Issue XXVII: Fantini Farnese Montepulciano D'Abruzzo Edition

Fantini Farnese Montepulciano D'Abruzzo

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.

At around $12 normally, this is more of a Mixed (though it could easily be a Standard) as well as one of the better values out there. This probably would do remarkably well at a restaurant as a table wine, as it’s difficult to imagine it not having a lot of broad appeal.