Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2019 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Colle Vota is intense, trading grace for power in this vintage, with a burst of dried black cherries, dusty sage, roses and Indian spice forming its bouquet. This splashes across the palate, spicy with ultra-ripe wild berry fruits that saturate, expertly balanced by a core of zesty acidity. The 2019 leaves a staining of primary concentration and grippy tannins, puckering the cheeks with youthful tension as salted licorice and balsamic spice notes fade. The 2019 Colle Vota will require time to fully blossom as it is primary and palate-staining today. Of note, production was down by a whopping 45% due to issues during budding.
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.