Marina Cvetic Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 (Masciarelli)

Cellar for up to 10 years. No need to decant before serving. Abruzzo’s much-loved winemaker Gianni Masciarelli sadly passed away in 2008, but the winery he founded lives on in the capable hands of his wife Marina and their eldest daughter, Miriam. Gianni was inspired to found his own winery after spending a summer in Champagne where he realised he could make top quality wines in his native Abruzzo and help revive the region’s flagging wine industry. In 1981 he set to work with just 5 acres of land set around his grandfather’s house in the village of San Martino sulla Marrucina. Thanks to Gianni’s hard work and dedication, the estate soon became a benchmark for premium Abruzzo wine. In total Masciarelli has won 29 Tre Bicchieri awards and the property now includes some 900 acres of vines spread across Abruzzo’s four provinces. Their Marina Cvetic series of wines represent the very best of the winery, like this powerful Cabernet Sauvignon which is produced in very limited quantities of just a few thousand bottles per year. Grapes are sourced from the Colle Rosina right in front of the winery where yields are kept extremely low to maximise quality. In the winery the fruit is fermented in stainless steel tanks and then aged in French oak barrels for 18-24 months in French oak barrels. This helps to tame the Cabernet’s punchy tannins, crafting a rich, intense red wine that’s bursting with cassis, blackberry and dark plum notes along with smooth tannins and a very long finish.