For nine generations, the Tavoletti family has farmed the hills of Controguerra in the province of Teramo, in the northern reaches of Abruzzo. In 2003, Lidia Tavoletti made the decision to strike out independently with her husband Amato di Florio, launching an artisan project under their own names. The estate, renovated using sustainable building techniques, produces roughly 100,000 bottles per year entirely from the estate's historic vineyards. Nico di Florio has since taken stewardship of the estate, continuing his family's legacy.
Controguerra sits in the hills of Teramo at the northern tip of Abruzzo, wedged between the Adriatic Sea and the Gran Sasso massif. This is one of the most compelling and underappreciated wine zones in Italy. The estate vineyards climb gently on clay-limestone soils, cooled by sea breezes from the east and mountain air from the west. The slow ripening this environment encourages produces wines of real complexity and balance, not simple extraction.
The Colline Teramane subzone is the only DOCG in Abruzzo and one of the most serious red wine appellations in central Italy. What Barolo is to Piedmont or Brunello is to Tuscany, Colline Teramane is becoming for Abruzzo: a terroir-specific, production-controlled benchmark for Montepulciano.
