In the Italian province of Tuscany we can find some super red wines, but you have to fight your way through a maze of similar sounding names to find them. There can be confusion between Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Brunello di Montalcino and Montepulciano Abruzzo.Montepulciano is in fact a soft fruity easy-drinking red wine which is made from the Montepulciano grape in the region of Abruzzo in east central Italy. It has nothing to do with the town of Montepulciano at all. The wine should not be overlooked simply for this reason and is in fact often very good value for money.The town of Montepulciano is situated 75 miles south of Florence and this region’s warm evenings and nights help produce a noble wine ‘Vino Nobile di Montepulciano’. This is made from Prugnolio, which is a clone of the Sangiovese Grape variety and the wine is aged for two years in Slovenian oak before release. Another wine from the area is Rosso di Montepulciano, also made from the Sangiovese grape, but using younger grapes.Another wine to add to the confusion is Brunello di Montalcino, also made from the Sangiovese grape, but now called Brunello or Sangiovese grosso. Brunello di Montalcino is one of the greatest wines of Italy and fetches very high prices. The town of Montalcino, just south of Sienna, also produces Rosso di Montalcino which has the same status as Rosso di Montepulciano. Sangiovese is one of the main grapes of Tuscany and is responsible for Chianti.Why fiasco? Remember the old Tuscan wine bottles in Italian restaurants with the multi-coloured candlewax dripping down the sides? Well, this is the actual ‘fiasco’ - a bottle with rafia round the base was called a Fiasco.
