Product Type: Red Wines
Country: Italy
Region: Abruzzi
Appellation: Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Producer: Fattoria La Valentina
Alcohol: 13.5%
Grape Varieties: 100% Montepulciano
Closure: Cork

Producer: Sabatino di Properzio's Montepulciano is as stylish as his labels. While this may sound like a contradiction in terms for a grape more often associated with rough-and-ready country wine, Sabatino has set out to prove otherwise, using low yields, old vines and increasingly organic viticulture to wring new depths from the DOC.

Vineyard: Vineyards have clay soils, are situated at 150-350 metres above sea level and have southern and south-western exposure. The grapes were picked entirely by hand.

Winery: Destemming was followed by a seven-day fermentation on skins in stainless steel vats. Malolactic fermentation was carried out, followed by twelve months ageing in a combination of cement and stainless steel vats. Fifteen percent of the wine was aged in wood.

Taste: First-class peppery Montepulciano, with all the exuberant fruit and spicy character of the grape, plus an extra degree of refinement from this excellent producer.