Talamonti makes this in the hills around Atri, in the north of Abruzzo, where the Apennines drop toward the Adriatic. Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is the region's own red, and this is the estate's top bottling from the 2019 vintage.
- Montepulciano, the grape of Abruzzo.
- Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, the appellation.
- 2019, a warm, steady vintage in central Italy.
- Full body, medium tannin, medium acidity.
- Dry, 13.5% alcohol.
How it is made
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is a red wine made only from the Montepulciano grape, grown across the hills of Abruzzo between the mountains and the Adriatic. The grape gives deep colour and soft, broad tannin. The Tre Saggi bottling is the estate's richer, oak-aged expression, which rounds the fruit and adds the chocolate and hazelnut notes the wine is known for.
How it tastes
Black cherry and plum lead, with dried herbs and tobacco behind them. The tannins are firm but not hard, and the oak shows as dark chocolate and hazelnut rather than vanilla. Full in the mouth, dry, and long on the finish, with the acidity holding it in shape.
Where it comes from
Abruzzo sits in central Italy, its vineyards running from the Apennine foothills down to the Adriatic coast. Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is one of the country's largest appellations by volume, and also one of its most reliable for full-bodied, dark-fruited reds that age well.
Good to know
Montepulciano the grape and Montepulciano the Tuscan town are unrelated, a confusion old enough that the wine is often mistaken for something from Tuscany. It is not. The grape is Abruzzo's own.
Contains sulphites. May contain nuts.