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The house grapes · red

Montepulciano: the grape of Abruzzo, not the town

Montepulciano is a red grape from central Italy and the queen of Abruzzo, the region on the Adriatic Sea. It makes a very dark ruby wine, with a violet glint, aromas of red fruit and spice and a light tannin that doesn't bite. It's the grape in Montepulciano d'Abruzzo and in the rosé Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo. The name confuses a lot of people, because there's a town called Montepulciano in Tuscany, where the famous wine is made from another grape.

Where it comes from

Montepulciano is Italian. In VIVC, the international grape catalog, its main name is Montepulciano, a red grape originating in Italy. Its parents don't appear in the passport, but the catalog records that it has offspring. Its home is Abruzzo: the region's consortium says there are reliable records of the grape there since the mid-18th century.

It's a plant that likes heat. Italy's official grape registry explains that, because it ripens late, it needs a warm climate, and that in the Marche and the regions further north it has to be planted on hillsides that face the sun squarely, or the grapes don't ripen properly. A curious detail from the same registry: in the past, from some parts of Abruzzo, it was shipped to Germany as a table grape.

What it's like in the glass

The Montepulciano d'Abruzzo rules describe a wine of intense ruby color with a slight violet glint, which turns toward garnet (a more brick-like red) with time. On the nose, red fruit and spice. On the palate, full and only slightly tannic: the tannin, that grip on your gums, shows up without picking a fight. It's a red with body, but easy to like. The kind that wins you over with the first glass.

In the Marche, near Monte Conero, the institute that looks after the region's wines talks of sour cherry (the amarena) and plum, with a floral touch in the younger versions. And when the wine is made with little contact with the skins, out comes Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo, a cherry-pink rosé, dry, smooth and fruity, that sometimes finishes with a slight almond bitterness.

What it pairs with

Montepulciano red is a partner for hearty, no-fuss food. Calabresa sausage pizza, lasagna, spaghetti bolognese, grilled linguiça sausage, burgers, ribs, meatballs in tomato sauce and a good steak parmigiana. With its soft tannin, it also goes with a Sunday barbecue without weighing you down. The Cerasuolo rosé goes well with salad, grilled chicken, roast fish, pastel de feira (a street-market fried pastry) and even a milder moqueca. It's a suggestion: if you liked it with something else, your taste is what counts.

Where it shines today

In Abruzzo, it's the most important grape: the region's consortium says it covers more than half of the vineyards, about 17,000 hectares, and that more than 70% of the new vineyards in recent years were Montepulciano. Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC takes at least 85% of the grape, and so does the rosé Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo. Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Colline Teramane DOCG requires at least 90%, with up to 10% Sangiovese.

In the Marche, the neighboring region, it's the base of Rosso Conero DOC and Conero DOCG, made around Monte Conero, a hill on the Adriatic coast. In the VIVC catalog, its area table only has figures for Italy. In Brazil, Embrapa's registry counted about 3.5 hectares of Montepulciano in Rio Grande do Sul in 2012: it's a rarity, something for people who like to experiment.

Its other names

VIVC lists 26 synonyms for Montepulciano. Two of them, Cordisco and Sangiovese Cordisco, were taken by the official Italian registry from old bulletins of ampelography, the science that describes grapes. Uva Abruzzese, Morellone and Primaticcio also appear. On the label, the name that counts is Montepulciano, almost always attached to the name of the region: Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. If the bottle says just Montepulciano, with no region, it's worth checking the back label to see where it came from.

A town's name, an address somewhere else

The town of Montepulciano is in Tuscany, in the province of Siena, and it makes a famous wine: Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Only it's made from Sangiovese, called Prugnolo gentile there, with at least 70% of the grape. In other words: Vino Nobile takes the name of the town, and Montepulciano d'Abruzzo takes the name of the grape. They're different wines, from different grapes, from different regions.

The mix-up is an old one. Italy's official grape registry says that many people, because of the name, thought Montepulciano was a form of Sangiovese. It isn't: the registry itself points out that the Prugnolo of Montepulciano is the one that's a type of Sangiovese, and cites a 1948 study that told the two apart by their leaves and their ripening time, with Sangiovese ripe about two weeks earlier.

Top rated with Montepulciano

Average rating from the people who drank it (X-Wines), from 1 to 5. Tap to see the wine's page.

• Oasi degli Angeli Kurni MarcheItaly · red · Montepulcianorating ★ 4.5
• Valentini Montepulciano d'AbruzzoItaly · red · Montepulcianorating ★ 4.5
• Tenuta Ulisse Limited Edition 10 VendemmieItaly · red · Montepulcianorating ★ 4.5
• Velenosi Roggio del Filare Rosso Piceno SuperioreItaly · red · Montepulciano, Sangioveserating ★ 4.5
• Farnese Cinque Autoctoni Collection Limited ReleaseItaly · red · Montepulciano, Primitivorating ★ 4.4
• Guerrieri Guerriero della TerraItaly · red · Montepulciano, Sangioveserating ★ 4.4
• Farnese Edizione Cinque AutoctoniItaly · red · Montepulciano, Sangioveserating ★ 4.4
• Marramiero Inferi Montepulciano d'Abruzzo RiservaItaly · red · Montepulcianorating ★ 4.4

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