LLS Portfolio Book

Wines of Central Italy

Central Italy sits beyond the wide Pò River Valley where the dramatic hills of the Apennine mountain range lie beneath the brilliant Mediterranean sunshine for which Italy is widely beloved. Here is where stone farmhouses and cypress-lined drives share the landscape with olive groves, sunflowers, wheat fields, and grape vines. Home to the likes of Montalcino, Chianti Classico and Bolgheri, Tuscany is the best known of Central Italy’s regions. Yet beyond Tuscany’s borders many vinous rewards await the adventurous taster. To the north and east Emilia- Romagna is often regarded as the food capital of Italy, a significant title in a country that lives to eat. Here bubbly Lambrusco and soft Sangiovese accompany rich pasta and meat dishes. In the Marche, to Tuscany’s east, the white Verdicchio grape produces tenuous and electric wines that age for decades. Further south still, the mountains of Abruzzo are home to the rustic and earthy Montepulciano grape while Molise’s coastal vineyards yield decadent blends and single-varietal reds. Heading back west, the national capital of Rome in the region of Lazio is a collision point for politics, fashion and cuisine. From the Super Tuscans of Tua Rita to the spontaneously-fermented Montepulciano of Valle Reale and the category-defining Brunello di Montalcino of Altesino, the wines that comprise the Leonardo LoCascio Selections collection of Central Italian wines represent the best in their class.

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