Rabasco Cancelli Rosso: Unbridled Montepulciano
In Abruzzo, on the Southern Adriatic coast, lives a most inspired woman, Iole Rabasco. In the early 2000’s, Iole assumed control of her father's small conventional winery. She knew that she wanted to take things in a different direction.
Like many Italian winemakers, her father had been dubiously sold on 'modern' manipulations and shortcuts; selected yeasts, sulfur dioxide tables, chemical pesticides and fertilizers. The pitch was that you could make the same amount of wine with half the amount of work. Who wouldn't go for that? Unfortunately the results were oceans of “soulless” wines that do little to represent the regions and heritage of the land and folks that made them.
In 2006, Iole met Danilo Marucci, the Yoda of Italian Natural wine. Danilo came armed with a wealth of knowledge having spent years working with some of the masters of Italy including perhaps the most revered natural winemaker in Umbria, if not all of Italy, Vittorio Mattioli of Collecapretta. From farming with only compost produced by their own farm animals, to pruning the vines, to vinifying without temperature control, added yeast, enzymes...nothing. The wines were the purest he'd ever known and they served as an inspiration and a starting point for expanding his vision of natural wine with a fierce sense of local tradition and hyper-regionalism.
Iole and Danilo knew that her land was capable of producing exceptional wines. The vines are almost all Montepulciano with a couple rows of Trebbiano. They are quite old at 40 years on average and rest at some 450 meters above sea level. Soils are calcareous clay mixed with alluvial sediment and fossil remains. Vines are trained in the traditional tendone style pergola, all worked by hand. Everything is farmed biodynamically. Iole keeps yields low but not excessively so as she prefers her wines with more acidity and freshness than power and extract.
Iole and Danilo knew that in order to realize the potential of the land beneath them, that everything in the winery had to change. Together with Danilo's vision and Iole's courage, they sold off all the “modern” winemaking technology in the winery, leaving only the old basket press, cement tanks and some 54 liter demijohns. All of these items would not have been out of place in a winery from the turn of the last century. Today, Iole is making some of Abruzzo's purest and vibrant expressions of wine. She is truly a pioneer.
Vini Rabasco, Vino Rosso Cancelli, 2019
An exceedingly pleasurable and generous Montepulciano. Lots of cherry; black and red, tart but also a touch confected. The texture is soft and supple, the result of 40 year old vines from Iole’s Cancelli vineyard and perfectly complements the wines bright acidity. Everything takes place in stainless steel tanks, using a reductive winemaking method that stops the wine from having too much contact with air, keeping that varietal fruit pure and direct. The result is a brighter, fresher and less extracted Montepulciano with unbridled energy.
Like many Italian winemakers, her father had been dubiously sold on 'modern' manipulations and shortcuts; selected yeasts, sulfur dioxide tables, chemical pesticides and fertilizers. The pitch was that you could make the same amount of wine with half the amount of work. Who wouldn't go for that? Unfortunately the results were oceans of “soulless” wines that do little to represent the regions and heritage of the land and folks that made them.
In 2006, Iole met Danilo Marucci, the Yoda of Italian Natural wine. Danilo came armed with a wealth of knowledge having spent years working with some of the masters of Italy including perhaps the most revered natural winemaker in Umbria, if not all of Italy, Vittorio Mattioli of Collecapretta. From farming with only compost produced by their own farm animals, to pruning the vines, to vinifying without temperature control, added yeast, enzymes...nothing. The wines were the purest he'd ever known and they served as an inspiration and a starting point for expanding his vision of natural wine with a fierce sense of local tradition and hyper-regionalism.
Iole and Danilo knew that her land was capable of producing exceptional wines. The vines are almost all Montepulciano with a couple rows of Trebbiano. They are quite old at 40 years on average and rest at some 450 meters above sea level. Soils are calcareous clay mixed with alluvial sediment and fossil remains. Vines are trained in the traditional tendone style pergola, all worked by hand. Everything is farmed biodynamically. Iole keeps yields low but not excessively so as she prefers her wines with more acidity and freshness than power and extract.
Iole and Danilo knew that in order to realize the potential of the land beneath them, that everything in the winery had to change. Together with Danilo's vision and Iole's courage, they sold off all the “modern” winemaking technology in the winery, leaving only the old basket press, cement tanks and some 54 liter demijohns. All of these items would not have been out of place in a winery from the turn of the last century. Today, Iole is making some of Abruzzo's purest and vibrant expressions of wine. She is truly a pioneer.
Vini Rabasco, Vino Rosso Cancelli, 2019
An exceedingly pleasurable and generous Montepulciano. Lots of cherry; black and red, tart but also a touch confected. The texture is soft and supple, the result of 40 year old vines from Iole’s Cancelli vineyard and perfectly complements the wines bright acidity. Everything takes place in stainless steel tanks, using a reductive winemaking method that stops the wine from having too much contact with air, keeping that varietal fruit pure and direct. The result is a brighter, fresher and less extracted Montepulciano with unbridled energy.