A delightfully fresh and fruity wine from one of the few appellations dedicated to rosé in Italy, the Masciarelli Villa Gemma Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo.
100% Montepulciano rosé from Abruzzo, Italy. The juice spends 24 hours in contact with the grape skins before the wine is fermented in stainless steel. It is aged for about 5-6 months before being bottled.
Sample submitted for review. The Villa Gemma Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo has an SRP of $20 and is available for as low as $15. Imported by Vintus LLC.
Perhaps the finest rosé production area in Italy, and one of the few appellations dedicated only to rosé. Cerasuolo has a long history of producing serious rosé, and showcasing how well the Montepulciano grape is adapted to rosé. Masciarelli first produced this wine in 1986, only 5 years after the winery was founded. With deep fruit and structure but no shortage of pleasure, it is a rosé you can take to the dinner table.
13.5% Alcohol
Rosé probably isn't the first wine that comes to mind when you think of Italy, but there are some excellent examples made here. Today's pick comes from the Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo appellation in Italy, which is entirely devoted to rosé. The wines made here must contain at least 85% Montepulciano. Seeing as we'd never had a rosé made from Montepulciano before, we were quite excited to give this a try.
The first thing you notice about the 2018 Villa Gemma Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo Rosé from Masciarelli is that it is quite dark for rosé. This is common for the region, in fact the name Cerasuolo means cherry in Italian and represents the typical color of the wines.
On the pleasing nose you'll find lots of tart red cherry, strawberry, herbs and some sea salt minerality. Tasting the medium-bodied wine reveals lots of delicious fresh tart fruit, lively acidity and nice balance. This is a really tasty rosé with an easy-going character yet enough complexity to keep it interesting. It's quite food flexible too. It finishes dry and long with lingering tart fruit and herbs. Yummy!
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