Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2011 (Vintage Release)
A library release: fifteen-year-old Montepulciano d’Abruzzo from one of the region’s most historic, traditional estates, a family famous for holding its top wines back for a decade or more. The warm, generous 2011 has softened into velvet — baked blackberry, dried plum, tobacco, leather and cocoa — and is fully ready tonight.
- Area
- Abruzzo
- Grape variety
- 100% Montepulciano
- Vintage
- 2011, released from the estate’s library in 2026
- Characteristics
- Mature, velvety, savoury, long
Finding a properly aged Montepulciano d’Abruzzo of this pedigree is a rare thrill. While visiting one of the region’s most historic, traditional estates — a family famous for holding their top wines back for a decade or more before release — I was offered a tiny allocation of this magnificent 2011 from their personal library. The nose is incredibly complex, offering layers of baked blackberry, dried plum, cured tobacco, leather, and a signature hint of dark cocoa. On the palate, the once-massive tannins have melted into a velvety, seamless texture, carrying savory notes of balsamic and earth through a remarkably long, persistent finish. A profound, soul-stirring expression of mature Abruzzo that is fully ready to drink tonight.
Montepulciano is the grape, not the Tuscan town: a dark, thick-skinned variety grown on the hills between the Apennines and the Adriatic, where cool mountain nights keep its acidity and the sea keeps the summers from burning. Young, it is deep, plummy and tannic; given time, it turns savoury and silky in a way few Italian reds do at the price. The region’s best estates have always made two kinds of wine — the everyday bottle and the one that waits.
This is the one that waited. The estate releases its top Montepulciano only when it considers it ready, often ten years on, and this 2011 came from the family’s own library in a tiny allocation. 2011 in Abruzzo was warm and generous, a vintage of concentration; fifteen years of undisturbed cellaring have done the rest, resolving the tannin into a seamless texture while the fruit turned to dried plum and balsamic. There is nothing to wait for — decant it for an hour and drink it with roast lamb or aged pecorino.