Rabasco La Salita Bianco 2017

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The 2017 Rabasco La Salita Bianco is a wine that’s often very hard to get your paws on, luckily for you, we’ve got 12 bottles!

Iole Rabasco inherited her family’s small vineyard and olive grove, neither of which have ever been treated with chemicals. And she’s taken that blessing and run with it. The 3.5-hectare estate of Iole Rabasco is located in the village of Pianella, province of Pescara, in the heart of Abruzzo. The area offers a unique set of meso and microclimates particular to this north-central corner of Abruzzo; the Adriatic is some 40 kilometres away while the base of Gran Sasso flanks the western edge of the Rabasco property. Iole benefits from inheriting her family’s small vineyard and olive grove, both of which have never been treated with chemicals. The vines across the property, almost all Montepulciano with a couple of rows of Trebbiano, are also quite old, 40 years average, and rest at some 450 meters above sea level. Soils are calcareous clay mixed with alluvial sediment and fossil remains. Vines are trained in the traditional tendone style pergola, all worked by hand. Yields are kept low but not excessively low as Iole prefers her wines with more acidity and freshness than power and extract.

Almost all of her vines are Montepulciano, but she also has a couple of rows of Trebbiano. These vines, on average, are 40-years-old and are 450 metres above sea level.  Soils are calcareous clay mixed with alluvial sediment and fossil remains and vines are trained in the traditional tendone-style pergola, with all the vineyard work done scrupulously by hand.  She intentionally keeps her yields low. No chemicals ever touch Iole’s vines or the wines in her cellar. The style of the wines is all about energy and freshness rather than extraction – which makes them pretty unique as far as Abruzzo is concerned. The method is pretty well always the same – destemmed grapes are put into tronconic fibreglass vats, fermentation happens naturally with native yeasts, nothing is added and there is no filtration, fining and often no sulphur added.

No chemicals ever touch Iole’s vines or the wines in her cellar.

The La Salita Bianco has a slightly deep straw-yellow colour. It’s 100% Trebbiano from her prized vineyard, a steep incline exposed to salty gusts off the Adriatic. Aged in concrete this wine is powerful and savoury, the nose expresses fruity and aromatic herbs and on the palate, it is fresh and balanced wine with a very satisfying sip.

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