Harvest time in Abruzzo

Not the first region that comes to mind in Italy. Not even as a wine fan. The Abruzzo surprises on all fronts. Now Italy will never disappoint you when it comes to food and drink, scenery and culture – but this leaves you wanting more.

There are many roads to Rome. I take the shortest, by plane, to make the crossing to Abruzzo. To literally cross Italy from west to east. It takes more than 2 hours by car, and the drive is worth it.

A very dry start

From the plane I see brown, dry patches of earth. Once outside, 30 degrees still feels quite nice after a few hours of air conditioning and cabin pressure. I'm in Rome. At least, standing at the airport: Fiumicino.

A coastal town where I was once obliged to stay for a day because of an overbooked plane. Quite a lucrative business. Free overnight stay including dinner, romantic walk along the fishing harbor and an excellent compensation for the suffering. No complaints, no problems. Well, just call your work that you start a day later than planned. Anyway.

The periphery of Italy's capital is unruly, variable. Not necessarily pretty. Industry. A graveyard of cars, trucks and tractors, even planes and helicopters. Tufts of houses that seem to be slowly crumbling.

Then suddenly a row of Tuscan-like pine trees. Straight, pointed, proud. Except those who don't seem to make it, who look rusty brown and withered. The same applies to pots of planted agricultural material. I'm guessing olive trees. There too an excess of drought, perhaps fire, is the enemy.

The journey and the goal

Now into the hill area, at Tivoli, towards the mountain area of ​​the Apennines. More green, life, nature. Picturesque hilltop villages with fortifications, sometimes ruins, as a peak.

There was once an aqueduct of over 100 kilometers here, all the way to Rome. Built between 144 and 140 BC. The lake that fed that water flow has disappeared, as has the ancient structure for the most part. In Magliano de Marsi you can still find remains. 

We pass the town Cocullus, where every spring a special tradition is kept in which live snakes are carried through the mountain village on the statue of San Domenico during a procession.

Then on the left flank, in the distance, the highest mountain in Italy: Gran Sasso. At almost 3000 meters the highest of the Apennines and you will find the southernmost glacier in Europe. And then I immediately fear: how long? 

Suddenly I see vines, the sea! I read signs with: Pescara, Francavilla and Ortona – my final destination. I am in Abruzzo at the special invitation of the wine cooperative Cantina Tollo. 

It can be that simple

The track determines. Would you think. Three hotels on the calm coast can only be reached by shooting through a tunnel under the rails. The track runs parallel to the coastline, God knows how long and where to. Probably many hundreds of miles north and south. It is not practical. Well, if you're on the train.

Good. I'm there, barefoot on the sand and a limoncello in hand. Pause. Across the Adriatic Sea, out of sight, is the city of Split in Croatia. Then you have an image. You can take the ferry there, I find out later.

Is this all of Ortona? Or Ortona Beach? Anyway, with 2 throttles you are gone and on your way again. Hilly and right in the middle of olives and grapes. It is harvest time for the latter. I'm here to experience that up close. On the road!

A jumble of blue road signs on which I bravely try to keep track of the distances: Tollo 6 km, Tollo 10 km, Tollo 3 km – all within 5 minutes. Another reason to love Italy.

But then. The town of Tollo at 152 meters above sea level. And suddenly it dawns on me: Cantina Tollo – place name: Tollo. Boy, it can be that simple. 

Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

About 700 families supply grapes to Cantina Tollo, their local cooperative. And supplying it also means living from it. Because no matter how small some winegrowers are - some only own 2 to 4 hectares of vineyards -, it is an important source of income. Often next to olives and other small-scale agricultural productions. The harvest time of the grapes is therefore of vital importance.

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The 2022 harvest started in mid-August. 'And then it's 3 weeks of stress,' says product and marketing officer Brunella di Pentima. 'The ripeness of the various grape varieties determines the order in which they are harvested.'

She mentions: chardonnay, trebbiano, pinot nero, merlot, pecorino. A blend of internationally renowned grapes and regional wine heroes. And what about Montepulciano? Indeed, that of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo.

At Cantina Tollo they make world-class wine with it: Cagiòlo Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOP Riserva. A whole mouth full and that's what the wine is for. The Cagiòlo is a great wine that retains its strength and freshness even with age: intense, with dark, popping fruit, savory and fresh at the same time.

But there are also plenty of surprises in white, so the range is very large. From light white for your daily glass, when you've left work behind you, to complex wines for the most beautiful combinations at the table.      

Under the pergola

For the shape I crawl under the foliage between which ripe grape fruit hangs to cut off a truss. Indeed, below.

In Abruzzo, the grapes hang from pergolas, constructions of steel or concrete and tensioned wire on which the plants grow at height. A classic method of viticulture that has the advantage that the grapes grow in the shade of the foliage and are protected from direct sun.

The 'roof' of the pergola is about 170 centimeters high. For my six-foot-nine, bringing in the harvest is not a thing, I wouldn't last half an hour. Deep respect for all those hard-working men and women who succeed every autumn.

