Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

Fantini Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is excellent with the Italian traditional cooking, especially with savoury main courses with tomato sauce, grilled or stewed meat.

The Vesevo cellar falls under the supervision of the Fantini Group. For more information about the group, please consult the About the Producer entry under the Fantini range. With over of 2000 years of history, Campania is a region of ancient winemaking traditions rooted in a territory which - once upon a time - was called “Enotria” (“Land of Wine”) and later became part of what was known as “Magna Graecia”. These wine production areas preceded the arrival of Ulysses, the Mycenaean navigators and the Phoenicians. The wines of Campania were consumed at the best patrician tables in Rome, until the disastrous eruption of the volcano Vesuvius put a (temporary) end to the local cultivation of grapes. Precious archaeological finds also testify to the excellent quality of the local wine, known in ancient times as “the wine of the emperors”. Wine production at Vesevo is conducted under the supervision of two of the most illustrious Italian consultant/winemakers, Alberto Antonini and Filippo Baccalaro. In 2015, Alberto Antonini was named among the top 5 winemakers in the world by Decanter Magazine. He has worked as senior winemaker for some of the most famous wine brands around the world, such as Antinori, Frescobaldi, and E & J Gallo (USA). He also consults for several wineries in 8 different wine-producing countries: Italy, Uruguay, Chile, USA, Armenia, Australia, Canada, and Argentina. Filippo Baccalaro stems from Piedmont but has always loved the south of Italy for its wonderful climate and the great quality of its grapes. He has supervised numerous harvest seasons in France as well as in South Africa, Chile and Australia. He is recognized as one of the most qualified winemakers in Italy and throughout the world and his wines have been rewarded with more than 40 gold medals worldwide. On several occasions he has been on the panel of judges at the London International Wine Challenge as well as for the Italian Association of Winemakers’ best winery selection at Vinitaly.

The production area is situated around Ortona and various neighbouring villages. The vineyards have a south-east exposure and the vines’ average age is 30-35 years. The training system is 92% “tendone” or “Abruzzo pergola” (bower), and 8% guyot. The soil’ composition varies from area to area but is mainly clay and/or limestone and the grapes are harvested in October/beginning of November, depending on the production area.

Ageing and malolactic fermentation occur in stainless steel tanks for 95% and only for 5% in oak barrels.

More than 90% of the grapes are harvested by hand (machines are not able to harvest the “pergola” vines); once in the winery they are gently de-stemmed and crushed. The crushed grapes are conveyed into stainless steel tanks where a cold maceration occurs at 6°C for 24-36 hours, followed by a fermentation with maceration at 25-26 °C for about 15 days. During the fermentation with maceration several punching downs (done manually or semi-mechanically through pumps) are done, their number decreasing as the fermentation comes to an end.