Masciarelli

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 cultivated. At that time, the Abruzzo was considered a peripheral wine-growing region — cooperatives dominated, and 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 Chieti province. His apprenticeship years in Champagne and Burgundy were also formative: he consistently applied what he learned there about vinification 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 winemaking 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.

Parcels in all four provinces, respect for the balance of nature

What Masciarelli revolutionized in Abruzzo viticulture in the 1980s was the combination of three decisions that were considered radical at the time: the switch from pergola cultivation to the Guyot training system, high planting densities for yield regulation, and ecological cultivation methods. 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 parcels in all four provinces of the Abruzzo — from the Adriatic hills to altitudes of 500 meters. This distribution is no 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 house's philosophy includes the conviction that the natural balance in the vineyard is a fundamental prerequisite for quality in the cellar. The commitment to sustainability extends to the entire operation — 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 base wines under the name Gianni Masciarelli show what Montepulciano d'Abruzzo and Trebbiano can achieve in their direct, fruit-forward 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 lees contact. Villa Gemma forms the pinnacle of the white range with a cuvée from the classic white grape varieties of the Abruzzo. The portfolio is complemented 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.