Although best known for benchmark Soave and Italian Carmenere from the Colli Berici, Binomio is a joint venture between Stefano Inama and Sabatino de Properzio from the Abruzzo’s very fashionable, Fattoria La Valentina. The wine is made at La Valentina from a single, 4.2 ha parcel of an ancient, low-yielding clone of Montepulciano (Africa clone) planted here in the late 1980s and high trellised (Tendone Abruzzese). Planted at 350 metres in the Monte Majella national park, the vineyard benefits from cold nights and a constant breeze that keeps the days cool and disease pressure at bay.
The pair acquired the parcel in 1995 in a bankruptcy sale and spent the next three years nursing the vines back to health. Although the yield is meagre the concentration is immense and the small clusters are hand-harvested and 80% destemmed before fermentation in small s/s tanks with a long maceration. Binomio is aged for 18 months in French barriques, 30% of which are new. The oak here is very discreet and adds subtle notes of sandalwood and clove to the black fruit, plum and savoury notes of Montepulciano. Annual production averages just 13,000 bottles.
Red
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Riserva DOC 'Binomio'
