Wine Life - Houston

Our final winery visit on the Abruzzo wine tour was at  Tenuta Ulisse  which is located in Crecchio in the Chieti province. This winery was started by the Ulisse family in 2007 with a goal to become a leader in the region. It is run by brothers Antonio and Luigi. They had a production of 40,000 bottles their first vintage, despite a difficult market, they have continued to grow and ten years later, they are producing just over a million bottles a year. They only use their own grapes so their vineyard holdings have grown as well. They sell half of their production in Italy with the rest sold on the export market in 40 different countries. The family firmly believes in the winemaking traditions of the region, almost 90% of their grapes are pergola trained. They believe the classic training technique works best with the region's terroir in giving them the greatest flexibility in creating shade or allowing more sun to reach the grapes as needed. The winery is state of the a...

Our second stop of the day was at  Masciarelli Winery which is also located in the Chieti province. Open daily to receive guests by appointment, this winery was one of the most tourist friendly  to visit . Masciarelli was founded in 1981. They have 18 labels and 5 product lines. We took a quick tour of the wine making facility and then went to Castello di Semivicoli for a tasting lunch to try the wines. Typically, guests would taste in the shop next to the cellar but you can also  book a tasting at the castle. Castello di Semivicoli is a 17th century baronial mansion that has been renovated into a luxury boutique hotel by by Masciarelli owner, Gianni Masciarellli. I sat across from a window which gave me beautiful views throughout lunch. It also distracted me so I did not take the best notes. I can tell you that the wine and food were delicious, the company was enjoyable, the views were spectacular and the ambience reminded of a more genteel time. The hospital...

Our first stop on our final day of touring was at Codice Citra which was founded in 1973. Codice Citra was quite the change from the smaller family wineries we had visited so far. It has 9 cooperative wineries with 3,000 associated winegrowers in the group. They produce about 20,000,000 bottles from over 14,000 acres each year. Codice Citra has a large and impressive facility. They have the largest cask room in central and southern Italy with the capacity to refine or age close to 200,000 gallons of wine. While most of their wines are made from indigenous grapes, they do also make some international varieties. They are the largest exporter of Abruzzo wines in the world with a presence in 50 countries, this is primarily due to the good quality/price ratio that the company delivers. The wines made by Codice Citra come from the province of Chieti. The vineyard area stretches inland 25 miles from the Adriatic Sea. They began their commitment to sustainable energy and the environment i...

On day two of touring Abruzzo vineyards, we started at Fattoria La Valentina which is located in Spoltore in the Pescara province. One of the owners, Sabatino Di Properzio met our group and took us out to tour the estate Bellovedere Vineyard before our tasting. The vineyard sits just a couple of miles from the Adriatic Sea, that coupled with the cool mountain breezes brings out the best the grapes have to offer. He felt it was important to share that the vines are all pergola trained. Their goal is to intervene as little as possible although the vineyard does have water misters which are only used as needed for troubled spots. The oldest vines are 47 years old, they use what he called "a French approach" changing out plants only as needed. The vineyard is sustainably managed. In the winery, they prefer small French oak barrels with a low toast. The Binomial, one of their single vineyard wines, is refined in barrique. Sabatino Di Properzio says, "Barriques are ...

We wrapped up our tour of wineries in the Teramo province with a tour and a dinner tasting at Emidio Pepe . Grandaughter Chiara Pepe shared the family's history and their winemaking philosophy as she strolled us around the house, the winery and the vineyards. Her grandfather, Emidio Pepe, was an artisanal winemaker from his start in the 1964. He wanted to make high quality, small production wine that told something truthful and showcased the year. He planted local grapes and used pergola training to preserve the naturally high tannins and acidity levels and to ensure polyphenolic ripening from the inside. Their style of winemaking at Emidio Pepe is to make soft, more delicate wines that can age well. Nothing has changed since her grandfather started the winery, Chiara explained, though they did become certified organic in 1998 and biodynamic in 2006. As Chiara showed the concrete tanks that Emidio Pepe prefers as he feels they help to achieve a more elegant style while also ...

This winery was founded as Fattoria Nicò or Nico's Farm in 1890 by Nicola Illuminati. It would grow substantially by the 1970s under the direction of his grandson, Dino, with the purchase of more vineyard land. Today, the family at  Azienda Agricola Dino Illuminati  oversees more than 300 acres between the Adriatic Sea and the Gran Sasso mountain. Dino's son Stefano and his grandson Nicola met our group out in the vineyard where we immediately saw the signs of a sustainably maintained vineyard with every other row alternating between grassy cover crops and vineyard dirt. Baby grapes were taking shape out on the vines under an ominous late afternoon cloud cover that quickly cooled the warm spring temperatures down. We snapped a quick group photo and headed to the winery. When we arrived to the covered patio, no one was more surprised than me to find the Texas flag on display. There will be more on that in an upcoming issue of Galveston Monthly magazine so stay tuned, the gi...

As originally seen in the June edition of Galveston Monthly magazine

The second stop on the  Abruzzo wine tour was for a tasting of the wines of  Azienda Agricola Camillo Mont ori over lunch at  Ristorante Pαlαzzo Ducαle dellα Montαgnolα . Our host was owner Camillo Montori who toured us around his 15th century castle which has, over time, been a wine estate, a convent and is now a restaurant and event center.  Among the estate's artifacts are the original well, a16th century winemaking room and a stone o live oil press. Camillo Montori has great passion for the Abruzzo region, he loves its architecture, its art and its history, he feels all of these things have contributed to its wine and food culture.  After the tour, we went into the restaurant for the wine tasting served with some classic Abruzzo pairings. Our lunch started with   prosciutto  and cheese served with the Fonte Cupa Trebbiano d’Abruzzo 2017, an easy drinking white wine with red apple notes made from the region's most important indige...

My first stop on the Abruzzo wine tour was at organic wine producer  Fattoria Nicodemi   which is located  in the town of Notaresco in the Colline Teramane DOCG. This DOCG was originally part of the larger Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC but became its own distinct growing area with new stricter regulations in 2003. The name translates to the hills around Teramo and is considered to have a more favorable climate that leads to superior tannin development. The production area is small with less than 300 acres under vine, rules involve smaller yields and a longer required aging period. Fattoria Nicodemi has almost 75 of these hillside acres and produces about 200,000 bottles a year. Elena Nicodemi met our group and took us out onto a terrace that oversees the vineyards to share her thoughts on the terroir of Colline Teramane. The vineyard sits at 1000 feet above sea level and has a medium textured mix of limestone and clay soil which, she said, is typical for the area. The vin...