wine region - The Michael Pour

For this week’s spotlight, The Michael Pour takes you on a journey to Southern Italy along the coast of the Adriatic Sea.

Here you will find one of Italy’s best kept secrets and underrated wine regions, Abruzzo “uh-brut-sow”. Recently, I’ve learned about a new winery emerging in the region. The winery is called “Cantina di Rosina” and their wonderful story, and family history is depicted below.

“Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, our ancestors produced quality wine in the Southern Abruzzo region of Italy. After WWI, our grandparents emigrated from war-torn Italy to the US in search of a better life for their family. Now, 100 years later, they have returned to my beautiful ancestral village of Carunchio to carry on producing wines that are approachable, elegant, and capture the spirit of this stunning region. Carunchio is a commune and town in the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region of Italy.

They’ve assembled a world-class team of viticulturists, oenologists, and winemakers to pay tribute to this beautiful land and all it has to offer. Great wine begins with great respect for the land. Our ongoing mission to share the beauty of Abruzzo with the world…one glass at a time.” – John, my Friend & Proprietor

Cantina di Rosina’s first vintage was 2024. Their Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2024 is described as being sturdy with solid structure, yet soft tannins with a long finish. It spends some time in concrete creating complexity and texture before going into stainless steel (no oak).

Flavors of dark cherry, leather, and hibiscus are exhibited. It will pair well with any type of game, grilled red meats, cured meats, and ripe cheeses. Serve it at cellar temp or slightly below room temp at 60°- 65°F. Don’t hold onto for very long.

The Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo is a bold rosé with a cherry red color from a gentle kiss of skin contact. With a maceration of only 4 hours on the skins before fermentation, the color is deep and vibrant. It is made 100% from the Montepulciano grape and is essentially a rosé that drinks like a red offering a full spectrum of food pairings.

Not your normal “pink” wine or rosé for that matter. It projects an intense aroma of rose petals and flavors of wild berries and a savory herbaceous quality that lingers. Try it as an aperitif! Drink young.

Enjoy it chilled (50°- 54°F) all summer long by itself or with an array of food options, like seafood dishes, roasted white meats, pizza, cured meats, and semi-matured cheeses. I experienced this awesome wine with homemade bucatini pasta, blush sauce, andouille sausage, shrimp, and fresh herbs over the weekend, and it was a lovely pairing.

The Trebbiano d’Abruzzo DOC 2024 will be released in the next few weeks so you can enjoy all summer-long.

All the wines are 100% certified organic with sustainable farming practices. I have tried the wines, and they are very clean, bright, and complex.

A little bit about the Abruzzo region to better understand the land, microclimate, vineyards, and what goes into the wine that is produced here.

Abruzzo is an Italian region located about a two-hour drive east of Rome. Abruzzo extends from the snow-capped Apennine Mountains to the balmy Adriatic Sea. This magical scenic region offers summits and seacoast, medieval castles and clifftop villages.

It is a major wine region famous for robust Montepulciano d’Abruzzo red wines and crisp Trebbiano d’Abruzzo whites. The region is characterized by mountainous terrain, with most production in the coastal Chieti province, offering high-value, quality wines often with soft tannins and red fruit flavors.

National parks and nature reserves cover much of its rugged interior. It also encompasses hilltop towns, dating to the medieval and Renaissance periods. The regional capital of L’Aquila is a walled city, which was damaged in a 2009 earthquake.

Abruzzo is also known as “the greenest region in Europe” as half of the region’s territory is protected through national parks and nature reserves, more than any other region in Italy. Culturally, Abruzzo is considered a region of Southern Italy; however, geographically it is often considered part of Central Italy.

The focus in Abruzzo is on the Montepulciano grape referred to as Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. It’s a versatile grape, in the sense that it can satisfy many different palates. Montepulciano is a fruit-forward dry red with a medium to full body, medium to high smooth tannins, and medium to high acidity. Notes of red plum, blackberry, dried herbs and thyme, and baking spices.

It is not be confused with Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, which is a wine made from the Sangiovese grape in the town of Montepulciano from the Tuscany region.

It can be vinified and aged in stainless steel to give a simple, approachable wine and food-friendly with freshness and expression of the fruit. For low crops, it can be aged in casks or barriques, sometimes new barriques, to create wines that have greater depth, concentration and complexity.

The oaked Montepulcianos coming out of the region are not wines for everyday drinking because they can be very dense, inky, and powerful. These bottlings can be a great option for the winter months. Some can develop gamey aromas with age while others continue to display primary fruit flavors for years.

Montepulciano does typically age well, but it’s not a wine that requires you to age in order to enjoy now and show complexity.

