Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

We had the boom of Prosecco all over the world.

And let's say even some light, slightly fruity red wine, Valpolicella and Montepulciano d'Abruzzo.

Now it's entering in the market Montepulciano d'Abruzzo.

And in Abruzzo also Rosè Cerasuolo.

I saw some importers that are interested and some are already importing.

What sells here, of course, the names that you would expect, Amarone, La Valpolicella is still a big one, Barbaresco and Tuscan of all kinds, from Super to Chianti Classico to Brunello to Vino Nobile, those are all very popular.

But what I've noticed over my let's call it 20 years, I used to work for an Italian group of restaurants called Terroni, which started out as a tiny little pizzeria serving Montepulciano d'Abruzzo by the liter and a half bottle in a little tumbler, like you're in Nonna's basement, to now, I don't even know how many stores they have, including down in the US, but they've been hugely successful.

And I was part of that transition from Montepulciano d'Abruzzo to now one of the best collections of Italian wines ever.

in the country, I would say.

And there's everything from the obvious to the absolute obscure.

Let's start with the grape.

So Montepulciano is famous for being Montepulciano d'Abruzzo-

Yeah

... which is the back of the knee in Italy, and it's a kind of...

And I assume this is what I'm drinking.

No, no.

So this is the grape, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, uh, which is delicious, um, and easygoing.

There is also Vino Nobile di Montepulciano-

Yeah.

It's made from the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo grape.

Yes.

Or at least 85% of the wine in-

And it's a, Montepulciano is a very tannic, very robust, rustic style of grape.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and hence historically the wines from that region, the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo wines that you found in the US tend to be rustic styles of wine.

Mm-hmm.