Fabulas, "Fortitudo Rosato" 2021

In central eastern Italy, inland from the Adriatic coastal city of Pescara, the Abruzzo project “Fabulas” represents a return to the region’s foremost styles in new outfittings. Abruzzo has long been famous for its many takes on Montepulciano, both as a red and as a cerasuolo (so-named for the cherry-hue of the rosato that ends up in its bottles) in addition to its expressions of Pecorino & Passerina. In recent years, there has been a wave of radical departures from these traditions, a much-needed breath of fresh air showing the variety of styles & wines that can be wrought from this wonderfully placed region. The movement, certainly, was started by the likes of Lammidia & Cantina Indigeno though their productions are part and parcel of a broader conversation of natural wine in Italy, writ large. Regardless, Fabulas was born at the cross-roads of these histories, one deep the other more newly-fangled. Working in the vines & cellar in ways that reflect the practices of the latter, natural wine producers (biodynamically in the vines; low intervention in the cellar), while producing wines & styles that recall the reasons for which their original bottlings made the region famous, Fabulas is a unique innovation of this moment’s wine scene. Beautiful takes on Passerina & cerasuolo hum with the hints of something wild – but only hum. This is to say: in their wines, there is something for everyone to enjoy.

Abruzzo, Italy. 100% Montepulciano. The grapes are both direct pressed and whole bunch fermented, with wild yeasts, in a combination of ceramic and neutral barrique. The end result is a dark, wintry rosato with plump fruit and a salinic, mineral edge. Unfined, unfiltered, no SO2.