Montepulciano

Montepulciano (pronounced monty-pull-chi-arno) is a red wine grape mostly found in central Italy's Abruzzo region. It creates deeply coloured Montepulciano wines with great fruitiness – think cherry and plum – and moderate tannins often perfect for easy-drinking. However, it's crucial to distinguish it from Vino Nobile di Montepulciano wines, made primarily from Sangiovese grapes. 

Fun fact: the Australians affectionately call it Monte or “Monty”.

Montepulciano is a thick-skinned grape, with bountiful anthocyanins which produce lots of purple colour in its wines, but minimal tannin and acidity, with a few exceptions. It ripens late and needs heat to fully mature – that’s why you’ll find it grown in central and southern Italy, not in the north. If unchecked, it’ll produce high yields, so it’s important as a grower to prune back the vines and limit production, especially if a winemaker is aiming for a more serious style of wine.

Easy confusion ahead – don’t be caught out! 

The Montepulciano grape has nothing to do with the Tuscan town of Montepulciano and its famous wine called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, which is made from the Sangiovese grape.

Most Montepulciano is made into an early-drinking red wine, medium-bodied with fruity flavours of plum and cherry, possibly a bit earthy, with little tannin and not much acidity. It’s an easy-drinking style. 

There are, however, a handful of growers who aim to make a serious, barrel-aged red, that can age gracefully. For this, they need to keep yields particularly low and often source grapes from older vines. 

In Abruzzo, a rosé (or rosato in Italian) can also be made from Montepulciano – it’s called Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo DOC. Cerasuolo means pale cherry red and is a deeper hue than today’s fashionable Provence-style rosés – and all the more refreshing for that! They tend to be fruity and fresh, while those pinks with a more structure and deeper fruit can actually age.  These are usually the Superiore version, a term which speaks for itself. Less than 1,000 hectares of this grape are used for rosé, a tenth of what is reserved for the red wines.

Montepulciano’s origins are in Abruzzo, on Italy’s central eastern coast. There it grows both close to the sea and inland, up in the hills. Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC is its best-known wine, although it can boast one Abruzzi DOCG (a step up in quality), called Colline Teramane DOCG. 

In the Marches region, just to the north of Abruzzo, it is the main grape in Rosso Conero and Offida Rosso DOCs, and appears as part of the blend in its Rosso Piceno DOC.

South of Abruzzo, lies Italy’s smallest region – Molise – and there it is the hero grape of Biferno DOC, while in Puglia, right to the south, it must be at least 70% of the blend in San Servero Rosso and also appears in Alezio, Castel del Monte and a number of other DOCs. There is a little also in Umbria, Lazio and Emilia-Romagna.

98% of Montepulciano is grown in Italy, with 1% in Australia, in the Adelaide Hills (try the juicy-fresh style of RedHeads Monte), Barossa Valley and Riverland. And beyond that … there’s a 1% smattering in Turkey, Croatia, Mexico, California, Chile, Argentina and New Zealand.

Serving Montepulciano will depend on the style of wine you’ve chosen. 

1)    The young, easy-going fruity Montepulciano reds can be served at a cool room-temperature, in summer, even lightly chilled.

2)    Serious-style reds, the very dark, low-yield, barrel-aged wines, are best at room-temperature.

3)    A Cerasuolo needs to be well chilled.

Food partners will depend on the type of Montepulciano – soft red, rosé or the intense, barrel-aged red.

• Pizza and pasta – casual suppers of pizza and pasta suit the easy-going, fruit-driven style of Montepulciano down to a tee.
• Cheese – the low tannins of the younger style of Montepulciano makes it an easy choice with both hard and soft cheeses. The serious style Monte will have more prominent tannins that need the protein of the harder cheeses to balance them.
• Meats – think white meats like roast chicken or pork for the soft, young-style of Montepulciano or its rosato; save the rare, barrel-aged red wines for red meat dishes like steak or roast lamb.
• Spanakopita – a great choice with both the soft red or the Cerasuolo.
• Risotto – also a good partner for the soft red or the pink, not the weightier red.
• Middle Eastern spices – treating friends or family to a spread of middle eastern dishes, the Cerasuolo will be perfect.

Discover more tasty food and wine pairing tips.