Niro Terre di Chieti Pecorino 2016
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As one of Italy's premier sources of well-made, affordable wines, the Abruzzo region is on a winning streak. Despite their seemingly isolated location, Abruzzo winemakers are second to none when it comes to producing deftly crafted wines that are the definition of quality on a significant scale. In the making of Niro, only the best fruit in small lots is selected and vinified following traditional techniques sometimes overlooked by modern technology. Niro undergoes a long maceration on the skins to extract all the richness of the Montepulciano grape. The resulting wine is intense and deep in color, lending the wine its name - Niro - which in many Italian dialects means Black.
There are hundreds of white grape varieties grown throughout the world. Some are indigenous specialties capable of producing excellent single varietal wines. Each has its own distinct viticultural characteristics, as well as aroma and flavor profiles.
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.