Description

Fattoria La Valentina Spelt Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Riserva 2018

93 pts – James Suckling

Intense black fruit on the nose and full-bodied palate with grainy, velvety tannins that carry the focused fruit well through the long, balanced finish. Love the well-defined structure here. Nice to drink now, but will be even better after another year.

Abruzzo

A warm, Mediterranean vine-growing paradise, in Abruzzo, the distance from mountains to seaside is relatively short. The Apenniness, which run through the center of Italy, rise up on its western side while the Adriatic Sea defines its eastern border.

Wine composition tends to two varieties: Abruzzo’s red grape, Montepulciano and its white, Trebbiano. Montepulciano d’Abruzzo can come in a quaffable, rustic and fruity style that generally drinks best young. It is also capable of making a more serious style, where oak aging tames its purely wild fruit.

Trebbiano in Abruzzo also comes in a couple of varieties. Trebbiano Toscana makes a simple and fruity white. However when meticulously tended, the specific Trebbiano d’Abruzzo-based white wines can be complex and long-lived.

In the region’s efforts to focus on better sites and lower yields, vine acreage has decreased in recent years while quality has increased.

Montepulciano Wine

Montepulciano is the second most planted red variety in Italy after Sangiovese, though it is achieves its highest potential in the region of Abruzzo. Consistently enticing and enjoyable, Montepulciano enjoys great popularity throughout central and southern Italy as well. A tiny bit grows with success in California, Argentina and Australia. Somm Secret—Montepulciano is also the name of a village in Tuscany where, confusingly, they don’t grow the Montepulciano grape at all! Sangiovese shines in yet another Tuscan village, here making the reputable wine called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.

100% Montepulcianozo d’Abruz

Intense red, with purple shadows. Aromas of wild rose, violet, crisp redcurrant, pomegranate and licorice. The taste appears velvety and sharp at the same time, with polished tannins that make a voluptuous and savory profile. Long persistence with great freshness and mineral finish.

Winemaker Notes