Montepulciano is the most planted grape in the Abruzzo region. It represents 80% of the total DOC wine produced in Abruzzo. The Montepulciano grape has been in Abruzzo since the mid 17th Century. According to DOC rules, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo wines must contain at least 85% Montepulciano, with Sangiovese often used for the rest. Bottles labeled “Riserva” must be aged at least two years.

Another reiteration of Montepulciano is Cerasuolo “chair-ah-swolo” which translates to “cherry red” and refers to an Italian wine style. It is Abruzzo’s best kept secret! Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo is a Rosé made from the Montepulciano grape. It is made from the free run juice and/or juice with very little skin contact and the color can vary from light pink to dark red. A rosé wine that is usually made by giving the juice a maceration of eight to 18 hours on the skins before fermentation.

The result is almost like a light red rather than a rosé. A wine with body and succulence not typically rosés. It’s very popular in the region, but you will not see many exported. However, that is starting to change though in recent years.

Even in a good pizzeria in the regional capital of Pescara, you don’t necessarily want to drink a rich red all the time. Cerasuolo, with its vinosity and weight, is actually best drunk lightly chilled. Most producers agree that you shouldn’t consider Cerasuolo a way to use up your least interesting grapes or put in a blend. It should be made from grapes of high quality and treated seriously even its rosé.

The signature white from Abruzzo is Trebbiano d’Abruzzo is a light white Italian wine known for its dark gold or amber-colored berries, high acidity and neutral flavor profile that produces stone fruit and apple aromas with hits of lemon. Though production remains small when compared to Montepulciano, it is starting to make an appearance on the world stage.

Being a very large and dispersed region of vineyards, Abruzzo is divided into many sub-regions, and there are also DOCs that are permitted to use non-Italian varieties such as Chardonnay or Merlot. Only someone who is an expert of Abruzzo terroir would be able to identify the many sub-zones for Montepulciano in the glass. Look for different styes of Sangiovese coming out of the region.

In many older regional vineyards, the vines are trained on tendone (pergolas) designed to shade the grape clusters and make harvest easier. Newer plantings are arranged in rows.

Tons of sunshine and generous rainfall provide happy growing conditions for wine grapes in Abruzzo. The higher elevations and combination of mountain and maritime breezes bring down summer temperatures, setting up conditions for warm days and chillier nights. This is ideal for maintaining acid balance in the ripeness. Most vineyards flow along the warm and dry coast in the nearby hills.

I am excited to be representing Cantina di Rosina winery as an ambassador in the Upstate and Central New York region so let me know if you want to schedule a tasting or place an order. Orders can be placed directly from their website or from my link in bio.

You can contact me, Michael Nagy, at 717.877.2729 or michael@cantinarosina.it The wines are truly remarkable by themselves but will also elevate your food experience and company.

If you have an Italian restaurant, steakhouse, pizzeria, or wine shop, these wines will be a perfect complement to your food menu and Italian wine section.

Allow me to share the beauty and story of Abruzzo and Cantina di Rosina (CdR) with you. Find the website at www.cantinarosina.it and on Instagram @cantinarosina. Follow them and me @themichaelpour 🙂

Cheers & Saluti,

Michael

On the largest island in the contiguous US, you will find diverse wine styles from well-structured red wines to refreshing white, rosé, and sparkling wines. The North Fork of Long Island, which is located 75 miles east of New York City, is known for its tranquil waterfront charm, pebble beaches, lush farmland and rich vegetation, and wealth of family-run and sustainable vineyards.

The Long Island American Viticultural Area (AVA) has a similar maritime climate to the classic Bordeaux Region of France due to its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. With being surrounded by water, the area is well protected from the cold and harsh winter seasons and the hottest summers, which is ideal for growing Bordeaux-type varieties.

Unlike other regions in New York, Long Island has always focused on Vitis vinifera grapes because it’s a warmer climate. It doesn’t have to focus just on cool climate and hybrid varieties. Even though it has a warmer climate, Long Island has the tumultuous Atlantic Ocean influence, which is why many vineyards are located in the North Fork sub-region of Long Island. The vineyards here are protected by the Peconic Bay around the island.

Terroir

Terroir is a French term literally meaning ‘sense of place’ describing the growing conditions for wine grapes. As mentioned earlier, Long Island has a very similar climate to Bordeaux but is a little warmer. With more growing days and hours of sunshine, you might expect riper styles of wine. In fact, Long Island has the same latitude as hot Barcelona, Spain. However, because of the cold Atlantic Ocean, Long Island wines tend to be ripe, but not over ripe or jammy compared to traditional warm climates, like California, Spain, and Australia.

