Red wines from 35 euros onwards

A red wine where tradition meets innovation: deep, complex, and persistent, with notes of black cherry, blackberry, licorice, dark chocolate, and sweet spices. A Montepulciano d'Abruzzo with Tre Bicchieri, sublime from its debut in 1992.

The Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Doc Mazzamurello – Torre dei Beati is an extraordinary wine that fully represents the true Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. It has remarkable structure, persistence, and balance. The technique of working on fine lees, which gives the wine characteristics of natural stability, enriches the rich array of fruit with floral and spicy aromas of great elegance, introducing a fresh gustatory depth capable of motivating a long progression and intriguing drinkability.
An organic wine obtained with the particular technique of working on fine lees to which the best batches of the vintage are subjected. The aromatic peculiarities linked to this technique, which sometimes manifest in a rather unusual way for a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo during maturation in wood, recall the name of this playful sprite from Abruzzo tradition: "Il Mazzamurello", imagined hiding among barrels playing with the wine. Passion and love for viticulture, perfect clay-limestone soils, and unique pedoclimatic conditions give life to a simply excellent wine.
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Ingredients: 100% Montepulciano grapes.

The Sant'Eusanio vineyard is a small garden of vines surrounded by pine woods. It is located in the highest and coldest area of all Valle Reale at 497 m above sea level.
The north-facing exposure, the stony soil, and the wide temperature swings between day and night are at the limit for ripening Montepulciano, making it a unique wine. It is an uncompromising expression of mountain Montepulciano and speaks the brisk language of acidity and freshness combined with a balanced structure. The vines were planted in the spring of 2002. Montepulciano from the Sant’Eusanio Vineyard was first produced in 2009, with spontaneous fermentation. In the right vintages, in its apparent simplicity, it represents the most elegant wine in our production.
Climate change affecting our area causes damage or benefits depending on the situation it impacts. While it is true that in the past it was almost impossible to think of achieving phenolic ripeness at Sant’Eusanio, today climate change helps us here. This is an extraordinarily powerful vintage for Sant’Eusanio, yet it does not change its fine and elegant nature. The typical and familiar acidity and fragrance that this parcel gives us are combined with a balanced structure thanks to the warm vintage. The Sant’Eusanio Vineyard is a wine that ferments in stainless steel and remains in contact with its lees for one year. It is then aged in bottle for 8 months without being filtered.

The Vigna del Convento is the latest CRU, carved out within the vineyard area planted in the municipality of Capestrano; the land was once cultivated with vines and vegetable gardens, belonging to the ancient Convent of San Francesco, built from the mid-15th century on a hill overlooking the small village of Capestrano.
Poor soil rich in stones, but with a good clay component. In 2003, the vineyard faced the hottest harvest of the last hundred years. The microclimate, very different from that of the Popoli plateau, is warm and windy, balanced by the right amount of humidity thanks to the small lake of Capestrano, which is why the grapes in this vineyard ripen earlier. With the 2018 harvest, in the Vigna del Convento parcel, phenolic ripeness was reached, allowing this wine to be produced for the third time in twenty years. The very concentrated grapes, perfect for the vinification method using only wood, in 50-quintal Garbellotto barrels, gave us a wine of great longevity, body, and structure, combined with excellent verticality and great elegance.
The bouquet is complex, with pronounced herbal notes; the tannin is elegant but present.

Made from Montepulciano grapes from a single 30-year-old vineyard, harvested at the end of October with a yield of about 60 quintals per hectare. It ferments spontaneously in stainless steel, with the help of pied de cuve, where it macerates for about 30 days. It is aged in large barrels (20 hl) and tonneaux for 14 months.

designation: Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Doc
vintage: 2019
alcohol content: 13.5% vol.
volume: 0.75 L
number of bottles produced: 3540

Color: Deep ruby red with violet reflections. Nose: The aromatic panorama is wide, with immediate floral scents of rose and fruity notes of berries (particularly blueberry jam), followed by spicy hints of licorice, cumin, white pepper, and mineral notes of graphite stretching into the horizon. Taste: A decidedly substantial and voluminous sip, yet dynamic and characterized by a tasting rhythm dictated by vital tannins and vibrant freshness.

Testarossa Rosso Riserva is produced using only Montepulciano d’Abruzzo grapes, which give it its namesake designation and a wide range of aromas ranging from fruit to spices. The production process begins with crushing the grapes and fermentation, continues with racking, and ends with aging in oak barrels. The origin of its name comes from the old nickname of the Pasetti founders and the women of the company, all of whom had red hair.

Testarossa Rosso Riserva is characterized by an intense ruby color and pleasant notes of blackberry, blueberry, tobacco, vanilla, and cinnamon; the taste is smooth, warm, and has good persistence.

Production area: Abruzzo

Vintage: 2020

Alcohol: 15%

Capacity: 150 cl

Producer: Pasetti

Grape variety: Montepulciano d' Abruzzo

Designation: Montepulciano d' Abruzzo DOC

Recommended pairings: Testarossa Rosso Riserva pairs perfectly with red meats, aged cheeses, tripe, and mozzarella.

It is a refined wine that comes from a true locus amoenus, where the rows stretch out in front of the ruins of a cave cellar dating back to around 1300. Here the Benedictine monks, descending from the convent located in San Benedetto in Perillis, a tiny village clinging to the mountains behind Valle Reale, made and stored their wine.

A wine that comes from grapes of great quality and aromatic intensity. Deep ruby red in color, with aromas of berries, red fruit, and spices. On the palate, it stands out for its structure and persistence, with good savoriness.

The “Vigneto di Popoli” wine is one of Valle Reale’s flagship labels, made from vines that are about 70 years old, grown on calcareous-clay soils. Fermentation takes place in steel tanks with only indigenous yeasts and maceration on the skins for about 10 days. Before bottling, the wine matures in French oak tonneaux for a period of about 12 months.

Vigneto di Popoli is the 1-hectare parcel dedicated to Trebbiano d'Abruzzo; further south, the larger vineyard reserved for Montepulciano d'Abruzzo extends. The Montepulciano from Vigneto di Popoli is the offspring of the estate’s oldest vineyard. All the rows face southeast toward the Majella and the Monti del Morrone and benefit from the presence of a dense oak forest that borders them to the west.

The land, as for the entire plateau near Popoli, lies at 350 meters above sea level. The woods surrounding the vineyard are rich in plant species, tall trees, shrubs, and flowers, which thrive thanks to the healthy air and the purity of the waters from the spring of the Pescara River that flows beneath the vineyard soil. The integrity of this environment favors the development of native yeast strains.

Walking among these vineyards, encounters with the wildlife that inhabits these mountains are not rare, from deer to badgers, foxes, and even the exceptional sighting of some wolves.