“Abruzzo Revolution”, Abruzzo drops the “poker”: Superiore and Riserva only for the four sub-zones

The Abruzzo of wine makes a “poker of aces”, or “all in”, to change the fate of one of the most important regions of Italian wine, from a production point of view, but which has always suffered from recognition in value that is too low compared to the quality of its wines, and which needs to better define its identities, for a vineyard area of over 33,000 hectares, made up of many diversities that must emerge and be told in the bottle and in the glass. And so, from the 2023 harvest, the “Superiore” and “Riserva” types will be the exclusive prerogative of the four sub-zones that now form the top of the Abruzzo quality pyramid, namely Terre di Chieti, Terre de L’Aquila, Colline Pescaresi and Colline Teramane. A revolution desired by the Consortium Vini d’Abruzzo led by Alessandro Nicodemi, to create a “short chain” Abruzzo of wine, and to enhance the differences that, in the various sub-zones, Montepulciano, among the greatest Italian reds, can express more identifiable, representing over 80% of the appellation wines of the Region, Trebbiano, the white soul and among the most important Italian whites for ageing, Cerasuolo, the first rosé denomination in Italy, Abruzzo Doc, i.e. “the plus”. A revolution that is the news of the “Abruzzo Wine Experience 2023”, on stage, tomorrow 7 June, in the Tenuta Coppa Zuccari, in Città Sant'Angelo (Pescara), with the “Grand Tasting Vini d’Abruzzo 2023” (reserved for the Italian and international media) and the journalistic prize “Words of Wine - Parole di Vino”, and on 8 June, with the tour of many wineries in Abruzzo.
A decisive, desired and needed change surely for the Abruzzo of wine, as Alessandro Nicodemi, president of the Consortium Vini d’Abruzzo, explains to WineNews: “Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is the second denomination of still red wines after Chianti, by size, at the production level. But the reality is that 50% of the production of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Doc, which overall is around 130 million bottles, is marketed by large bottlers who bottle it almost everywhere. And so, in order to further enhance the territory, or rather the territories of the Region, the differences that our vines, Montepulciano, Trebbiano and Cerasuolo express in each of them, and to create a qualitative apex of the pyramid that is 100% “made in Abruzzo” - explains Nicodemi - we have decided that the Terre di Chieti, Terre de L'Aquila, Colline Pescaresi and Colline Teramane subzones will be the only ones to be able to list the Superiore and Riserva types on the label, which obviously have more restrictive regulations on the Doc, starting from the obligation of bottling in the area, but not only. And this is to push producers more and more to create a product of greater value and that truly identifies the Abruzzo of wine. The change is already operational, and we will start with the 2023 harvest, and we expect that, within 3-4 years, we will reach 10-15% of bottled production, as Superiore or Riserva with sub-zones. Furthermore, we are confident that by doing so for each sub-area, the greater suitability of a vine in comparison to others will emerge, resulting in an ever-greater definition over time, as well as an increase in the quality of the wines”. The goal is to create a more identity-based qualitative summit capable of truly narrating Abruzzo wine to global markets.
In its “Wine Stars Awards”, the famous US magazine “Wine Enthusiast” named Abruzzo as the “Wine Enthusiast’s Region of the Year” 2022. Which is a land waiting to be discovered, with its places rich in history and legends, guardian of a protected nature between the Apennines and the Adriatic Sea, where fishing is still done with the overflow, dedicated to slow and “silence” tourism” along the ancient “tratturi” of sheep farming and transhumance, an enchanted land. Which now, therefore, in terms of wine, focuses on 4 sub-areas rich in history. From the Terre di Chieti the largest wine district of Abruzzo - between one of the oldest cities in Italy, founded according to legend by the warrior Achilles, and the Costa dei Trabocchi, one of the “jewels” of the Region compared by the great Abruzzo poet Gabriele D’Annunzio to “colossal spiders”, and custodian of peasant cuisine such as pasta alla chitarra and “Pizz e Foje” - in the Terre de L’Aquila, a “magical” territory - between L’Aquila, the city of 99 squares, 99 churches and 99 fountains, hit by the earthquake but which “Immota manet” of Virgilian memory, the Gran Sasso, the largest park in Italy and “sacred mountain” of the “Sleeping Giant”, the Majella, the “mountain mother” of the “Sleeping Beauty of Abruzzo”, with its hermitages that tell the story of Pope Celestine V, mentioned by Dante in the “Divine Comedy”, the Rocca di Calascio, set of many films, and the “tratturi” of Campo Imperatore , the “little Tibet” where Mussolini was imprisoned, a symbol of transhumant sheep farming and sheep meat dishes, alongside legumes such as the Lentils of Santo Stefano, a Slow Food Presidium. And again, from the Colline Pescaresi - which gave birth, in Pescara, to one of the greatest intellectuals of all time like D’Annunzio, the “mute cupbearer” poet who to the wine “gift of Dionysus” and his native land , precisely Abruzzo, has dedicated some of the most beautiful verses, often mixed with eros, pure “poetry in a bottle”, but also with sheep skewers and pasta alla mugnaia - in the Colline Terramane - the Roman Aprutium from which it is derived the name Abruzzo, land of villages among the most beautiful in Italy such as Teramo, of the “Seven sisters of Abruzzo”, among the first seaside destinations in Italy with their beautiful beaches, and of “treasures” such as the Fortress of Civitella del Tronto, the last bastion of the Bourbons and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to surrender to the unification of Italy, and of the Marine Protected Area of the Torre del Cerrano, but also of symbolic dishes such as “Le Virtù”, the “Mazzarelle” and the “Scrippelle 'mbusse”, forerunner of the French crêpes.