Located on the coast of Abruzzo, north of Pescara in the province of Teramo, in Colleranesco near the (shellfishing) port of Giulianova, the Faraone family produce classic Abruzzo wines from circa 12ha.
The family property is focused around one valley that runs perpendicular to the Adriatic coast & two vineyards, ‘Convento’ & ‘Collepietro’ in the comune of Mosciano Sant’Angelo, part of the Colli Aprutini zone. ‘Convento’ with pergola/tendone Montepulciano vines – planted with the R7 clone – while ‘Collepietro’, bought by padre Giovanni in 2000, is made up of filari/rows. They have been organic since 2015. They do not fertilize nor irrigate unless absolutely necessary.
The family Faraone’s story dates back to 1916, & particularly to the 1930s when the family first planted Montepulciano, Sangiovese & Passerina – a variety locally known as ‘Trebbiano Teramano’. Bottling started in 1970 with the family’s first bottle of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, & then in 1972 with Trebbiano d’Abruzzo. Giovanni “Nino” Faraone, padre of Federico the current titolare & his brother Alfonso, was inspired by his honeymoon to Champagne with his wife Paola that in 1979 he began producing metodo classico from Passerina grapes, before receiving official authorization in 1983.
Son Federico studied enologia in Friuli Venezia Giulia, before working in France, New Zealand, & Umbria, joining his father in 2014, then in 2017 as a partner, before the premature scomparso of Giovanni in 2019. Since 2020 Federico has been working hard to produce wines that display more fruit, definition & distinction, while producing more Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo to meet demand, drawing on the quality of the local, tendone-trellised Montepulciano fruit, & for which the family’s pale campari-red Cerasuolo style has become a point of reference for all Cerasuolo producers.
They also make a late release Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Colline Teramane DOCG (since 2003) from Collepietro (filari) fruit that ages for 48 months in 35HL recently regenerated botti grande.
And of course there’s the Dosaggio Zero Metodo Classico Spumante from Passerina, & now a Rosé Spumante made from Sangiovese.
Tenuta del Priore is a family-owned Abruzzese cantina making classic Abruzzo Bianco, Pecorino, Passerina, Montepulciano & Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo wines from 53ha of vineyards near the village of Collecorvino, in the province of Pescara; 75% of the estate is devoted to Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. The vineyards are located high up in sight of the Adriatic Sea, on calcareous clay, morainic & silty soils rich with (calc) stones among the Colline Pescaresi & close to Pescara & the Adriatic sea. Indeed their top, 4.5ha, Montepulciano vineyard, ‘Filiani’ (after the previous owner), lies but 3km from the seaside at a breezy c.270m asl on a range of silty limestone hills close to the village of Città Sant’Angelo, within the DOCG zone of Colline Teramo in the provincia of Atri. Its fruit goes into the ‘Kerrias’ label.
The property has been owned by the Mazzocchetti family for many generations, who started bottling their wines in 1973. Fabrizio Mazzocchetti (pictured left) is the latest generation to assume responsibility for the estate, along with his father Antonio. Notably Fabrizio learned his trade outside Abruzzo, attending wine school in Florence before honing his (white) wine-making skills in Alto Adige at the the famous San Michele Appiano cantina, Bolzano. Fabrizio’s first vintage was in 2001 & since then he has worked hard to fine-tune the viticulture & vinification. From 2017 Fabrizio has been working hard to bring more clarity, rigour & definition to his ‘Col del Mondo’ Montepulciano. A slightly earlier harvest date, less (new) barriques, plus the adoption of Clyuver cermaic eggs for l’affinamento has definitely helped.
Giovanna Fabrizii, Fabrizio’s wife, manages him, their two boys, & the office!
They are proud of their ‘Campotino’ range of wines, that delivers high quality, terroir expressive, affordable drinking from younger, guyot-trained vines in cooler spots with lighter soils. The whites (Abruzzo Bianco, Pecorino & Passerina) are expertly made to give clear fruit expression & a sense of place, without the use of oak; as does the rosato Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo & the inky purple Montepulciano d’Abruzzo; refined in cement tanks.
Fabrizio also makes a ‘Col del Mondo‘ range, which he started when he joined the business. This range comes from older 21yo + spur-trained vines planted in more favourable, white calcareous clay & morainic soils over looking the Adriatic.
Harvesting of the white grapes usually takes place in this order: Pecorino, Trebbiano, Passerina & lastly Fiano (di Avellino)
Stelvin, DIAM5 & Amorim NDTech corks