Abruzzo

Tasting Notes
Winery Illuminati
Illuminati’s Pecorino is fragrant and rich in ripe
WINE Pecorino Controguerra DOC fruit and white flower tones, almond, field
herbs and citrus. It fills the mouth well,
REGION Abruzzo powerful and very persistent: a correct
balance between structure and softness,
varietal 100% Pecorino thanks to freshness and sapidity that
accompany the long finish. A wine of a good
Location of Controguerra longevity. Coincidentally, Pecorino cheese is a
Vineyards good match as well as seafood salads, fried
zucchini blossoms, anchovies and king prawns.
Orientation Southwest
about the winery
Altitude 250 meters above sea level
In more than 120 years of company’s history
Soil Rather fresh medium-textured soil, tending to clayey the Illuminati vineyards have grown from 15
to 130 hectares in size in Controguerra, a
Vinification Grapes are stemmed and very softly crushed; the special wine-producing area between the
must is statically decanted before being poured into Gran Sasso mountains and the Adriatic Sea.
thermo-conditioned stainless steel tanks to ferment Dino Illuminati is a long-standing icon and
at a controlled temperature ranging between 16° and advocate for this unique piece of land and was
18°C. Approximately 10% of the must is fermented in the driving force behind the DOC recognition
barriques for 4 months so to release a moderate “boisè” of this part of Abruzzo.
and a finer character. The Illuminati family represent all that is great
about modern winemaking, with their innate
Alcohol Content 13.5% understanding and possession of some
remarkable vineyard sites, a respect for
PRODUCTION 35,000 bottles tradition and family that dates back to the
winery’s inception in 1890 and a totally
OENOLOGIST Claudio Cappellacci, Giorgio Marone up-to-the-minute technological bent which
sees their winemaking facilites equipped to
NOTES Literally translated as ‘Little Sheep’, Pecorino is so called best practise standards. Quality, not quantity
supposedly because it was a favorite treat for flocks of drives Dino Illuminati and his family. The focus
sheeps driven to lower pastures. is on Montepulciano made in traditional
Pecorino is a light-skinned wine grape cultivated in the fashion and offered in excellent, drinkable
eastern coastal regions of Marche and Abruzzo for mealtime bottlings to more nuanced, muscular
hundreds of year. Over time low yields saw it replaced by vineyard selections, most offering terrific value
more productive varietals like Trebbiano. Thought to for the money. Little has changed at the
be extinct, it was in the 1980s that a local producer winery except that Cavaliere now works with
found some forgotten vines in an overgrown vineyard, the family younger generations.
thankfully it was restored and production grew
exponentially in the area. www.illuminativini.it

Montcalm Wine Importers, Ltd 7 World Trade Center, 250 Greenwich Street, 33rd Floor, New York, New York 10007
p: 212 602 7700 f: 212 208 0907 info@montcalmwines.com www.montcalmwines.com