Ciavolich Trebbiano d’Abruzzo ‘Fosso Cancelli’ 2024

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Appellation: Trebbiano d’Abruzzo DOP Production
Area: Loreto Aprutino Grape
Variety: Trebbiano Abruzzese 100%
Soil: Clay-sandy and calcareous
Altitude: 250 mt Farming method: Integrated farming
Training system: Pergola abruzzese
Planting year: 1974
Yield per hectare: 10 t/ha
Harvest period: Early september

About Ciavolich

Enter Chiara Ciavolich and her ebullient and expressive wines from Abruzzo. Having grown up watching her father make good wine for the region of Abruzzo, it would seem Chiara’s future was set for her, but instead she decided to head to Rome to study law. It wasn’t until her father suffered a severe stroke in 1995 that Chiara found her way back the vines.

In 2003, Chiara made the pivotal decision to leave her future as a lawyer behind and take over the family business. At that point she didn’t have so much wine knowledge. Of course, she grew up with winemakers in her family who made good, easy to drink wines of the territory, but these weren’t the wines that would gain attraction outside of their region. Chiara began to apply herself in the vineyard and in the cellar, quickly gaining insight and discovering her palate. She was fortunate to have such important guidance and mentorship from her godfather Doctor D’Amario who had worked alongside her father in the cellar and is still an important part of the operation today offering support and lineage into their historical past.

Chiara applied herself and dedicated everything to Ciavolich wines. What was first her duty, became her passion, and now is her life’s work. Over the years, Chiara has found her true expression through wine and the Ciavolich range is the result of her contribution to the family cellar. Nowadays, Ciavolich is one of the most notable wine producers in Abruzzo and is found in many of the most important export markets in the world. Chiara’s style walks a beautiful line between fresh, vibrant, and lively, while staying true to the

The Thought

The thought is to preserve intact an agricultural, wine-making and historical endowment thus to pass on to the future generations.

The thought is to be sustainable for the environment, the territory, the people who work in the winery and the winery itself.

The thought is to have wines that are the more possibly expression and identity of a territory.

The thought is not to fall to the siren’s sound of the market with its changeable and whimsical taste.

The thought is to be authentic and coherent.

In the Vineyard

Ciavolich’s vineyards are located in Loreto Aprutino and Pianella.

Loreto Arputino

Cavolich’s vineyards in Loreto Aprutino, reside in Contrada Salmacina, there is the heart of our estate’s production. A total of 35 hectares of vineyards, 3 hectares of olive groves, 10 hectares of arable land that surround the farmstead and the winery. The 35 hectares of vineyards are half planted with pergola Abruzzese from massal selection and half with guyot from clonal selection. Ciavolich are working to enhance the original genetic heritage of the vines that were planted in the 1960s.

In the surroundings a large group of quality producers who are committed since many years to the promotion of the territory and who are recognized all over the world for their high standard quality: Valentini, Torre dei Beati, De Femo, Amorotti, Talamonti.

Painella

A 15 hectares Ciavolich estate is in Pianella of which 6 are planted with Montepulciano (d’Abruzzo) and 1 with Pecorino both varieties as pergola Abruzzese in 2000. All the rest is covered by old-century olive trees of Dritta variety from which Ciavolich produce each year an olive oil completely of the territory.

In the Winery

Trebbiano & Pecorino ‘Fosso Cancelli’

Processing involved destemming, crushing, very gentle draining, followed by static set- tling, racking, and inoculation with a pied de cuve prepared seven days earlier from the same grapes.

Fermentation was carried out by indigenous yeasts in terracotta amphorae, large Slavonian oak casks, and small stainless steel tanks, where the wine aged on its fine lees for six months.

This was followed by a careful blending of the different components to achieve balance, then bottling and further bottle-ageing.

The 2024 Vintage at Ciavolich

The commentary from Ciavolich highlights the importance of knowing your vineyard and ensuring soils and canopies are careful managed to build resilience in the vineyard.

The 2024 vintage will be remembered as the year of climate change. It was marked by a prolonged summer drought and temperatures well above average. These conditions followed an unusually warm and dry winter, with rainfall insufficient to adequately replenish the deep water reserves of our soils. The natural consequence was reduced vegetative vigor of the vines and a significant drop in yield per hectare.

This trend was partially mitigated in the in- land hilly areas, characterized by soils with higher water-holding capacity, lower daytime and especially nighttime temperatures, and brief but beneficial late-season rainfall events. These areas also benefited from the possibility of occasional emergency irrigation supplied by long-established artificial hillside reservoirs. In these contexts, the grapes proved to be markedly better and of- ten optimal in terms of health, skin-to-juice ratio, ripening indices, and must concentration, all combined with salinity and aromatic richness.

The extreme growing conditions highlighted how the genetics of the grape variety, the rootstock, and the training system were de- cisive in determining the final agronomic outcome of the vintage. Trebbiano Abruz- zese showed greater resistance to drought than our Trebbiano Toscano, especially when trained in the traditional pergola abruzzese system with deep and vigorous rootstocks. Harvesting was carried out early in order to avoid imbalances in the musts caused by excessive sugar levels and by a collapse in acidity. For Trebbiano Abruzzese, the harvest took place in the first week of September, during the early morning hours.

Ciavolich

Where in the World is Ciavolich?

Ciavolich is located in the town of Loreto Aprutino just to the west of Pescara with a second vineyard in Pianella. This wine comes from Loreto Arputino.