Terre di Civita Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2025
£22.25
The wine
Fresh and refined, with lifted aromas of wild red fruits and subtle notes of sweet spice. The rounded palate is enveloped in smooth tannins and underpinned by a vibrant freshness and harmonious minerality.
This is the wine that began Terre di Civita’s own label: the estate first bottled its Montepulciano d’Abruzzo in 2022, and fewer than 1,200 bottles were made. The vineyard sits in Contrada Civita at Pollutri, around ten kilometres from the Adriatic at about 180 metres, facing north on calcareous, stony soils that give the wine its freshness and mineral edge. The vines are trained on the Pergola Trentina and picked by hand. The grapes are destemmed, gently macerated and fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel with no oak, keeping the fruit pure.
The producer
Terre di Civita
View all Terre di Civita winesTerre di Civita is a family estate of just 2.7 hectares at Contrada Civita, in Pollutri, in the province of Chieti. The vineyard lies around ten kilometres inland from the Adriatic coast of Abruzzo, and the family have farmed grapes here since the early 1960s.
For most of that time the fruit went to others. In 2022 the estate began a new chapter under owner Francesco di Fonzo, bottling a small quantity of its own Montepulciano d'Abruzzo for the first time. That first vintage ran to fewer than 1,200 bottles. A Pecorino followed, also made in tiny volumes.
The vineyard faces north, at roughly 165 to 180 metres, on calcareous, stony soils. In a region as warm as Abruzzo that cooler aspect matters: the grapes ripen slowly and keep their freshness and natural acidity even in hot years. The vines are trained on the traditional Pergola Trentina, whose canopy shades the fruit through the hottest weeks of summer.
Farming is deliberately light-handed, with chemicals kept to a minimum and intervention only when the vines need it. Every bunch is picked by hand and only the healthiest fruit is selected in the vineyard. The wines are fermented in stainless steel with no oak, so the fruit and the place speak plainly. The family also produce extra virgin olive oil from the same land.