One of the other factors affecting grape-growing in Long Island is the higher amount of precipitation, but the free draining, indigenous sandy soils and glacial moraines remaining from the last Ice Age drain away any excess water. This prevents the grapes from becoming bloated causing increased sugar levels, which can be catastrophic for dry wines.

The combination of adequate sunshine, moderately warm weather, gravelly and sandy soils, and proximity to the ocean leads to juicy red wines that are not overly tannic, heavy, or high in alcohol. The resulting red wines have savory aromas and characteristics, and white wines are high in acid with a unique saline profile not found too often in other wine regions around the world.

Long Island Wines

There are Bordeaux varieties, such as Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon, but also traditional-method Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, some edgy styles of Pet Nat, and orange wines. Many of the wines, thanks to the cooling influence of the Atlantic, are lower in alcohol, around 11-12.5%, with lighter styles from Bordeaux and fresh fruit flavors.

Sub-Regions of Long Island

The main AVA is Long Island but, in reality, the main spot where most vineyards are planted is in North Fork, thanks to the protection of Peconic Bay. However, people can source grapes from the entire Island where you will see Long Island AVA on the label.

North Fork of Long Island

The North Fork of Long Island is warmer than the rest of Long Island (including the Hamptons) and receives more sunshine leading to wines with riper fruit flavors and fuller bodies, and often higher alcohol compared to other NY regions in New York. The North Fork of Long Island AVA was established in 1986, sixteen years before Long Island AVA.

Over the last 10 years or so, the North Fork has enjoyed a major evolution with critical acclaim from wine experts and the international wine community. I have become fascinated with the quality and versatility of their wines that I started to use North Fork wines for my company events and wine tastings with clients as well as enjoying them myself and in my travels. Look for their wines to be featured and reviewed here and on social media.

One winery in particular whom I’ve recently become an unofficial brand ambassador for is Macari Vineyards. Macari Vineyards, whose 500 acres features a beautiful and spacious tasting room and covered deck where top-end red flights, a bottle of the cult-favorite ‘Horses’ Pet-Nat, and award-winning Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Bergen Road Red Blend are paired with charcuterie, cheese, and other delicacies.

Macari’s wine estate, which is biodynamic and sustainable, is located in Mattituck overlooking scenic Long Island Sound. The property has been in the family for over 40 years spanning three generations using traditional farming methods. The family themselves nurture the soil and vines. Nearby, Meadowlark, Macari’s sister property, pours small-batch wines and hosts events. Visit their site at the hyperlink above. I look forward to a visit there soon.

The Hamptons of Long Island

Established in 1985, this southern part of the island is better known for celebrity beach houses and where affluent New Yorkers go to get away from it all. However, it’s also a great place for refreshing wines from Long Island, particularly rosé and sparkling wines. Cooler than the North Fork due to massive exposure to the Atlantic Ocean, you can expect higher acid content in the wine along with lighter styles and zesty white wines.

Quick Facts:

There are 90 Wineries in Long Island as of 2022.
Largest island in the contiguous United States.
Established May 15, 2001.
New vineyards planted in 1973 in North Fork sub-region.
1815 acres of vineyards planted.
First vineyards were planted in the 1820s, but all succumbed to disease pressure.
Over half the planted acres in Long Island are in the dedicated sustainability program (LISW).
Merlot is the most planted grape variety in Long Island.

As the parent of the super popular Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc is often overshadowed by its own progeny. It also the parent of Merlot. However, this underrated grape produces some very good, complex, and food-friendly wines that are the best in the world mirroring those from Loire Valley and Bordeaux, France. Cab Franc is truly the signature red grape of Long Island and all of NY.

Wines made from Cab Franc range from light and quaffable to rich and tannic depending on both region and winemaking styles. Cool-climate examples from the Loire Valley, Finger Lakes, or Long Island can be lively and fresh with tart red fruit, green pepper notes, and better than average acidity.

They can be aged in stainless steel for a punchier red fruit expression and lighter style or in oak barrels to add hints of cedar, tobacco, and spice with fuller body. Cabernet Francs from warmer sites like Napa Valley and Paso Robles can result in bigger wines with juicy, ripe fruit, and typically a heavier oak influence with use of American or new oak barrels.

Cheers,

Michael Nagy, michael@michaelpour.com

Tag: wine region

Cantina di Rosina: A Majestic Slice of Abruzzo

Getting to Know the Long Island Wine Region of NY

Terroir

Long Island Wines

Sub-Regions of Long Island

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