Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Vinous
The 2023 Bianco Fonte Canale, still a year away from release, is a model of grace and understated power. This is youthfully coy at first, requiring coaxing to release its perfumed bouquet of white smoke, flint stone, wild flowers and raw almonds. The 2023 sweeps across the palate with a cool-toned personality and an inner floral resonance, with intense notes of nectarine and papaya. This finishes crystalline and gently tannic in feel, with salty mineral tones lingering long. The depth of concentration here finds balance by way of tantalizing acidity. This is one of the most complex interpretations of Fonte Canale I've tasted. It may be a masterpiece in the making. Of note, as of 2023, the Fonte Canale will no longer be classified as Trebbiano d'Abruzzo, but instead as an IGT.
Range: 96-98
Compared to other white wine-producing varieties, Trebbiano claims some of the most vineyard acreage on a global scale. There are six distinct varieties with Trebbiano as part of their name in Italy alone. Trebbiano Toscano, one of the most popular, is deliciously light and crisp. Trebbiano d’Abruzzo actually has some aging potential when handled carefully. Somm Secret—Known as Ugni Blanc in France, Trebbiano is responsible for the whites in Southwest, France called Gascogne Blanc.
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.