Montepulciano is famous for its Vino Nobile. It was founded in the 6th C by people fleeing barbarian invaders. Poets and others have written about Nobile since around the 1300’s/1400’s. A very famous poem was written about it in the 14thC called “Bacchus in Tuscany”. The Vatican sent people out to search for the best wines and one of them decreed in 1549 that Nobile was the perfect wine for a gentleman!
So you can see there is a long history in people trying and liking it, so we had better be in on the act.
We have tried a 2004 called Apostoli from Ercolani which is just across the road, and under us are the bottles and storage areas. I can hear them working now, moving things up and down the lane. They do tastings of wine, food and oil...must fit it in before we leave. The grape varieties in this are Prugnolo Gentile (a sangiovese) Canaiolo Nero, Mammolo e Colorino (if I can read the Italian correctly). Very nice, great colour. Another day we had the 2003 Reserva called Ercolani...same grapes. Smooth. Today we had a bottle of Contucci 2004 over lunch. Went down easily! A third Nobile wine we have tried is Massimo Carpini. It was a 2005 called Podere Casanova. The colour is great in all of these, and they are nice and smooth and easier to drink than the brunello (don’t tell anyone from Montalcino)
The rosso’s which are cheaper, can be just as nice. We had one over some bruschetta the other night called Lohsa from Azienda Agricola ( 2007) made from a winery called Terre del Poliziano. It was fine.
The bottom price is to order the house red which comes in a jug and you drink it from the same glasses as the water. Ok if thirsty and only having a small amount because you are driving!
We will keep up the research over the next few days and report back.
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