In this column, our goal is to deepen our knowledge of vines, or those extraordinary climbing plants from which we obtain the fruit from which the wine that we are so passionate about comes from and leads us to document ourselves and deepen the topic and this is one of the occasions that we have in order not to take everything for granted and to err on the side of lightness.
It would not be right to speak of Abruzzo excellence, at least from a wine-making point of view, without making some reference to the cherry which is in fact the rosé wine of this region par excellence, or worse, only because it comes from a vine already treated, speaking of red wine .
Fortunately, it is not necessary to be a great expert to appreciate and taste a good wine, and someone could do it regularly, but without having a clear idea of how it is produced and which grape variety it comes from.
Could it be the fruit of the very famous union of red and white wine? Let’s say no!
Perhaps some of our great-grandparents have even tried it and may have even succeeded, but today other methods are preferable, especially since in Italy it would not even be allowed by law.
But then, how do we manage to obtain this wine with such fascinating characteristics?
Origins
First of all, it is necessary to fix in our mind that the cerasuolo d’Abruzzo comes from the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo vine, that is, the grapes are precisely those of the most famous and representative red grape variety of Abruzzo.
So we are talking about the same vine we talked about last time, whose history is more than two thousand years old and which kept Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and cerasuolo linked within the same denomination until 2010 when the cerasuolo was also able to finally be recognized as a DOC wine.
Production methods
That said, the systems to produce it are many even if the most used, and I am not referring only to our Abruzzo rosé, but also to any other rosé wine in the world, is that of the white vinification of red berried grapes .
In practice, the grapes, once pressed, remain in maceration together with the skins and seeds for a short period of time, sufficient to transfer the necessary levels of coloring substances and tannins required by the winemaker, to achieve the final product.
In reality there are many other methods to produce rosé wine, we think of the bleeding , or the assembly , particularly used in the production of sparkling wines, or direct pressing, but at the moment we prefer to focus on the grape variety and on the characteristics of the wine produced.
This grape variety, in the cherry version, has managed to create a wine with a beautiful pink color in the classic soft tones, cherry and claret, with nuances ranging from salmon to onion skin, coral as well as intense floral hints of rose, jasmine, geranium and fruity cherries, raspberries, strawberries and currants, in addition to the typical widespread vinosity or the almond aftertaste and many others.
The resulting wine is usually full-bodied, with a good persistence, characterized by a nice acidity and minerality, a delicate tannin and an absolutely balanced and attractive warmth and softness.
Diffusion
The production area of Cerasuolo is identifiable in the land particularly suitable for quality viticulture of the four Abruzzo provinces and it can be had in the basic and “superior” version in which both must have at least 85% Montepulciano d’Abruzzo grape variety and the remaining 15% from black grape varieties suitable for cultivation in the Abruzzo region.
Once again from the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo grape, we have managed to obtain an elegant and refined wine that has brought prestige to our region.
Pairings
The cherry has the characteristic of being combined with almost everything, at a not very cold temperature of at least 8-10 degrees, managing to satisfy even the undecided, with aperitifs, appetizers, fish dishes, vegetarian dishes, white and red meats as well as cheeses of short and long seasoning.
See all Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo DOC wines .
