In central Teramo, in the hills between the Tordino and Vemano Rivers, you find Fattoria Nicodemi. Founded by Bruno Nicodemi in 1970 on the estate his mother had brought as her dowry to his father. Bruno left Rome and his job there to transform this typical country farm into vineyards.
After Bruno’s sudden passing in 1999, his children Elena and Alessandro took over the business. They had been raised in Rome and had not expected to be part of the family business so soon. Elena says it was not easy in the beginning. Her father had not had time to impart all of his knowledge. But she and her brother were young and enthusiastic and tackled this project in their own way.
During my visit, I met Alessandro, who is the President of the Consorzio Tutela Vini d’Abruzzo, sitting with him at a welcome dinner on a Trabocchi on the coast of Abruzzo. Then Elena greeted us when we visited the vineyard and winery.
Where we are – Notaresco in the Teramo Province of Abruzzo, Italy
The Province of Teramo covers the northeast corner of Abruzzo, with the Adriatic Sea to the east, the region of Marche to the north, and the provinces of Pescara & L’Aquila to the south and west.
I visited the hilltop estate near Notaresco in June of this year, just after the severe rains that had caused devastating flooding in Emilia-Romagne and parts of Marche. Elena met us and led us out to a viewpoint above the vineyard. From here, you could see Morro d’Oro on a hilltop to the south and the Gran Sasso Peak to the west, just a 45-minute drive from here. The Adriatic is just 5 kilometers to the west as the crow flies.
This microclimate, with the Mountains protecting them from storms from the west, the marine influence of the coast to the east, and the rivers north and south create an ideal space for growing the indigenous grapes of Abruzzo, Montepulciano, and Trebbiano.
The vineyards of Nicodemi
The estate covers 38 hectares around a lake, with 30 of those hectares planted to vineyards. The vineyards sit on south and east-facing slopes between 250-300 meters (820 to 984 feet!) above sea level.
The oldest vineyards are trained in the Pergola Abruzzese style. This is the traditional training method for vines in the region. This system trains the vines higher, and they branch out, creating a flat canopy overhead. Pergola training protects the bunches, from sunburn, from hail and allows the fruit to hang and get better airflow, protecting it from mildew.
These older plantings are at 3000 vines per hectare, whereas some of the newer plantings are trellised to the Guyot training you see worldwide. These plantings are more densely planted at 5000 vines per hectare. The density stresses the vines, which can concentrate the polyphenols in the grapes, giving them better aroma, color, and more intense flavor.
When they planted their newest block of Trebbiano, they determined they would plant to the older Pergola Abruzzese system.
The vineyard was certified organic in 2016. While we were there, they were spraying in copper sulfate in the vineyard, a substance that is allowed in Organic farming. It can be used as a fungicide and herbicide. Here they were spraying to contain downy mildew after the severe rains, which were just beginning to subside in early June. Elena said they were glad for the rain after the severe drought conditions in 2022, but now they were ready to see the rain stop. The soils were saturated, and they were into flowering. It always seems to be this way, too much or not enough.
Their directions in all things take into consideration the environment. Beyond being organic in the vineyards, their cellar is solar powered, they use permaculture in the vineyard, and encourage biodiversity.
The cellar at Nicodemi and the cocciopesto
The focus at Nicodemi is the vineyard. In the cellar, they work very traditionally with little technology. They do most of their fermentations in Stainless Steel tanks and have oak barrels that they use to age some of their red wines.
One of the very interesting things that they are doing in the cellar is using inverted egg-shaped vessels of cocciopesto. While similar in shape to terra cotta amphora, these jars are made from an ancient style of concrete used by the Romans for cisterns and aqueducts and even before them by the Phoenicians. This ancient material is made of brick, stone bits, sand, binder, and water.
The shape of the container creates a convection current as the CO2 is released during fermentation, essentially doing its own pump-over inside the container.
While similar to concrete eggs, typically, those are lined with epoxy or with fiberglass so that the wine does not come in contact with the concrete. The cocciopesto for these containers air dries for 30 days, and the jars are certified as food safe, so there is no need for an interior lining. This material allows for microoxygenation.
There are a couple of sustainable plus sides to these containers also. They are made of natural or recycled raw materials, they air dry (so no energy is used, unlike terracotta which must be fired in a kiln,) and the material maintains an even temperature, so additional energy is not needed to keep the wine at the required temperature. All in all, the carbon footprint of these vessels is very low.
The grapes they use for the wines they make in these containers come from their oldest blocks grown on Pergola. We tasted the Cocciopesto Trebbiano 2020, the Montepulciano was not yet ready for release.
Tasting the wines of Nicodemi
We headed into the private tasting room, where we would enjoy lunch and a tasting of the Nicodemi wines.
This modern building is entered on the upper level, and then you take the stairs down to the barrel room and a glass-sided room with spectacular views of the vineyard.
A sideboard was laid out with an assortment of tasty bites, followed by several seated courses as we tasted the wines.
Le Murate Trebbiano d’Abruzzo DOC 2022
The first wine we tasted was the Le Murate Trebbiano d’Abruzzo DOC 2022.
This is their classic Trebbiano, fermented at 12 degrees C for 3-4 weeks. After this low and slow fermentation to maintain aromas, the wine spends 2 months on the lees with weekly batonnage. It is then lightly filtered before bottling.
I first noticed white flowers on the nose, followed by a bit of salinity and green notes, like poblano pepper. On the palate, it was tart with lemon and notes of saline.
Elena pointed out the difference between Trebbiano Tuscano and Abuzzese. Of course, the terroir is different, and they had replanted here with a massale selection of heritage clones. In Abruzzo, she finds you get greater age-ability and more mineral notes.
