100% Montepulciano from Abruzzo, Italy.
SRP of $12. Available for as low as $8 and widely for $10. Sample received courtesy Colangelo & Partners PR for review purposes.
"Tasting notes: Full of cherry and plum fruit. A classic almond character on the nose. Full-bodied, nice texture with very well-integrated tannins and a lovely and elegant finish. It is excellent with red meat.
Montepulciano is a popular indigenous Italian variety grown throughout central and southern Italy. This is not to be confused with Vino Nobile di Montepulciano – a wine named for the area where it is produced and made mostly from Sangiovese. (Ironically, the vineyards around the town of Montepulciano don't even grow any Montepulciano grape.) The most well-known region for producing Montepulciano is Abruzzo, which is also one of the most mountainous regions in all of Italy. It is also the area where today's wine is made by Fratelli Barba.
The 2009 Fratelli Barba Colle Marino Montepulciano d'Abruzzo begins with a very strong aroma of cedar closet along with a little plum. All those cedar notes had me worried that this wine might be all oak but tasting this medium-bodied wine reveals a wonderful soft and smooth character. There's still a good amount of oak influence, but it's far from overwhelming. In fact, this is a really delicious wine with savory and jammy fruit of plum and black cherry along with a little black pepper and vanilla. Overall a very nice, easy-drinking wine that still has a good amount of character.