Abruzzo

The Wines of the Abruzzo

Abruzzo is one of Italy’s best kept secrets. Italy is my favorite wine producing country. The reason is that Italy produces more varietals than all other countries combined. It is a beautiful and mountainous region. Very few people are familiar with its wines. I hope to change that. Actually, we drink a lot of a wine called montepulciano pronounced (mon-tay-pull-chi-AH-no). Do not confuse this wine with the town of the same name in Tuscany. The other popular wines are trebbiano, Cerasuolo and Controguerra. See the map below which shows the regions that produce each wine.

Wines of the Region

I will discuss the four most popular wines of the region. The trebbiano grape makes wines in many regions. However, trebbiano d’Abruzzo might be the best. The region produces a wonderful rose wine called cerasuolo d’Abruzzo. Also, rose is the same as rosato in Italian. Contoguerra comes in white and red versions. And, it is the signature wine of the region. Lastly, montepulciano d’Abruzzo is the most popular wine of the region. It goes well with barbecues or a simple hamburger. I recommend an inexpensive version like Citra. Zaccagnini sells a lot because of the piece of grapevine tied to the front of the label, but there is no reason to spend $15 on a bottle of montepulciano.

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