Appellation · Italy
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
The Montepulciano grape in Abruzzo — nothing to do with the Tuscan town of the same name, and one of Italy’s best-value reds.
Medium-to-full bodied dry red, deep purple, with black cherry and plum, soft tannin and moderate acidity. Uncomplicated, generous and cheap.
About Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is made from the Montepulciano grape, grown between the Apennines and the Adriatic. It has no relationship whatsoever to Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, which is Sangiovese from a Tuscan town.
The variety gives deep colour, soft tannin, moderate acidity and abundant dark fruit, and the wine is generous, rounded and easy — one of the most reliable inexpensive reds in Europe.
Colline Teramane, in the hills near Teramo, was promoted to DOCG in 2003 and makes a more structured version.
Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo, from the same grape, is a deep pink rosé with its own DOC — darker and fuller than most, and worth trying.
What the name means
- Legal name
- Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC
- Type
- Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC)
- Set by
- Consorzio Tutela Vini d’Abruzzo, under MASAF
- Recognised
- 1968
- Regulates
- Origin, plus grape varieties, maximum yields, minimum ageing.
The delimited area, permitted varieties and their proportions, maximum yields, minimum alcohol and — for riserva and similar terms — minimum ageing.
A minimum of 85% Montepulciano. Colline Teramane, in the north of the region, is a separate DOCG.
Grapes
Wines from here
Rules worth knowing
Confirmed in the EU register
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is registered as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), file number PDO-IT-A0723, protected at EU level since 1973.
Article 107 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013
Specification published: Official Journal C 220, 22.6.2023 · Official Journal
Only the rules that change what to expect in the glass or on the label. WineHQ does not reproduce production specifications, and each entry carries the date it was last checked because appellation rules change.
The designation is confirmed above. WineHQ has not read this appellation’s production specification, so it publishes no yields, ageing minima or permitted-variety lists for it — those come from the document linked above, not from a summary of it.
What to eat, and how to serve it
Derived from this region’s signature styles. Each is listed separately, because a region does not have one serving temperature.
Where to go next
Places worth trying if you like this one — neighbours, rivals, and the obvious step across.
- Vino Nobile di Montepulciano — Sangiovese from a hill town in southern Tuscany — and the reason "Montepulciano" is two entirely unrelated things on a wine label.
- Abruzzo — A mountainous Adriatic region producing large volumes of soft Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.
Sources
Sources consulted
- Italian DOP and IGP wine register — Ministero dell’agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste (MASAF)
- Consorzio Tutela Vini d’Abruzzo — Consorzio Tutela Vini d’Abruzzo