ILLUMINATI

Azienda Agricola DINO ILLUMINATI (prov. , )

There are only some 500 Cavalieri di Lavoro and in their names – as we saw. Today with some (Knights of the Labour), the most illustrious of 7 red wines, and with 5 whites, included 1 distinctions that the Italian Republic knows of, sparkling Brut. The reds, with one exception, are and Dino Illuminati is one of them. The President 100% d’Abruzzo, the exception of the Italian Republic is not the only ruler who being a blend with 30 % . For honoured him; earlier on, Illuminati had been this last grape he has reserved some 4 hectares of awarded both in the presence of H.M. Queen vineyards. Elisabeth II, and by president George W. Bush. The whites are mainly , all blended, These are quite memorable facts for a winemaker mainly with Riesling, and/or from Abruzzo. Passerina. Dino explains that the Passerina Dino is the third wine-cultivating generation of resembles the Trebbiano, while adding a better Illuminati’s, after his grandfather Nicò founded a resistance against drought and having a looser small winery. He will not be the last, for all three bunch of grapes, which makes it less vulnerable children of him and his wife Marina also work in for mould. Thirdly, it yields a definitely more the family business. And even yet the next aromatic wine. generation is rising: Dino named his Pieluni wine after the three grandchildren Pierpaolo, Ludovica Illuminati has kept close contact with tradition, so and Nicola… dear to him and his family. As a prove, from vintage 2009 Nowadays, Dino and his family own some 130 also he wil come out with the relatively new hectares of vineyards. These are located at an DOC, called after the yearly average of 300 metres above sea level, between transhumance of sheep (pecore), until recently a the high rising Gran Sasso, ’s highest common feature in Italy’s mountain regions. mountain in the Apennines, and the Adriatic coast. His town, Controguerra, lies in the Colline Teramane, the hills north of the provincial capital of Teramo. Since the 2003 vintage, the Colline Teramane hold a DOCG; for their Riservas a minimum of 3 years ageing is required (for the normal wines 2 years). And since 1996, Controguerra holds its own DOC, as he proudly adds. Its name may sound funny, Controguerra meaning ‘against war’. It is not a recent name, however. With Abruzzo for ever lying on the borders between the Papal State and the Kingdom of Naples, war was always on the verge. Thus the inhabitants of this tiny village tried to make a statement, Dino explains.

He himself also makes a statement, in his wines,