Barone di Valforte

In Abruzzo, Montepulciano (the grape) is king. In the hands of Valforte, who have 20 hectares in the DOCG zone, Colline Teramane, the king's crown shines bright indeed. Pictured below, Guido Sorricchio shows Tony and I the new gemme, or flowering shoots. The growing season is off to a promising start. 

South facing vineyards in Città Sant'Angelo, where the cantina, and one part of vineyards of Barone di Valforte are located. The vineyards are about 3km from the Adriatic Sea. 

Guido shows off the new gemme, but also evident is the clay soil with an enormous calcareous but also ferrous content, which gives the soil a yellowish cast. 

Super-modern winemaking facilities include state of the art controls for all of the winery's stainless steel vats. 

Sun setting over Colline Teramane

After a hard day of winery visits, multiple plates of seafood at Osteria Della Loggia Di Bruno Mancinelli, in Alta Silvi...high in the hills. The meal was absolutely breathtaking. 

Michele Alois

Don Michele Alois shows how it's done: we arrived to find him working in the vineyard, and somewhat annoyed that his vineyard guys had missed tucking some of the leafy canopy under the training wires, and had missed tying up a few newly planted vines that weren't tall enough yet. We found the Alois vineyards in a gorgeous state; in one of the 4 vineyards that hadn't been mown yet, flowering alfalfa giving the impression of a garden of Eden. Soon enough it will be mown, and the result saved to feed the farm's three horses (one of Michele's hobbies and passions).

Centorame

A couple of days ago Tony Lemmo and I paid a visit to Lamberto Vannucci and his father Mariano. It was Sunday, and the weekend of Cantine Aperte. There was a major party at the winery which was finally broken up by a thunderstorm (happens every year here for Cantine Aperte, apparently). Lamberto's top cuvées, Castellum Vetus, are stunningly impressive interpretations of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo (DOCG Colline Teramane) and Trebbiano d'Abruzzo. Both wines are age-worthy in the extreme. 

Live rockabilly band for Cantine Aperte

Lamberto and Mariano show their 2006 Castellum Vetus Trebbiano d'Abruzzo. The wine was magnificent. Lamberto refuses to take any credit for what he has produced, preferring to credit the vineyard. 

Looking out the window of the tasting room, one sees the vineyard for Castellum Vetus Trebbiano. The vines were planted in 1982, and trained on pergola, the old way. It's harder to control yields with pergola, so a green harvest is necessary. However, these vines are Trebbiano Abruzzese instead of the now-often-planted Trebbiano Toscano. An important distinction if terroir is what you're looking for in your wines.

A visit to Le Marche

One of my favorite places on earth: the Conero. Monte Conero looms over the Adriatic and the surrounding landscape, imposing its massive presence on all visitors. The Moroder winery is entirely within the Parco Nazionale di Monte Conero. The farm uses only biological practices and has been certified by Ecocert since the 2011 vintage. They've farmed organically for far longer. The family's restaurant on the property,"Aion," uses 80% of ingredients farmed right on the 52 hectares of property owned by the family. Even the flour for the pizza crusts is grown on the property. And even the truffles - glorious black truffles that ripen at various times during the year, growing in the tartufaio planted by the Moroders several years ago. And of course, the wine. The ultimate farm to table. 

The wines, by the way, seem to be better every vintage, and are undergoing a packaging renewal in order to bring the line together visually and to update and modernize the image (except Dorico, the Moroders' flagship Cru, who's label will remain the same). They have introduced a new red wine, Rosso Conero DOCG Riserva, made from a selection of Dorico, and from a selection of the Rosso Conero Moroder Classico. Tasted for the first time at dinner last night, the wine was deeply impressive - all black and blue fruits, depth, and with the Moroders' signature gorgeous, velvety, mineral structure, brooding tannins, and extreme finish. 

Yesterday we spent the day with the Brunori family. The 2013 vintage continues to impress for whites, Le Gemme being astonishingly aromatic, super clean, refreshing, with superlative fruit. The vintage was more difficult for reds, but I found myself appreciating the herbaceous notes that came through on the nose of 2012 Rosso Piceno "Torquis," reminding me a bit of the Loire Valley.

Monte Conero makes its presence felt all over the landscape. Photo taken from an overlook on the Moroder property, above the tartufaio. 

Marco Moroder and Argo walk through the tartufaio. Unfortunately, we had little luck finding truffles today. Argo is NOT a truffle dog, and is of no use at all but to be big and lovable. 

Remains of some of the damage done at the beachside restaurant "Da Marcello," one of my favorite restaurants in Italy. 

Left to right: Carlo Brunori, his father Giorgio, with Cristina Brunori and Tony lagging behind in one of the family's steeply sloped, south facing vineyards for Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi. This is San Niccolò, an old parcel, planted using selection massale to preserve the genetic heritage of the vines found on the Brunori property. Farming is organic. 

Serenella Moroder shows off one of several gigantic black truffles presented in a basket and served with eggs in the opening salvo last night at restaurant Aion. 

Flavio Fanti

Good winegrowers all know: it's about the vineyard, stupid. You can't produce great wine from grapes that are not ripe and healthy. Most of the farmers we work with spend 90+% of their time working in the vineyard to ensure the quality of the prima materia, the raw material, respective to time in the cellar. Here, Flavio Fanti of La Palazzetta gives Tony and me a tour of a new vineyard parcel he has just this spring planted. I was shocked to find the vineyard covered in alluvial stones, closely resembling the rounded galets found in the Southern Rhone Valley in France. But then again, one of the things that makes Brunello from Castelnuovo del'Abate so special is the extreme variation in soil types - galestro, calcareous, ferrous stone, darker richer friable clay, vineyards seem to change in soil composition every 10 or 20 meters. 

Flavio Fanti

Newly planted vineyard. Note the rounded, alluvial stones resembling the galets of the Southern Rhone. The difference is, here we are not in a river valley but high in the hills of Montalcino. 

Baby Sangiovese vine planted this year in March by the Fanti family. Vineyard area has now expanded to about 20 hectares. This vine will not be fully productive for 5 years.