Wine Tourism in Abruzzo

Awarded Wine Region of the Year in the United States in 2022 by the prestigious Wine Enthusiast magazine, Abruzzo boasts a thousand-year-old winemaking tradition, originally begun in the Peligna Valley in the province of L'Aquila and attested to by the authoritative words of poets, historians, and writers such as Ovid, Martial, and Pliny the Elder. 

Over the centuries, the vineyards, trained using canopies and then rows, have found increasingly fertile ground on the gentle hills overlooking the sea, lashed by the salty Adriatic air. They have conquered the nearby Casauria lands in the Pescara area, followed by the broad of the Chieti province hills —which currently host 75% of Abruzzo's vineyard area, including the Frentana and Vasto areas—and finally encompassing the velvety roundness of the Teramo hills and the Vestino area of the Pescara area. 

Wines and grape varieties 

The undisputed king of regional winemaking is Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, whose DOC celebrated its 55th anniversary in 2023. Made from the same grape variety, Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo represents the wine that historically most represents the region, characterized by the color of the cherry – locally called cerasa – from which it takes its name. Although a land of red wines, Abruzzo has long been firmly focused on the world of white wines, promoting native grape varieties such as Trebbiano d'Abruzzo, Pecorino, Montonico, Cococciola, and Passerina, from which excellent sparkling wines are also produced. Native to the Fino Valley in the province of Teramo and celebrated in the municipality of Bisenti with a festival that has been running for over a decade and a museum entirely dedicated to it, the Montonico grape has been included among the 21 Abruzzo products protected by the Slow Food Presidia label since 2015. 

Wine Tourism 

Established in 2002 and housed in the prestigious Palazzo Corvo in Ortona (CH), also home to the Regional Wine Shop, the Consorzio Tutela Vini d'Abruzzo brings together more than 200 wineries and agricultural companies. Among the projects started, Percorsi Abruzzo Wine Experience allows to easily and directly organize numerous wine tourism experiences, choosing from dozens of itineraries from the dedicated website, from the sea to the mountains, offering activities in the winery—from cycling through the vineyards to cooking classes, from wellness programs to yoga classes in the vineyard—or unusual wine tours with tastings in places of great historical, artistic, and cultural interest such as abbeys, noble palaces, and medieval castles. 

Wine & Dining Experiences 

The region's vast and varied wine tourism offerings also include the option of staying overnight in fully equipped wooden barrels or in glamping sites surrounded by vineyards and olive groves. 

These experiences are complemented by culinary delights, including the agricultural and pastoral delicacies typical of the mountainous interior or the seafood specialties of the coast. Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and Arrosticini lamb skewers in the western setting of the Campo Imperatore plateau; Trebbiano d’Abruzzo with a mixed fried seafood platter in welcoming seaside towns; Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo and fish soup, savored on a scenic trabocco suspended over the sea, are just some of the possible flavor combinations you can experience by visiting Abruzzo from top to bottom, where there is much more than you might imagine. 

1. In San Vito Chietino (CH), exclusively during the summer, a local winery organizes guided tastings at sunset on the historic Trabocco Turchino, a structure currently owned by the municipality, among the places mentioned by Gabriele d'Annunzio in his novel Triumph of Death,  with some inland villages and the nearby hermitage where the text was partly physically written.
2. In Rocca San Giovanni (CH), a cooperative winery organizes tastings, welcoming participants inside the experiential room created at the top of the scenic and renovated 1950s Wine Tower, suspended almost 30 meters above the ground with a panoramic and circular view between the Adriatic Sea and the peaks of the Apennines.
3. In Roseto degli Abruzzi (TE), in a historic cellar dating back to 1863, currently included within the Borsacchio Regional Reserve, a few steps from the sea, you can find an enormous 1000 hectolitre oak barrel, considered the largest in Europe, a unique and extraordinary example created in 1905 for an international wine exhibition.
4. In Vittorito (AQ), in one of the oldest cellars in Abruzzo, opened in 1830, you can physically enter a 700-hectoliter tank built in 1893 and completely covered in Murano glass tiles.
5. In Bolognano (PE), a local winery has transformed over time into a veritable open-air museum, hosting dozens of works of art, some of which are even immersed in the vineyards, by Italian and international artists such as Joseph Beuys, Franco Summa, David Bade, Mimmo Paladino, Pietro Cascella, Sandro Chia, and many others.

1. In Ortona (CH), in a winery located along the Route of St. Thomas, which connects Rome to the city of the apostle to whom the route is dedicated, during the opening hours of the structure you can refresh yourself with a glass of wine drawn directly from the Wine Fountain, available to travellers and tourists. 
2. Also in the province of Chieti, in the Gessopalena area on the slopes of the Maiella, two historic native grape varieties, Nero Antico di Pretalucente and Vedovella, have been recovered. They were also showcased thanks to an event hosted in the charming medieval village carved into the chalk, normally uninhabited, including tastings in the cave and trekking among the rows. 
3. Finally, in the hamlet of Goriano Valli in the municipality of Tione degli Abruzzi (AQ), enormous colored pencils planted in the ground delimit the vineyards of a local winery that practices heroic viticulture within the Sirente Velino Regional Park, among monumental oaks and the various stations of an original diffused museum (MuDi).

• Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 
• Trebbiano d’Abruzzo 
• Pecorino 
• Cococciola 
• Passerina 
• Montonico 

- Vinorum (L’Aquila) | May 

Abruzzo wine festival.

- Naturalmente Rosa (Pollutri, CH) | May 

Event dedicated to showcasing Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo, hosted at the Bosco di Don Venanzio Regional Reserve.

- Cerasum (Tortoreto, TE) | July 

Festival featuring a competition dedicated exclusively to Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo.

- Gessi diVini (Gessopalena, CH) | August 

Taste, culture, and biodiversity in the Sangro-Aventino region.

- Enotirino (Bussi sul Tirino, PE) | August 

Themed wine festival featuring the largest number of participating Abruzzo wineries

- Caliscendi (Giulianova, TE) | July and August 

Sunset event pairing Colline Teramane wines with traditional seafood dishes from Giulianova.

- Bianco e Azzurro (various towns along the Abruzzo coast) | Summer 

Traveling event dedicated to pairing white wines with oily fish.

- Revival Uva e Vino Montonico (Bisenti, TE) | October 

One of Abruzzo’s most traditional and long-standing wine festivals, featuring a parade of floats.

• Consorzio Tutela Vini d’Abruzzo 
• Movimento Turismo Vino Abruzzo 
• AIS – Associazione Italiana Sommelier Abruzzo