very enjoyable and can have as much complexity as more popular varietals. It’s much less acidic than many other Italian [...]
Rubiro Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is (from what I can tell) a second label from Villa Cervia where oenologist Rino Moretti has been producing wine since 1989.
This would be a good choice if you want a red wine that’s not too aggressive. It’s approachable and soft in every way, making it easy to pair with a variety of [...]
I’ll keep this one relatively short as there’s not much to get excited about. This review adds fodder to my “there’s better places to shop for wine than Trader Joe’s” rant. Yep, it’s another wine from Trader Joe’s that rates less than 80.
The fruit is soft in this one. It has a [...]
Azienda Agricola Masciarelli operates 13 estates across Abruzzo totaling about 300 hectares with lots of Montepulciano vines, plus other varietals such as Trebbiano, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cococciola and one hectare of Falaghina. They also have olive groves on many of their estates and are well known for their olive oil sold under the Cvetic [...]
La Valentina is a much younger producer than many of the others I’ve tasted for this series, but they produce a classic Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. They were established in 1990 and currently manage over 40 hectares. They have two vineyards in Abruzzo and the grapes for this label are from the San Valentino vineyard, about 20km from Maiella mountain [...]
The next wine in our series on Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is Majolica from producer Podere Castorani. The Castorani name comes from the family of surgeon Raffaele Castorani who invented the first surgical procedure to treat cataracts and owned the property in the late 18th century. The property has since gone through different owners and the winemaking [...]
The Filomusi-Guelfi family in Abruzzo, Italy are the producers of this Montepulciano. The family has been in the region since the 16th century where they have a vineyard of over 9.5 hectares. The majority of the vineyard (78%) is Montepulciano grapes. There is so much history behind the vineyards producing Montepulciano d’Abruzzo that it makes me want [...]
Quattro Mani translates to mean “four hands” which supposedly represents four celebrity Italian winemakers who produce wines from indigenous Italian varietals, such as Montepulciano. I tried to find out who these “celebrities” are but I couldn’t find any info on them. If anyone knows, please post a comment.
I also tried to visit the website of the [...]
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is often thought of as a table wine. Something that is not sophisticated and meant for casual drinking. Because of that fact it is sometimes not given the attention it deserves in production resulting in a less enjoyable product.
This isn’t the case with all Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. In fact there are some very interesting [...]
The next series of wine I am tasting is an Italian varietal called Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. If you know anything about Italy, you’ve probably guessed that this varietal comes from the Abruzzo region along Italy’s Adriatic coast. And if you know your wine grapes you probably guessed that it’s made from the Montepulciano grape, which is [...]