Cocciopesto Trebbiano d’Abruzzo DOC 2020
Here was the wine I had been hoping to taste.
The Cocciopesto comes from 50-year-old Trebbiano vines grown on pergola. Grapes are destemmed but not crushed and go into the cocciopesto containers to ferment with ambient yeast. This wine macerates for 10 days, then gets punch downs (which surprised me with the egg). It remains macerating on the skins for 6 months. At this point, the skins sink to the bottom of the egg, and the wine is racked off the top. They then return it to the vessel to complete fermentation and aging. This wine is bottled unfiltered and released 1.5 to 2 years after harvest.
This wine had a rich, lush nose with deeper color than the classico. There were resinous notes in the wine and warm notes from the oxidation. I got roasted lemon, savory spice, and smoked wood notes. This wine was not overly complicated on the palate but had a fascinating nose.
Notari Trebbiano d’Abruzzo Superiore DOC 2021
This wine spends 6 months on the lees with weekly battonage (stirring the settled lees/yeast back into the wine. Like lightly shaking your bottle of kombucha.) and is aged in Stainless Steel with light filtration before bottling.
This had an intense nose with those poblano pepper green notes. It was richer than the Le Murate and more concentrated. It was cleaner and brighter on the palate and more interesting on the palate than the previous 2 wines.
Le Murate Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo 2022
100% Montepulciano. The vines are divided between pergola-trained and spurred cordon trained (with higher density planting) that are 15 to 35 years old.
The grapes are destemmed and do cold maceration for 24 hours. The free-run juice is fermented at low temperatures for 30-40 days, then ages 3 months in stainless steel before bottling.
This is vibrant pink in the glass and strawberry, fresh watermelon, and watermelon Jolly Ranchers come with the nose. There are additional notes of yeast, dust, and floral notes. I am reminded of fruit macerating in alcohol for a punch.
It is dry on the palate and has a serious, joyful side, like an elegant but sincere smile. They make 10,000 bottles of Cerasuolo annually.
Now we were on to the Montepulcianos.
Le Murati Colline Teramane Montepulciano DOCG 2021
This DOCG was created in 2003. It was formerly part of the more extensive Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC. The DOCG covers Montepulciano in the area of Teramo. It requires 90% Montepulciano (the other 10% can be Sangiovese). Vineyard must sit below 550 meters, minimum abv is 12.5%, and it must age a minimum of 1 year (2 months of that in bottle), or for Riserva, 3 years with 1 year in barrel and 2 months in bottle.
Here at Nicodemi they used 100% Montepulciano. The grapes macerate for 6-7 days, then age in Stainless steel to show off the freshness of the variety.
The nose is filled with blackberry juice and cranberries, spice and dried field herbs, and anise.
On the palate, it is bright with lifted fruit and tannins that dry your teeth.
Notari Colline Teramane Montepulciano DOCG 2020
This wine was scheduled to release at the end of the month, so we got an early taste. These grapes come from older vines, averaging about 40 years old. The grapes macerate for 10 days, ferment in stainless steel, and age in French oak for 12 months. It spends 6 months in bottle before release.
Elena told us they were looking for elegance with this wine, but it is difficult with climate change. Sugars accumulate quickly in the heat, making it hard to keep the abv (alcohol by volume) down. The grapes were selected from the older vines aged 12 months in tonnaux (larger barrels).
Here the berries were warmer and cooked, like a berry sauce, and the tannins were stickier. Those berries? Blackberry again and blueberries. Those anise notes from the previous wine were now black licorice.
Neromaro Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Colline Teramane DOCG Riserva 2017
This Riserva-level Montepulciano is pulled from a single plot of 50-year-old vines trained to pergola at 300 meters. They find the fruit from this block high in polyphenols, those remarkable compounds that add flavor to the wine. This “Cru” level Montepulciano is the result of a combination of factors. The vineyard’s location is east-facing on a hillcrest where it gets the perfect breeze, and the vines are 50 years old and of a Montepulciano biotype that makes this a low-yield and intensely flavored wine.
This wine is destemmed and macerated for 15-20 days fermenting in stainless steel. It spends 18 months in barrique (smaller barrels typically 225 liters)30% of which are new. Then it is racked and bottled without fining or filtering.
Here the nose was filled with mint, eucalyptus, and cool garrigue (those notes of the mediterranean mix of lavender, juniper, thyme, rosemary and sage.) There were notes of spice, cedar, forest floor, and a bit of salinity. It was elegant in body with brick-like tannins and notes of cooked berries and balsamic.
For Fattoria Nicodemi, this is the wine that perfectly expresses this blissful spot in the hills outside of Notaresco.
We finished our visit with a stroll out into the vineyards, where the vines were flowering.
Finding Nicodemi and their wines
Nicodemi is located at
Contrada Viniglio n. 8, SP19, 64024 Notaresco TE
Telefono +39 085 895493
Visit their website to book a tasting.
https://www.nicodemi.com/en/ospitalita-en/
In the US they are distributed by Regal Wines
More on Abruzzo
For more information on Abruzzo, visit https://www.vinidabruzzo.it/
Or check out additional articles here on Crushed Grape Chronicles
- Unwind and Savor Sparkling Spumante on Italy’s Gorgeous Trabocchi Coast in Abruzzo
- A Virtual Escape to Abruzzo with Wine and Regional Pairings
- Pecorino from Marche and Montepulciano from Abruzzo, exploring a bit of the wild lands of Italy’s Eastern Coast
- Abruzzo on Italy’s East Coast and Montepulciano
Here is a site I found for cocciopesto vessels for wine with some interesting information The Drunk Turtle
Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine and WSET 3 Certified. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.
When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.
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