With trailers full of grapes they drive their tractors to the cantina. First a sample to test the quality, after approval on to the weighbridge and finally to the press to deposit the grapes there.

And then back to the vineyard for another round. Impressive to experience the orchestrated ant nest, a fine example of logistics and organization.

Together, all these winegrowers produce 35 million liters of wine every year. And that's only with this cooperative! You understand, the Abruzzo is a wine region to be reckoned with. And not only in quantity, but also in quality. 

Winery from Roman times

Like everywhere in Italy, the Abruzzo region also excels in delicious and honest food. During the wine tasting at Feudo Antico, a beautiful location in Chieti that also falls under the Tollo group, delicious cheeses appeared on the table that are only made there.

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And I don't mean in the Abruzzo, but in that specific environment. So specific that someone who lives down the valley says they've never heard of that cheese. 

It's also nice to see that in the place where they plant grapevines, and olive trees moreover, their ancestors already did this 2.000 years earlier.

A winery from Roman times has been found on the exact same hill below the brand new tasting room. Everything found underground is carefully excavated, dusted and prepared to be exhibited in a museum manner.

Dinner over the sea

Characteristic of the coastal region in the province of Chieti are the trabocchi, the local fishing installations made of wood that you see every few hundred meters off the coast. To be precise: above the water.

Artistic constructions at the end of a footbridge made on an ingenious paling of poles. It makes fishing a lot easier than with a rod from the shore or in a boat at sea. The coastal strip even owes its name to this age-old fishing method: Trabocchi coast.

Now they have converted some of them into restaurants. Of course you eat fish there, and that's good too, but the nice thing is that you hear and see the sea continuously. Also because of the glass floor, which some guests do not dare to walk on, let alone choose a chair that is placed above the glass.

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I thought it was an experience and gladly recommend the Trabocco Pesce Palombo restaurant in Fossacesia. Especially in the evening it is a romantic picture that you will not soon forget.

Direction Molise

Harvest time in viticulture equates to end of season for beach life in Ortona. The typical Italian seaside town is emptying. The beach has been raked tightly, the seawater is lapping weakly as if that too has finished with all the hustle and bustle of the past few months.

I'm up early, the sun too and it's just going to be another beautiful day. We are not going to touch the 30 degrees today, but it makes very little difference. 

Yesterday afternoon I dived into that seawater. A lukewarm soup that contributes little to cooling. About 10 or 12 Italians are singing to someone from the shallow water. Neither the cause nor the person sung are known to me. What would it be? It colors the afternoon. 

Further south, towards Bari, but the journey does not go that far this morning. We have just arrived in Abruzzo, near the border with Molise, a small wine region from which grapes also go to Cantina Tollo.

The land waves green, sweetly. Olive trees, vines on pergola, pieces of forest and small villages alternate. The mountains on the right, the coast on the left. A red tractor drives towards us. Behind it a trailer full of blue grapes. Not an uncommon sight at this time of year. To clarify, it's early September.

The driver who takes me and my travel companions on the road every day, about 65 years old, 1 meter 60 high and always well-groomed, suddenly makes a cross. One with the closing kiss on the hand. Just before we cross a viaduct. A Catholic act I've never seen him make before. Well, let's hope for the best. 

The road is almost unpaved. A solar park. We'll take a gravel road right next to it. Well, 'we'. The experienced driver next to me. 'The landscape here is quite similar to Tuscany', he says. That's not a lie.

A family affair

As old as the history of winemaking in the region is, so young is the next project I visit: the Accademia della Ventricina. Founded 30 years ago to market a special type of sausage with all possible quality protection.

Ventricina is somewhere in between salami en Ham and is produced in a fair and, as far as possible, animal-friendly manner. Only the best parts of a regional variety, black pig are used. With no more than meat, salt, pepper and 8 months of patience for drying, a unique delicacy is created that is worth exploring.

Incidentally, the rest of the pig is not lost, delicious salami and hams are also made from it. Ventricina comes in 2 varieties: natural and spicy, and has already been voted the best salame in Italy 4 times. Rightly so.

Here too I experience that making quality products is a family affair is. Father, son, brother and brother-in-law stand side by side when our company is allowed to taste all the goodies. Taking care of each other and feeding large families, that is the farming tradition here.

With the meat we taste Tollo wines that are surprisingly well chosen. A dry spumante and a 'quiet' white from the native grape Cococciola make exciting combinations.

Après salame

It's a wrap. Back to Rome. Nice weather again? nope. Rain! It's relative. For nature, this is just beautiful, beautiful. And I actually like it myself. 

How did I experience the Abruzzo? Like a place to be jealous of. Within 40 kilometers you travel from the coast to 3.000 meters and everything in between is beautiful.

And by everything I mean everything, including the delicious food and drink that will stay with me for a long time to come. Not the last time for me!