Wine region: Italy, Abruzzo

Despite the outward simplicity of Abruzzo’s DOC system, certain details of Abruzzi’s production are worth pointing out. The native Montepulciano (not to be confused with the town of that name in Tuscany where Vino Nobile is made) is a vine of convincing character that has been winning admirers abroad.

In parts of the Abruzzi, notably in the low hills of the northern province of Teramo (where it can be referred to as Colline Teramane), Montepulciano becomes a red of irresistible character, full-bodied, even robust, with a capacity to age but with such supple smoothness that it can be eminently drinkable even when young. In higher inland areas, or from vineyards where growers have the habit of high yields, the wines tend to be lighter, often better suited to Cerasuolo, a sturdy cherry-coloured rosé.

The Montepulciano variety was developed through selection by the growers and it displayed significant capacity for adaptation to different environments, which facilitated its spread to other territories nearby. Today, it is cultivated in all four provinces of the Abruzzi (Chieti, L’Aquila, Pescara and Teramo) at altitudes not exceeding 500 metres. In addition to the variety of the same name, Sangiovese, which is clearly of Tuscan origin, having been developed in the Chianti district, is also used in the production of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.

A special wine, the Cerasuolo, is made through vinification off the skins or, in vintages when the must is weak in color, after brief maceration. The wine is named for its cherry-like colour. The Cerasuolo is not easy to produce. Even slight blending with another wine is sufficient to destroy its excellent sensory characteristics.

Most Trebbiano is based on the prolific Tuscan variety, which makes light, rather acidic whites of subtle aroma and flavour. A few growers work with the true Trebbiano d’Abruzzo (which may or may not be related to the Bombino Bianco of Apulia). A choice few have managed to make Trebbiano of remarkable depth and texture, with a propensity to develop complexity with four or five years, sometimes even more, of aging. But those fine wines are not easy to find.

So You Think You Know About Trebbiano?
Edoardo Valentini’s Trebbiano d’Abruzzo seems to hail from another planet; no-one has a clue why the wine is the way it is - we’ve found that its optimum drinking period is 10-15 years from vintage after a couple of hours in the carafe. This is the theory as told to us by Valentini’s son: in the 1950s with the industrialisation of the Italian wine industry the Trebbiano Toscana was imported into Abruzzo to supplement the local version. Being a more robust, high-yielding variety with bigger grapes it eventually entirely replaced the indigenous Trebbiano of Abruzzo (and thus became known itself as Trebbiano d’Abruzzo). The Valentini family, using records dating back to the 1860s, discovered the properties of the original Trebbiano and using clonal selection (over a period of 40 years!) in one vineyard of 2.5 hectares have essentially recreated the old Trebbiano with all its unique qualities. As far as we know this is the only example of traditional Trebbiano d’Abruzzo and is made in a traditional way to express the style and the terroir (big old foudres). 

One cannot mention the wines of Abruzzo without referring to two of the dominant personalities of the region both of whom died recently, namely Edoardo Valentini and Gianni Masciarelli. Valentini’s wines display a startling naturalness, their tiny, individual flaws only enhancing their profound charm. Taking years to develop their full profile, the wines often need plenty of aeration to blow off the occasional hint of reduction. This all falls perfectly in-step with one of Valentini’s favourite lines, “Natura non facit saltus” or “Nature doesn’t leap.”

The Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is only made in certain vintages and then minuscule yields allied to a reputation for hermetic privacy means that receiving an allocation at all is doubtful. Nevertheless, we have secured a reasonable quantity for your (and our) delectation. It is difficult to describe so pure and yet brimming with intangibles, except to say that it has that perfect equipoise of delicate fruit and minerality that characterises all great wine (and particularly red Burgundy).

Gianni Masciarelli, who died in 2008, and his wife Marina Cvetic have been among the shining beacons of Abruzzo. For years, this beautiful land, with its abundance of sun, great soil and the easy-to-grow Montepulciano grape, had wallowed in mediocrity as scores of producers were clearly taking advantage of what was given to them. Gianni, along with his inspiration, the reclusive Valentini, proved to the rest of the world, through hard work, low yields, and a desire to be the best, that Abruzzo and the Montepulciano grape could produce world-class (and then some) wines. The wines are different to Valentini’s with their intense purple-black colour and terrific plush, plummy fruit. The Villa Gemma has been lauded by Gambero Rosso; Montepulciano Marina Cvetic has garnered high critical regard as well. The various Trebbianos are excellent.

Although located between northern and southern Italy, the cooking of Abruzzo betrays more southern influences and consists of two different and distinct cuisines: the coastal one based on fish and that of the hinterland based on pork and lamb.

Brodetto Abruzzese is the fish soup of the Adriatic. As is customary in these things there are myriad versions of this. It is made with assorted fish such as monkfish, rascasse, red and grey mullet, John Dory and hake, the discarded heads and tails of which are used to make the stock.  Garlic, tomatoes and cuttlefish are slowly cooked together and the resultant sauce is put at the bottom of earthenware pot, topped by a layer of raw fish and a few mussels, then some more cuttlefish and tomato sauce and finally wine and fish stock is added. Other marine dishes include small squid eaten raw, seasoned with chilli, and octopus is cooked with chilli. Chilli also features in the local Maccheroni all Chitarra, a lamb ragù used to accompany a type of square homemade spaghetti called tonnarelli.
Abruzzo is well known for its pasta. Chittarina, a sheet of pasta that’s cut into thin spaghetti by pressing it against what are, essentially, guitar strings, is usually served with a tomato sauce and fresh herbs. Paccheri is tubular shaped pasta, about an inch in diameter, but falling ‘flat’ once cooked.  The sauce is a cinghiale (wild boar) sauce...a delicious combination with Masciarelli’s “baby” Montepulciano, for example. Local pork products include prosciutto d’Aquila, similar to the Spanish jamon Serrano, and ventricina, a sausage made with pork, chilli, wild fennel and orange zest. As in all other mountainous regions, the shepherds prepare lamb just as it was hundreds of years ago. It might be cooked “a catturro” (in a large copper pan in the open air) with basil, onion, sage and chilli, or with cheese and egg, or all’arrabbiata, which is alive with chilli.

Cheeses are of great importance in the regional diet, pecorino being the favourite. The local caciovallo is made from buffalo’s milk, and is spiced with chilli. Scamorza, a pear-shaped curd cheese, is made from cow’s milk and is sometimes grilled on a spit.