Each month, David Brenner of Villasfor2 in Abruzzo recommends a ‘Special Italian Wine’ for you to try and enjoy at home – or on your Abruzzo holiday.

Montepulciano D'Abruzzo. 'Il Fondatore' 2003. Cantina Miglianico.

Welcome to the first in the new 'Special Italian Wine' series.   

In the 'Everyday Italian Wine' series that preceded this, we recommended wines under €10 a bottle. After 50 posts, I felt we'd taken this format as far as it could go – but that there was still a huge cellarful of Italian wine costing more than €10 a bottle waiting to be explored. 

Hence this new monthly series, in which we'll be featuring wines for special meals, special occasions – or for when you simply feel like treating yourself to a better bottle than usual.

As always, you may have to wait until you visit Italy for your Abruzzo holiday to try one or two; others will be available where you live. But all will be from tasted-and-trusted wineries and producers.

If you followed the 'Everyday Italian Wine' series, you'll know that I'm a big fan of our local Cantina Miglianico co-op, so I thought I'd start this new series with their absolute top-of-the range offering – 'Il Fondatore', named in honour of Don Vincenzo Pizzica who founded the cantina in 1961.

'Il Fondatore' is a big, powerful wine, weighing in at 14%. Unusually, it's a Montepulciano D'Abruzzo and Cabernet Sauvingnon blend, which gives it a real depth, staying power and character.

The grapes are quite simply the very best that Miglianico can source from their 400-odd growers. Only the juice from the first pressing is used and is then given 12 months in oak, followed by another 12 months in its heavy, distinctive flask-shaped bottle before release.

Kept properly, wine from a good year – and 2003 was excellent – will be fine for around a decade following the vintage, so this bottle has had a chance to hit its stride nicely. If you can, it really pays to decant this – and in fact pretty much any bottle of red wine – an hour or so before you intend drinking it.

It's difficult to explain why without coming over as a bit pretentious about 'letting the wine breathe', so just try doing it with the next bottle of moderately-OK red you open – and see what you think.

But assuming you've poured this bottle of 'Il Fondatore' into a handy jug a little earlier, you'll be rewarded with a huge waft that combines the best of Montepulciano D'Abruzzo and Cabernet Sauvignon. Fruit in abundance, with hints of cherries and blackcurrants, liquorice and cedarwood. The tannins have now softened to provide depth and staying power to the wine. The finish is long and pleasantly dry.

Cantina Miglianico recommend you drink 'Il Fondatore' with rich meat dishes. So we did. And they're right.

At A Glance…

• This month's featured wine: 'Il Fondatore'
• Vintage: 2003
• Producer: Cantina Miglianico
• Designation: DOC
• Grape: 85% Montepulciano D'Abruzzo; 15% Cabernet Sauvignon
• Strength: 14%
• Closure: Cork
• This bottle cost: €12.50

Next Month…

Prosecco is Italy's favourite anytime fizz. The best comes from the Valdobbiadene area of the Veneto in the north-east of the country – but within that area is a much smaller 'Grand Cru' region producing Prosecco Superiore di Cartizze – 'the best of the best'.

Prosecco di Cartizze costs more than twice as much as 'regular' Prosecco. But is it really twice as good ? We're going to taste both – and let you know…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 at 3:27 am and is filed under Eating and Drinking, Special Italian Wine, Vineyards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.