Montepulciano

Montepulciano is the grape of Abruzzo, and the first thing to establish is that it has nothing whatsoever to do with Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, which is a Tuscan wine made from Sangiovese in a town of the same name. The confusion is entrenched and permanent.

It is one of Italy's most planted red varieties, concentrated on the Adriatic side of the country from the Marche down through Abruzzo, Molise and Puglia. It gives a deeply coloured wine — inky, almost black — with soft, ripe tannins, moderate acidity and generous dark fruit: black plum, blackberry and black cherry, with liquorice, dried herbs and often a faintly meaty, savoury edge.

The combination of depth of colour, softness and low price has made it one of the great value reds of Europe, and a great deal of it is made simply and well for early drinking.

The serious versions come from the hills rather than the coastal plain, and Colline Teramane in northern Abruzzo holds DOCG status. Those wines have real structure and age for a decade or more, developing leather, tobacco and dried fig.

The same grape makes Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo, one of Italy's benchmark rosati — deep cherry-pink, made by short maceration, with far more body and grip than a Provençal rosé.

It ripens late, which restricts it to warm sites, and it crops heavily, which means quality depends heavily on how hard the grower is willing to prune.

The name confusion is worth stating once more because it catches people constantly: Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is this grape; Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is Sangiovese from a Tuscan hill town. They are unrelated wines from unrelated varieties and the only thing they share is a word.

Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo, made from the same grape, is one of Italy's most serious rosati and now has its own DOC. Deep cherry-pink, dry and structured, it has more in common with a light red than with a Provençal rosé, and it is designed for the table rather than the aperitif hour.

Quality within the appellation varies enormously because the grape crops heavily and the plain around Pescara can produce very large volumes. Colline Teramane, the DOCG zone in the northern hills, and estate wines from higher ground are where the variety shows its structure.