Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo DOC Amphora 2019 – Cirelli

"Cerasuolo is the soul of Abruzzo," says Cirelli, who uses both his own and bought-in grapes for his Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo from the Amphora line. The last pressed wine of Montepulciano production was once given as a deputation to the workers who cultivated the lands of the rich Romans in Abruzzo.

For a contemporary interpretation, he uses his own grapes for the Cerasuolo and refrains from excessive maceration. The grapes are destemmed and macerate in the amphora for six hours before being gently pressed. The must is then returned to the buried amphorae, where it ferments spontaneously and also undergoes BSA. The wines get a little sulphur for stabilisation before bottling.

Dark cherry red with silky opacity.

The nose of the 2019 Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo Amphora by Francesco Cirelli is fruit-driven, earthy and wild. A conglomerate of dark cherries, mulberries, hibiscus and cranberries mixes with dark spices such as black pepper and allspice. There are also smoky aromas, some sandalwood and the scent of wet asphalt after a warm summer rain. Red-fruited and serious, it stylishly walks the fine line between light red wine and dark rosé.

The luscious fruit on the palate is steadily reined in by the wine's tightly woven, small-grained tannins. They skirt the edge of the tongue like fine raw silk falling over the edge of the table, charged by cherry and hibiscus notes that juicily underpin it. The acidity is the pulse of the Cerasuolo, encased in the tart tannins that aromatically elevate it from banal fruitiness into the league of rosés for adults with heightened entertainment aspirations.