I’ve long been an advocate for Montepulciano d’Abruzzo as a soft red wine to enjoy with food. Since 2010, the region has also recognized a rosato wine made from the same grape. Until recently, it wasn’t extensively imported to the U.S., but I had a chance to taste several examples at a tasting and seminar at Boston’s City Winery.
By law, Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo DOC must contain 85% Montepulciano grapes. In practice, the winemakers rarely use anything else. Each producer does it a little differently, but most allow the skins to macerate for a few hours to overnight before pressing, allowing the juice to pick up the deep pigments.
The resulting wine isn’t exactly a rosé in the sense that Provençal pink wines are rosés. It’s a cherry-red wine (cerasuolo is cherry in Italian) that pours more like a white wine. Ideally, it’s best chilled, and it pairs beautifully with seafood, charcuterie boards, and roasted chicken.
Food friendliness is key to Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo DOC
Historically, the cerasuolo version of Montepulciano was the wine of the people, often made from free run juices before a stronger pressing produced the classic red of the region. Now many wineries grow entire vineyards just to make the cerasuolo. Why? It’s a perfect food wine. Although its tannins are slight, the wines tend to have a pronounced acidity and minerality that cuts through the fats in rich food and provides a perfect foil to pastas and other bready dishes. It’s the classic accompaniment to arrosticini, i.e., grilled skewers of seasoned lamb or mutton. I’d argue that it might be the ideal wine to drink with a pepperoni pizza.
It also tastes good — really good. The predominant notes are strawberry and pomegranate, with additional notes of black cherry. The palest versions I tasted are definitely back-porch summer wines. They’re made for sipping while munching potato chips. The slightly more aged versions — usually in stainless steel, sometimes in cement — tend to have deeper color and more pronounced cherry presentation.
Either way, chill and enjoy.
Here are bottle shots of three of my favorites:
Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo DOC Baldovino 2025 from Tenuta I Fauri with a hint of bitter almond aftertaste, Pasetti’s elegant Terre Aquilane DOP Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo Superiore from high altitude vineyards, and Strappelli’s Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo DOC Bio, a biodyanmic wine with a bright kick.
FYI, the lovely lady holding a glass of Cerasuolo d’Abrozzo DOC on the opening page of the blog is Chelsea Plummer of Vineyard Road distributers in Framingham, Massachusetts.
