ABRUZZO: land of sheepdogs and rugged rock, from the heights of the Gran Sasso peak, rolling all the way downward to the sea. This spectacular region in central Italy, framed by the Apennines to the west and the Adriatic to the east, absolutely hasn’t gotten the shine or attention in the wine world that it should, despite its viticultural history being very long, in fact, dating from before the Romans. The Benedictines, once Rome fell, also in their time saw and understood that this deeply agricultural place was special for the vine, and protected the varieties and work here; and the feudal period starting in the 13th century saw powerful political families in Abruzzo emphasizing further development of vineyards and building wineries, clear as it was that this land saddled in between mountains and sea was capable of world-class, noble wines.
 
Obviously, most people interested in wine know the region for Montepulciano these days—with plenty of confusion among general consumers as to whether Montepulciano is a grape or a “kind” of wine. Given that the most famous appellation, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, includes both items, we’re hoping by this point we can add a bit of nuance. Much like many winemaking regions in Italy, after the two World Wars, Abruzzo suffered a decades-long period of languishing, but now-famous producers such as Emidio Pepe in the early ’60s; Edoardo Valentini in the 1950s, establishing the famous domaine we now know; and others, like Masciarelli, Praesidium, and so on have restored quality winemaking and serious farming to the region. Now, some generations later, Abruzzo is in a period of genuine revival, with natural and artisanal smaller producers following in these iconic steps, creating a second wave of exciting, personal farms and cantine.
 
That’s where we introduce Lorenza Ludovico, our winemaker who cultivates a tiny two hectares of rugged, old-fashioned vineyards in the mountainous area of L’Aquila in Abruzzo. It’s a truly rural place, with rocky peaks wrapped in trailing clouds, vines trained high enough so wild boars can’t get to the fruit. The vineyards were planted by her father and grandfather, as with many small young producers in Italy, but she is the first in her family to take up the mantle of winemaker, much to her father’s bemusement (he was pretty amazed at Americans visiting their small stone cantina when we visited—a new life for their property, to be sure!).
Lorenza’s wines are full-fruited, expressive, and unfurl in the glass the more you give them air—despite the heat and the power that Abruzzo’s Mediterranean climate can prompt, the altitude of Ludovico’s vineyards and the health in her vines and ferments also help retain a clear freshness and vibrancy in her work, helping to lift the wines. The thing we notice most about them is how, despite their power, they also feel energetic.

In a way, Lorenza’s work is simple, with the wines vinified in stainless steel in the aforementioned tiny cellar, part of the family’s stone country house in their home village of Vittorito, some centuries old. But her three wines: red, which in much of Abruzzo was called the ‘black’ wine; rosato or the famous Cerasuolo, understood locally as the ‘light red’ or ‘real red;’ and bianco—each deliver a significantly more personal and higher-quality wine than what is industrially made in the region, and certainly against what's routinely available in our market. All three wines have a distinctly mentholate aspect to them, a resonance of the scraggly pines and scrub that ring the region, no fear of ripeness, and tons of vibrancy.
 
We're proud to be working with Lorenza; we love sharing her love letter to the rough, mountainous climes of Abruzzo that we don’t always get to see or drink—these wines are quite different from the low-lying coastal or hilly expressions of the region to the east, for example, and Lorenza’s developing hand as a winemaker in general is to our eye very exciting. Don’t miss her gorgeous Cerasuolo, if we can give personal counsel—it’s one of the most characterful, glossy, and vibrant we’ve had in years.
We’ll leave you with Lorenza’s own words as a summary of her home and work: “Generous land, for those who know how to handle it with bare hands. Skin to skin. Cultivation is culture, an ancient art of making. Work is both subsistence and resistance, an equally ancient art of choosing sides. The companion is the countryside.”