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MONTEPULCIANO D’ABRUZZO IS NOT NOBILE DI MONTEPULCIANO

Montepulciano d’Abruzzo IS NOT Nobile di Montepulciano.
Montepulciano is both a grape variety and the name of a village. Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is the wine produced from the Montepulciano grape when grown in the Abruzzo region.
On the other hand, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is produced with Sangiovese grape in the Tuscany region. The name of this wine actually derives from a village located in Siena province, called Montepulciano.
Confusion seems to be an Italian speciality. Foreigners actually love us for it even if it sometimes causes considerable communication problems.

This is the case of Montepulciano. A wonderfully-sounding word that indicates many (perhaps too many) things: a beautiful location in Tuscany, a variety of grapes from the Abruzzi used in the name of two wines, one Tuscan and one Abruzzi.
How can we explain all of this to our passionate wine drinker? He often thinks it is the same wine. Or that the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is the Tuscan wine (the Nobile di Montepulciano) made in the Abruzzi, even if the two wines have nothing in common. In actual fact, the answer is not really so hard to explain. It is a mere coincidence that Tuscany and the Abruzzi use the same name, everything else is different. And that’s all there is to it.
No, perhaps not. To add to the confusion, someone has tried to demonstrate the common origin of both wines by attempting to trace the Montepulciano grape variety (grown in the Abruzzi) to the Prugnolo Gentile – a kind of sloe and a bio-type of the Sangiovese Grosso, the main variety used in the Nobile di Montepulciano wine produced in Tuscany. In reality, the debate is still open and we would therefore like to have our say in the matter.

We believe that it became widespread in the very distant past, perhaps even in pre-Roman times, when it made its home in the Peligna Valley between the villages of Raiano and Sulmona, which, as history would have us believe, was colonized by Paeligni people coming from Asia Minor or Illyria in approximately the 12th century BC. We are convinced that the two varieties have nothing in common and have different origins. The taste, colour and morphology of the bunches are totally different, so in our opinion, the Montepulciano variety cultivated in the Abruzzo clearly has a Greek/Balkan origin due to its complex morphological characteristics, vigour and so on.

 

BINOMIO CERASUOLO D’ABRUZZO SUPERIORE DOC 2012 – FIRST RELEASE

The Origin

The Montepulciano variety cultivated in the Abruzzi stems from Greek or Balkan origins, given its complex morphological characteristics and its vigour. It became widespread in pre-Roman times, when it made its home in the Peligna Valley between the villages of Raiano and Sulmona. The area was colonized by the Paeligni who came from Asia Minor or Illyria around the 12th century BC..

The Binomio vineyard is located in the heart of this area, just a few kilometres east in the Pescara valley, on the slopes of the Majella massif. It positively benefits from the cool winds coming from the Peligna Valley.
The grapes cultivated originate from 40 year-old vines and belong to an old Montepulciano bio-type variety nowadays defined as the “Africa-Binomio clone” that produces short-tailed bunches with small berries which resemble the shape of the African continent.
The production of Binomio wine, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo produced by Inama and Fattoria La Valentina, started in 1998 and the 10th anniversary marks an important achievement for our project, which began almost by chance and has now become reality. We have therefore decided to celebrate it with a new wine, influenced obviously by the same philosophical lines as Binomio:

Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo Superiore

The name Cerasuolo originates from cerasa (or cirasce, in Abruzzi dialect),meaning cherry. This name was attributed to the colour, “cherry red” , which this wine made from Montepulciano grapes traditionally had .
Starting from a selection of the Binomio vineyard, Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo Superiore is macerated for two days and fermented without skins in second/third-use barriques. Matured and refined for about 6 months on the lees with “batonnage” it’s then racked into steel vats and left on its fine lees for a further 4 months. It is filtered and bottled in the summer.
From its character it could actually be considered, as a reserve wine. In fact, it is released some months later respect to other wines of the same appellation.
The colour is pomegranate with red cherry hues. Aromatically exuberant on the nose, with a hint of raspberry, pomegranate and red currants. The wine is expansive, creamy and long-lasting on the palate with a long aftertaste.
It matches fish soups, bucatini all’amatriciana, agnello a scottadito, handcrafted charcuterie and Cambodian fish amok.
Binomio Cerasuolo Superiore is a complex, powerful yet fresh rosé wine, inspired by the most well-known Bandols, that can age and evolve in the bottle for years. It unites the drinkability and pleasant features of a rosé wine together with length, creaminess and satisfaction.

 

THE STORY

Binomio started off as a challenge in 1998. The idea was to produce a great, structured yet modern Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.
Fattoria La Valentina and Azienda Agricola Inama developed the project during the first two vintages of ’98 and ’99. Using these wines we started to perfect the recipe in order to get the best from this vine. The operation really took off in 2000 with the purchase of an extraordinary vineyard in Località San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore. This old 4.2-hectare vineyard was planted in the 1970s in a splendid position facing south at an altitude of about 400 metres very near to the Majella National Park.
It had had a rather troubled past and had gone through several hands before ending up as a lot in a legal auction where we were able to buy it. Strangely we were the only ones participating at the auction. In fact, the vineyard was known for its poor production and nobody wanted it!
The vineyard was completely restored in the spring of 2009. The excellent location, an original Montepulciano d’Abruzzo area, the climatic conditions and, above all, the grape variety, an ancient clone called Africa, producing short-tailed bunches with small berries, that resemble the shape of the African continent, have allowed us to produce a superb wine in a short time. Vine cultivation is kept to a minimum, with little weeding and few human interventions. The natural fertile soil means that no fertilizers are needed.
Right from the very beginning we realised that the grapes grown in our vineyard had unique characteristics : subtle hints of wild strawberry and other dark berries, rich in colour, long-lasting flavour and total phenolic maturity.
We have maintained production at about 50 quintals per hectare with limited but regular de-rooting, just like mother nature, in order to achieve a great wine every year. Ideal climatic conditions and good soil composition do the rest. Our production methods faithfully follow a non-invasive approach. Simple wine-making practices that enable us to obtain a fresh and decisive wine that is not too overbearing but is able to age for a period of eighteen months in barriques without being transferred. All carried out with no technological devices nor any fancy productive strategies. We have continually enhanced Binomio over the first ten years of its production, believing it to be a necessary period to express the best characteristics of Abruzzo in a bottle.