The Montepulciano grape (d’Abruzzo meaning “from Abruzzo” to
distinguish this from another Italian wine-making area) is one of the milder
ones, which means a couple things. The first is that you tend to get a very
smooth, very drinkable wine. It has a very slight acidity to it, which does
well to lend a little balance, but this is a very silky wine overall, more of a
medium body, yet with very good mouth feel. The second is that wines of this
nature tend to be consumed young, so there is not a great deal of aging going
on. My personal research has found that this tends to (but not always) make the
price a bit less and in this case, it is a fantastic value. This grape also
blends well with others and many vineyards do so, however, that is not the case
with this one. It is the straight across grape, which helps to really give you
an idea of the soft flavor associated with it. It is possible to age this one,
though reports are that it changes little.
This is another that I found when trolling the Italian
aisles. I love this label, from the coloration and design to the intriguing dot
embossing on the label itself and, as usual, have no fear of buying a wine
strictly due to the label, though it also admittedly helps that this is an
Italian wine, a country that currently occupies the overall favorite slot for
me.
