Over Halloween, I attended a black wine night and discovered an amazing wine that I had to share with you. What is a black wine night you ask? It was set up as a veiled wine tasting with a five course meal. Eight wines were presented in black Reidel O glasses. We had no idea what kind of wine we were drinking and we were in the dark so you couldn’t even tell if you were drinking a red or white wine. We had a list of all of the wines and we tried to guess what we were drinking throughout the evening.

You can get your own black Riedel tasting glass for $40.99 here.

Around the fourth course, I was amazed with the wine pairing and couldn’t wait until the end of the dinner when it was revealed to us. This delicious wine was the Fantini, Montepulciano, Abruzzo, Italy 2012.

This red wine hails to us from the Farnese Winery in Italy. In the sixteenth century, Princess Margaret of Austria and Prince Ottavio Farnese planted vineyards in the Abruzzo district in Italy, putting this area on the map for winemaking.

The Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is a specific type of wine created in 1968. This wine is a blend of about 85% Montepulciano with up to 15% of Sangiovese allowed in the mix. You can read more about this on Wikipedia, here. I found this fascinating as I love to know the story behind my wine. I also thought it was interesting that for every Farnese vintage, they have six well-known winemakers living in symbiosis with the grapes arriving in the cellar until they are transformed into wine. I would love to learn more about this process.

I loved this wine! It was easy to drink and had a lush, fruity taste. There were hints of cherry and plum and a smidge of vanilla. Plus I just like saying Montepulciano in my faux Italian voice.

I liked this wine so much, I am thinking of buying a case.

Have you ever tried Fantini Montepulciano before? I would love to know what you think.

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