2023 Il Faggio Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

The name, Il Faggio, derives from the fabulous beech trees which proliferate in this area, especially in the Abruzzo national park.

The grapes for this wine were grown on a mixture of hillside sites and flatter vineyard plots near the sea, surrounding the town of San Salvo in Abruzzo. Cultivated in the Guyot method, the vines are located at 100-150 metres above sea level.

The 2023 vintage was a warm harvest with very little rain. Careful work in the vineyard, and the decision to bring harvest forward resulted in excellent quality grapes.

Only the highest quality grapes, primarily hand-harvested, were selected for this blend. At the winery, the grapes were destemmed, crushed, and transferred to stainless steel tanks. The must was inoculated with carefully chosen yeast strains and fermented for around six days at temperatures reaching up to 34° C. Regular pump-overs, initially more frequent to enhance extraction, became less frequent as fermentation progressed. After pressing, malolactic fermentation took place.