Vini Illuminati – Winery
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo has been experiencing a growth in quality the past 5-10 years and much of it has to do with Vini Illuminati, founded in 1890. As many wineries in the region have moved towards producing more quality rather than quantity, Illuminati has been investing in quality for many decades and have helped set the standard found in Abruzzo today. Illuminati was one of the first wineries in the region to export their wines to America and Asia and boast an immaculate reputation.
Located in Controguerra (Abruzzo’s only DOCG region – thanks to the hard of work of Dino Illuminati), the winery, which boasts over 100 hectares of its own vineyards, is a stone’s throw from the Adriatic Sea and just a few kilometres from the Marchegiani border. The Apennine backdrop and the surrounding rolling hills not only give the Illuminati wines their proven elegance but for some reason, make the wine taste that much better when you have the possibility of drinking a fine drop on the premises.
On our tour we were taken through the Sparkling Wine cellar and explained in detail the production process and were then taken through the never ending wine cellar filled with countless barriques and oak barrels. The tour ended with a showing of the estate grounds and the bottling process before we moved on the best part of all, the wine tasting.
A visit to the winery is a must when visiting northern Abruzzo as the hospitality of the Illuminati team, as for the most part in the region, is very genuine and inviting. And not to mention, you will have the pleasure of visiting one of Abruzzo’s first wineries and most historical companies.
We had the pleasure of being escorted through the winery by Eugenio, the cellarmaster of over 40 years as well as fine story teller, before meeting up with Dino and Stefano Illuminati at the end of the tour. We were greeted heartily and served a number of their fine wines from various harvests. At the end of our visit a German tourist arrived on his mountain bike in search of a bottle of wine for that evening’s dinner. “It seems like you need water more than you do wine…” was Eugenio’s comment and he ran off without comment to the nearest fountain and returned with a full bottle of fresh spring water for the visitor. After a friendly conversation, where we automatically fell into the role of translators, Stefano Illuminati himself presented the German mountain biker with a bottle of wine… free of charge! Not to say that everyone who drops by receives a free bottle but Stefano said he was impressed with the biker’s tour of that day (80 kilometres in 30 degree Celsius heat) and therefore deserved it.
Contrada S. Biagio, 18
64010 Controguerra (TE)
Hours of operation:
Daily from 9:00-13:00 and 15:00-18:00
Telephone: +39.0861.808008
Telefax: +39.0861.810004
Website: www.illuminativini.it
E-Mail: info@illuminativini.it
