Winemaker Notes
Perfect with chicken, light beef dishes, veal, and classic Italian pasta with tomato or meat sauce.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Pleasant fresh blackberries on the nose. Medium-bodied with a tight, crisp texture. Fresh blackberry and pip grip and flavor.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 Castorani Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Cadetto is bright, fresh, and active on the palate. TASTING NOTES: This wine exhibits aromas and flavors of tart and ripe plums. Enjoy it with Chinese BBQ Pork in a fresh noodle soup. (Tasted: October 7, 2023, San Francisco, CA)
With over 200 years of history Podere Castorani spreads across 75 acres of lush countryside in the province of Pescara, Italy, between Majella National Park and the Adriatic Sea. The estate’s principal grape varieties are Montepulciano d'Abruzzo in red and Trebbiano d'Abruzzo in white. The partners regularly test new grape varieties in a perpetual search for the fullest expression of the terroir. At Podere Castorani, their pursuit of excellence can only be satisfied through respect for traditional expertise.
To understand how Castorani first got its start, we must go back to the beginning, in 1793. At that time, renowned ocular surgeon Raffaele Castorani became proprietor of the estate. At the end of the First World War, Antonio Casulli took over the estate with a vision of expanding production and boosting Castorani’s reputation. Upon his death, the vineyard was divided, and its decline began. Many years would pass before the estate would undergo a revival. In 1999, pilot Jarno Trulli decided to fully commit himself to coaxing the iconic Castorani estate back to life, with the help of his friends. They worked painstakingly together, and in harmony with nature, the thirty-year-old vines grew organically.
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.
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.