Torre dei Beati

The family vineyard: 1972–1998

Rocco, the father of the family, began tending the original vineyard in 1972. This established vineyard later became the foundation of Torre dei Beati.

A second planting associated with the present Cordisco vineyards was established in 1995. Together, the 1972 and 1995 plantings now form a 13-hectare vineyard resource used for the estate’s expressions of Cordisco, the local name used for Montepulciano.

Foundation and organic conversion: 1999

Torre dei Beati was founded as a family-run wine estate in 1999, when Rocco’s children decided to assume direct management of the vineyard he had cultivated for many years. They immediately began converting it to organic farming, treating the natural integrity of the grapes as inseparable from wine quality.

The original production unit occupied the ground floor of the old rural farmhouse standing at the centre of the vineyard.

First release and subsequent development: 2000 onward

The estate’s first bottle was released in 2000. Montepulciano d’Abruzzo was the first wine produced, made from repeated selective passes through the Loreto Aprutino vineyards followed by a second selection on the sorting table.

A small, steep Trebbiano Abruzzese vineyard associated with Di-Vèrto was also planted in 2000. Its setting differs markedly from the main Loreto Aprutino vineyards: it lies at 100 metres above sea level on predominantly sandy-calcareous soil, enclosed on three sides by Mediterranean scrub and open to the north toward the nearby Adriatic Sea.

As production developed, the original farmhouse facility was supplemented by a dedicated ageing cellar and a new production winery. The range expanded through different interpretations of Montepulciano, while the vineyard holdings were enlarged with Pecorino and Trebbiano Abruzzese.

New white-variety plantings

A five-hectare Pecorino vineyard was planted in 2005 at 300 metres above sea level. Within it, selected 0.5-hectare sections supply limited Bianchi Grilli production.

A one-hectare Trebbiano Abruzzese vineyard was planted in 2008, also at 300 metres. It became another basis for the limited, experimental Bianchi Grilli range.

Throughout this development, production has remained estate-grown: all wines are made exclusively from grapes harvested in Torre dei Beati’s own vineyards.

Torre dei Beati cultivates 21 hectares at Loreto Aprutino, principally between 250 and 300 metres above sea level and approximately 25 kilometres from the Adriatic Sea. The vineyards occupy the first clay-limestone foothills closing the valley of the Tavo stream, where the terrain rises toward the approximately 3,000-metre Gran Sasso d’Italia.

The position creates a marked daily interaction between coast and mountain. Temperate Adriatic air reaches the vineyards during the day, while colder air descends from the mountain at night. This nocturnal cooling is particularly evident during the final month of ripening; Gran Sasso can already be covered with snow in September.

The main vineyards have clay-limestone soils. The Pecorino sectors include a sandy subsoil, while the small Di-Vèrto vineyard has predominantly sandy-calcareous ground. The latter is a steep, sheltered site at 100 metres above sea level, surrounded on three sides by Mediterranean scrub and open to the north toward the nearby Adriatic.

The surrounding countryside alternates vineyards and traditional olive groves with vegetable plots, arable fields and pockets of wild Mediterranean vegetation. Badland formations interrupt an otherwise predominantly gentle hill landscape. Agriculture remains the area’s principal activity, and industrial development and extensive building have had relatively little impact on the rural setting. Archaeological discoveries attest to permanent human settlement in the area as early as 4500 BCE.

Viticulture is certified organic under European legislation. Conversion began immediately when the family established the estate in 1999. No synthetic chemical products are used; the approach instead depends on close observation and the careful application of both traditional and modern agricultural practices. The family accepts that this can result in the loss of part of a crop when conditions are difficult, regarding that risk as part of protecting the surrounding hills.

Older vineyards retain the traditional pergola abruzzese system, while recent plantings use high-density espalier systems, including Guyot and spur-pruned cordon. Agronomic work is adjusted to the training system, the characteristics of each variety and each individual parcel. The objective is a natural balance between vegetative growth and production, with deliberately limited yields.

The estate gives particular attention to variability within older vineyards. Differences are considered not only between parcels but also between individual vines. Winter pruning is adapted to each plant by an experienced pruner rather than treated as a uniform operation.

Harvesting is exclusively manual and selective. Pickers return in successive passes, taking only perfectly healthy, fully ripe bunches from each vine and leaving the remaining fruit to gain further concentration before the next pass. Grapes are placed in 20-kilogram cases and transferred immediately to the winery, where they undergo a second selection on a sorting table.

All wines are produced exclusively from estate-grown grapes. Harvested fruit is brought immediately to the renovated old farmhouse at the centre of the vineyard, which houses the winery. Every lot, irrespective of wine type, passes over a sorting table after the selective vineyard harvest so that only perfectly healthy grapes enter production.

The cellar combines modern equipment with traditional, non-invasive vinification. Technology is treated as a means of respecting the natural character of the organically grown fruit rather than reshaping it. Rigorous selection in the vineyard and cellar allows the estate to work with minimal quantities of preservatives.

The first production area occupied the ground floor of the old farmhouse. It was subsequently expanded with a separate cellar for wine maturation and a new production winery.

Torre dei Beati connects wine quality with the natural integrity of its grapes. Organic cultivation, rigorous selection and restrained cellar intervention form one continuous approach rather than separate environmental and technical programmes.

The estate’s declared purpose is to express the native varieties of Loreto Aprutino through exacting work in both vineyard and cellar. It restricts its activity to a small number of indigenous grapes, generally vinified as single varieties, and explores how each responds to the territory and the conditions of an individual vintage.

The family avoids identifying itself with fashions or predefined movements. Its preferred course is gradual and open-ended, accepting the variability of the seasons and the imagination required to interpret them. Experience is combined with continued curiosity about both old and new techniques, alongside an explicit awareness of the limits of the grower’s control.

Older vineyards are approached as varied populations rather than uniform plantations. Each parcel and each vine can behave differently, making observation and responsiveness central skills. The grower’s task is to understand the land, the balance of the vineyard and the condition of individual plants.

The estate defines natural wine as the durable, enjoyable result of understanding natural transformations and guiding them with minimal intervention and without force. Human work remains necessary: even sound, ripe grapes do not automatically become stable, good wine when left entirely unattended.

Its long-term environmental aim is to leave its children living, intact land on which they may choose to work. The presence of a shy green woodpecker in the vineyard has become a recurring symbol of this relationship with the cultivated ecosystem.

The name Torre dei Beati embodies the same outlook. In the Last Judgement fresco at the church of S. Maria in Piano, the “tower of the blessed” is the destination reached by souls only after effort and difficult trials. The family sees this as a metaphor for the sustained work required to reveal the best of its grapes and place.