Montepulciano d’Abruzzo alone represents over 80% of the total number of DOC wines produced in Abruzzo and is one of the top three DOC wines produced in Italy. This wine is easy to identify: an inviting intense ruby red colour, the unmistakable fragrance of red fruits, flowers and spices, the dry, soft and moderately tannic flavour, make Montepulciano d’Abruzzo truly one of a kind.
Numerous historical documents show that the Montepulciano variety has been present in the region since the middle of the 18th century and has found in this land its ideal environment. Grown in the past in the Peligna Valley, in the province of L’Aquila and in the inland hills of the province of Pescara, from the 1950s onwards the cultivation of Montepulciano has spread to the entire coastal hilly area and today it is the main red grape variety in Abruzzo.
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC is obtained only from vineyards located in hilly or highland terrain, with an altitude of not more than 500 metres above sea level and exceptionally 600 metres for those exposed to the south.
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is made almost exclusively from grapes of the vine of the same name, with the possible small addition (max 15%) of other red grape varieties suited to the Abruzzo terroir.
Montepulciano is a vigorous and medium late variety (ripening is almost always between 1-20 October), adaptable to various cultivation systems, resistant and generous; it produces wines with very interesting organoleptic characteristics, very pleasing when drunk young (from six-eight months up to eighteen months after harvesting, as is the case of many wines in the less-expensive range), while it proves to be more complex and superior if aged at length in oak barrels.
Since the 2006 harvest of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, two sub-denominations have been designated for the province of Pescara: “Terre dei Vestini” and “Casauria or Terre di Casauria“. Since the 2010 harvest, instead, the sub-area “Teate” has been designated for the province of Chieti, while the sub-areas “Terre dei Peligni” and “Alto Tirino” have been designated for the province of L’Aquila.