Agricola Caprera "Le Vasche" Cerasuolo D'Abruzzo DOC 2024

This rosé of Montepulciano has a floral, earthy, umami-like nose, with aromas of rose water, citrus blossom, sour cherry and topsoil. The palate has deeper, more mature fruit flavors of cherry and strawberry, but also a balancing undertone of salty stone that sets up a finish of blood orange zest. Complex and funky. Lively acidity. Overall great wine with a glowing energy.

The name “Cerasuolo” comes from the term “cerasa,” which means cherry -- the small and delicate fruit that this wine evokes with its color and sensory notes. Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo is a unique wine that can hardly be classified within the usual wine typologies. It is rather a category in and of itself. It is a rosé wine made from Montepulciano grapes, making it a wine of contrasts by nature. Between a red – from which it takes structure and complexity – and a rosé – from which it keeps the freshness, fineness and enjoyability.

100% Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, hand-picked,  de-stemmed and pressed whole. The must ferments spontaneously and is aged in steel tanks. After bottling, it ages in the bottle for a few months before release.

Supported and inspired by scions of Italian natural wine such as Emidio Pepe and Francesco Guccione, Luca Paolo Virgilio has built a farm in Pietranico from which to explore the meaning of nature in this wild zone of Italy, where the mountains and sea seem almost to collide. Over 22 windswept hectares, dominated by forests, Luca Paolo farms just a few hectares of vines alongside olive trees, grains and beehives.

This is just a decade-old winery, but the farm is in the heart of a centuries-old region for winemaking: Pietranico, Abruzzo. Here, at 400 meters of elevation, stone crushing vats -- le vasche -- of untold age dot the agricultural landscape. This is an area almost prehistorically known for wine growing. Soils are limestone and bluish clay marls. The magic of Abruzzo is encapsulated in Caprera’s Cerasuolo: pure but pulsating, deft yet never timid.

Organic farming and low-intervention winemaking from the start, with low sulfur, spontaneous fermentations, and no oak for aging. Just a few thousand bottles made each year, these are beautifully pure, savory wines from Abruzzo -- clean, but intensely proud of their place and personality.