From three hectares of grandfather's land to the reference of the Abruzzo
Gianni Masciarelli founded the winery in 1981 at the age of 24 on 2.5 hectares of land that his grandfather Umberto had farmed. At that time, the Abruzzo was considered a peripheral wine-growing region — cooperatives dominated, ambitious individual winemakers were the exception. Gianni recognized the potential of the local grape varieties early on and recultivated old vineyards in the hills of the province of Chieti. His apprenticeship years in Champagne and Burgundy were also formative: what he learned there about vinification, he consistently applied to the Abruzzo. In 1987, while buying oak barrels in Croatia, he met his future wife and business partner Marina Cvetic — the love story turned into a wine dynasty. After Gianni's early death in 2008, Marina took over the winery; today she runs it together with her daughter Miriam Lee Masciarelli, who returned to the family business after years in the wine trade in New York.
Plots in all four provinces, respect for the balance of nature
What Masciarelli revolutionized in Abruzzo viticulture in the 1980s was the combination of two decisions that were considered radical at the time: the switch from pergola cultivation to the Guyot training system and high planting densities for yield regulation. Gianni Masciarelli was thus one of the first producers in the region to systematically focus on quality instead of quantity. Today, the winery manages more than 60 plots in all four provinces of the Abruzzo — from the Adriatic hills to altitudes of 500 meters. This dispersion is not a coincidence, but a program: different soils, microclimates, and exposures make it possible to grow each grape variety where it shows its character most clearly. The philosophy of the house includes the conviction that the natural balance in the vineyard is a fundamental prerequisite for quality in the cellar. The business includes vineyards, olive groves, and the Castello di Semivicoli, a 17th-century building restored as a winery hotel.
Montepulciano and Trebbiano as the heart — with international additions
The range is divided into several lines: the basic wines under the name Gianni Masciarelli show what Montepulciano d'Abruzzo and Trebbiano can achieve in their direct, fruit-driven form. The Marina Cvetic line stands for the more ambitious bottlings — Riservas that mature in barriques, including a Trebbiano d'Abruzzo that gains depth and texture through barrel aging and long yeast storage. Villa Gemma forms the pinnacle of the white range with a cuvée from the classic white grape varieties of the Abruzzo. The portfolio is supplemented by a Cabernet Sauvignon IGT, which shows how international varieties can develop a mineral, independent character in the hilly hinterland of Chieti. In total, the house now includes 22 labels — from the everyday entry-level wine to the strictly limited edition. The cellar headquarters in San Martino sulla Marrucina in the province of Chieti is the artisanal center of this range.
