Welcome to Colline Teramane
Wine as Voice of a Terroir
The Consorzio di Tutela bases its raison d’être on striving for quality at all times and on impeccable vineyard and cellar practices at every stage of winemaking, to enhance and promote Colline Teramane Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, the region’s only DOCG, a wine inextricably linked to its growing area. The consortium and the DOCG label are both standardbearers for excellence in the Abruzzo winemaking industry.
The province of Teramo, a district steeped in ancient history, charming villages, important monuments, and refined culinary tradition, delights with the rolling hills embraced by the Gran Sasso d’Italia mountain range and the Adriatic sea, closed off by the Marche region to the north and the province of Pescara to the south.
Since ancient times this has been a grape-growing district vaunting extremely favourable soil and climate conditions: limestone and clay terrain with numerous watercourses combined with constant air currents that caress the area between the coast and the mountains. The vinification of these grapes has a venerable history and today, more than ever, territorial biodiversity hallmarks the wine of each cellar, while overall production is harmonized by the designation’s typical traits.
The Colline Teramane Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOCG label was born from the passion and professional expertise of fifty producers, who founded a consortium to protect for this unique wine, with its sweet, lingering mouth, full and vigorous yet soft and round, opulent and chewy, often described as an “iron hand in a velvet glove.”
Exceptional Production and Market Growth Trends
The Colline Teramane Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOCG certification trend is very positive and more than promising. Latest data (January–September 2015) show more than 2,482 hectolitres of wine certified for the DOCG label, which is a 43% increase compared to same period for 2014. Moreover, the bottled wine is progressing equally well, and from 2014 to 2015 the increase in hectolitres of Colline Teramane Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOCG was 38%, from 1,406.69 to 1,947.94, naturally bottled solely in the production area, in the province of Teramo.
A Label with a New Territorial Brand
Last January, the Consorzio Colline Teramane general meeting resolved unanimously to precede the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo designation with a terroir identification as “Colline Teramane”. The decision will affect the future of the consortium and labels produced in compliance with Colline Teramane Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOCG production protocol will be used from the 2016 vintage.
Consortium Governance
The Consorzio di Tutela Colline Teramane is chaired by Alessandro Nicodemi (Fattoria Bruno Nicodemi), heading up the board of directors and flanked by vice-chairman Enrico Cerulli Irelli (Tenuta Cerulli Spinozzi), with directors Giovanni Barba (Barba), Gianluca Galasso (San Lorenzo), Gaspare Lepore (Lepore), Emilia Monti (Monti), and Marco Scarinci (Fantini-Farnese Group). The director of the consortium is Gianfranco Rosa.
Stricter Production Protocol for Quality
The Colline Teramane Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOCG production protocol, also covering the Riserva, has een significantly revisited in the last two years. Modifications and variations have targeted better quality to showcase the key features of this marvellous grape variety.
The exclusive production protocol is the first in Abruzzo to consider yield per vine, not per hectare, as well as requiring bottling of this Montepulciano d’Abruzzo wine to take place in its production zone.
For production of the Colline Teramane DOCG, there must be at least 3,300 vines per hectare and grape yield per hectare may not exceed 95 quintals, compared, for example, to the 140 quintals per hectare allowed for Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC.
Vinification, aging and bottling operations may only be performed in the production zone and only within the province of Teramo, which is the area of origin.
The maximum grape-to-wine yield may not exceed 70%.
A Colline Teramane DOCG must be aged for at least one year, followed by two months in bottle, with effect from 1 November of the year of grape harvest. Release for consumption is allowed from 1 November of the year following the harvest (compared to 1 March of the year following the harvest for Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC).
For the Colline Teramane DOCG Riserva, wines must age for at least three years, of which at least one in the wood and at least two months in bottle, with effect from 1 November of the year of grape harvest. Release for consumption is allowed from 1 November of the third year after harvest (compared to 1 March of the year following the harvest for Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC).
To provide further quality guarantees, the practice of enriching is prohibited.
The Words of the Chairman
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC can no longer be seen as a regional brand reinforcing and bringing added value to our products. It is no longer our region’s most coveted calling card. In a context of quality viticulture and wine, it is impossible to give credibility to a designation producing 150,000,000 bottles, which is the case of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC. We should also consider that 70% of the product is bottled outside the region by large companies and we can see that this DOC is increasingly less representative of its terroir. Production that fails to safeguard the designation’s commercial offer means losing sight of the place of origin.
There is an urgent need for a radical change of perspective. We must promote not only the product but also – and above all – the singularity of the zone of origin, defining and describing the bond that ties the product to its growing area.
Abruzzo cannot and should not standardize its production. This is the spirit that drives the Consorzio di Tutela Colline Teramane, a controlled and guaranteed designation of origin, and its attentive producers. We are certain Abruzzo will become united precisely by acknowledging and appreciating its territorial differences, expressions of different wines that offer an exciting mosaic of labels. The terroir before the brand and the variety. Territorial identity is crucial to being competitive on domestic and international markets. Colline Teramane aims to express all of this: a wine and its indissoluble link with its land of origin.
Alessandro NicodemiThe Consortium Passport
Name: Consorzio di Tutela Colline Teramane Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOCG
Established in 2003
Chairman of the Board: Alessandro Nicodemi
Consortium Director: Gianfranco Rosa
Registered offices: Via Carlo Lerici 3, 64023 Mosciano Sant’Angelo (TE)
Website: http://www.collineteramane.com
DOCG label awarded in 2003
Protected Designation of Origin wines: Colline Teramane Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Controlled and Guaranteed Designation of Origin; Colline Teramane Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Controlled and Guaranteed Designation of Origin Riserva; Controguerra DOC; IGT Colli Aprutini.
Consortium members: 50
Annual number of (depen
ding on year) DOCG labels: about 40
Certified hectolitres of Colline Teramane Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOCG for 2015: 3,229.14
Bottled hectolitres of Colline Teramane Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOCG for 2015: 2,484.00
Annual growth trend (compared to 2014): + 46% (certified wine); + 29% (bottled wine)
Distinguishing features: Abruzzo’s first production protocol to consider yield per vine and not per hectare; the only production protocol to require bottling in the region of production for a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.