Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC
Grape Montepulciano
Black cherry, porcini, soy and smoke on the nose. Full, dark, aniseed and mint-laced black forest fruit. A powerhouse of a wine, magnificently nostalgic. (14%)
8000 bottles made

Link to Cantina Frentana producer page

Panarda refers to a medieval banquet, a fitting name for a wine whose origins are from another age, perhaps not medieval times, but certainly from a nostalgic age where the irreverent tannins were tamed by a long stint in botti (large barrels). There are few wines of this style made today, though there is a movement returning to large barrels after decades of barrique dominance. Panada is a wine that has never changed, it has evolved into the centre piece of Cantina Frentana’s ‘Quality project’, an all-encompassing drive towards fine-tuning their wines.
The grapes come from Frentana’s best old vines; most are trained the old way using a high spergola system. The vineyards must be worked and picked by hand.
The bunches are cold macerated before a temperature-controlled fermentation (30°C) in steel tanks using selected yeasts. This process is to naturally extract the maximum colour and tannin from the skins whilst at the same time preserve the delicate aromas of classic Montepulciano. The wine is then aged in barrique and botti for eighteen months before bottling.