Her Mir Tage

9.3

Valentini Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo Tasting Note

Region & Grape: Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo DOC, Abruzzo, Italy. Made from 100% Montepulciano. I picked this bottle at a steakhouse in Florence and served it blind to friends. It cost €110, about 10% below the international price. Production is very low, and unfortunately only the new vintage was available.

Aroma: Highly complex. Notes of wild strawberry, cherry, and rose petals, along with this wine’s signature unique perfume note—a friend described it as the pink Miss Dior, full of girlish charm—intertwined with herbs and wet stone minerality.

Palate: Full-bodied, with bright acidity and fine tannins. The finish shows distinct saline minerality and a slight almond-like bitterness, with a long aftertaste.

This wine is very difficult to identify blind. A legendary “cult” rosé from Abruzzo, extremely well made. Far from a simple, easy-drinking rosé. Valentini owns nearly 70 hectares of vineyards, but each year selects less than 5% of the fruit for winemaking; the remaining over 95% is rejected and sold off for failing to meet the standard. This extreme selectivity means the estate’s total annual production is only about 30,000 bottles, and the Cerasuolo rosé follows the same principle. I plan to hunt down some older vintages to drink. — 4 days ago

J Choi

9.4

Cesare. Rome. Rose. Fragrant. Chilled. — 25 days ago

Ray Vanderhoff

8.9

100% Pinot Grigio from Abruzzo. Light straw color. Aromas of orchard fruit, citrus, white flowers and fresh herbs. Bold green apple flavor with additional notes of lemon/lime, pear, green melon and those fresh herbs. Hints of saline and minerals on the medium-plus and slightly (pleasantly) bitter finish. Quite fruit forward but still very dry. Mouth watering acidity and quite bright, clean and fresh. 12.5% ABV. Quite refreshing on a summer day. Thank you for sharing, Mark S! — 2 months ago

Peter van den Besselaar

9.0

vintage 2018 | Young. Nice tones of black olive and chocolate. Enormous potential, but keep it 3 to 5 years cellared. — 3 months ago

Boris Mathiszik

9.0

Deep ruby. Layers of red fruit. Grippy tannins. Winner of Tom Bradley/LAX May 2026 tasting. 👍😎 — 4 months ago

Judi Kruse

8.9

Rich & fruity - yummy! — 4 months ago

ET

9.0

Great with roasted herbed carrots — 6 months ago

JKT

9.0

White fruit acid nose, good balanced fruit and acid on palate and finish — 10 days ago

Dawn E.

9.1

Sour cherries, blackberry, tea leaves, earth, and floral. Medium bodied and smooth.
Pretty yummy. Watching Indiana Fever vs. Connecticut Sun. Go Fever! — a month ago

Clay Bullwinkel

9.7

One of the best Italian wines by one of the best ever Italian wine makers, the recently passed giant of the craft, Emidio Pepe. Heavenly rich with southern Italian orchard fruit, herbs, honey. — 2 months ago

Jeroen Koenen

9.2

Light orange colour. This rare rosé is everything but the poolside pink we all see everyday in summer.
Pomegranate, rhubarb, bloodorange, wild flowers, touch of matchstick or volcanic rocks. Lots of structure and length, bitterness (Campari!) and acidity in the aftertaste.
This is something special for the adventurous wine-geek, and certainly not for everyone’s palate. — 2 months ago

Jakub Kalinowski

9.0

Fresh, enticing, elegant.
Nose with earthy, musky raspberries, mulberries, a touch of damson plum, and a light flowery whiff
On the palate this is silky smooth. Zero rusticity, chewy tannins or sharp acidity - so often found in Montepulciano.
This has flow, energy, good depth, nice minerality underneath the fruit. And all this with 12% alc.
This is not at all what I expected! What a delight, what a nice surprise!
Very elegant, smooth, delicious.
A brilliant example the Montepulciano can deliver great wine!
Only but - you get 2 bottles of Ziereisen’s Syrah for one of this - and blind I would not be able to tell the difference.
— 4 months ago

Ryan Kravitz

10

Kind note of olives pairs wonderfully with any pizza or pasta — 5 months ago

Steven Heydemann

9.2

Double decanted 3 hours before service. Layered notes of honey, stone fruit, hints of nuts and straw. Quite lovely. — a month ago

J Choi

9.4

At Jake. Soft rounded. But full. Light rouge. Very nice. — 25 days ago

Jonathan Heim

9.1

Brighter with a smooth mouth feel. Nice length. Great QPR! — 2 months ago

Todd Scurci

9.1

#leons #abruzzo — 2 months ago

Amanda Thomas

9.4

Absolutely fantastic with ratatouille with thyme. Cuts through everything and melds beautifully. Need another bottle to form more thoughts. — 2 months ago

with Tim

K Brooks

8.9

Wonderful with Pat’s lasagna. Aromatic and fruity. — 4 months ago

Carter Snead

9.2

At The Wharf in Grand Cayman — 4 months ago

with Leigh