Montepulciano and Montepulciano

Leave it to Italy to legislate two different wines with the same name.  If you like muddy water, Italy can muddy the waters like no one else in this business.

So the greater of the two Montepulcianos is the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano which comes from the area around the village of Montepulciano in Tuscany.  Like Chianti, Vino Nobile can be 100% Sangiovese but most versions are blends.  By law that blend must be at least 70% Sangiovese but the remainder may include a number of local varieties or international types like Cabernet Sauvignon.  This is a larger trend throughout Tuscany but what sets Vino Nobile apart is the care with which clones of Sangiovese are selected.  Tuscany is full of the lesser clones that serve a purpose in quantifying production but Vino Nobile seems to have selected wisely and a lot of Chianti makers are now following their lead.

Over in Abuzzo on the other side of the penninsula the Montepulciano grape variety holds court.  Always a value-driven wine from a less auspicious part of the country, Montepulciano d'Abuzzo too is upgrading its game.  Hillside vineyards throughout the appellation are now producing better wines with ground zero for the upgrade being the town of Teramo where in 2003 its hillside vineyards were awarded a DOCG quality grade for their Montepulciano d'Abuzzo Colline Teramane.

Why this post now?  Because Montepulciano d'Abruzzo was the subject Lettie Teague chose for a recent WSJ wine article.  Teague is our favorite wine writer and her recommmendation of the Tiberio Montepulciano d'Abruzzo prompted us to add it to our inventory.  Of the wine, she said, "...structured with dark fruit, spice and a firm mineral core."  

We wrote about the Vino Nobile as an admission of our own confusion about Montepulcianos.