Viaswine

The aim of Peperoncino, the firm behind the brand Capestrano, is to select and market products both of quality and favorable price, and it starts out with the Montepulciano wine from the Abruzzo region in Italy. The name “Peperoncino” stands for chili pepper, which is the main spice in the cuisine of the Abruzzo region. This spice, originally from America, has spread all over the world and also in the Abruzzo region, where it has become connected with the regional identity. Peperoncino wants to preserve the regional identity and wants to make it known the world over. The name chosen for the brand and the location chosen for the winery were not a coincidence: the small village of Capestrano located right in the heart of the Abruzzo region, in the foothills of the Gran Sasso Mountains. The surrounding area of Capestrano has a special microclimate with warm days and cold nights. The Montepulciano grape has been cultivated in this area since ancient times and it still is an important part of the regional agricultural economy. With our project we also want to contribute to the economic growth and the cultural development of the area by enhancing the specific character of the local Montepulciano and Trebbiano d’Abruzzo.

The history of the Montepulciano d’Abruzzo wine has a special significance for us. In the 20th century this wine went through ups and downs before acquiring its present well-deserved status and international reputation. In the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s the wine production suffered from heavy damage caused by phylloxera. The vine growers encountered many difficulties in reconstituting the vineyards, and this led to the abandonment of the countryside and to the eventual emigration. Later on, the intensive growth of grapes, which were often used to enrich wines from other regions, experienced a period in which quantity rather than quality was the main goal. This of course, did not take into consideration that the wines of the Abruzzo region could instead acquire distinctive features a higher quality. The wine production of the province of L’Aquila, in particular, was important until the post war period, however insufficiently productive in quantitative terms and lost its importance in comparison with other areas of intensive production. Finally, in the last 20 years, new qualitative guidelines have favored the acquisition of a special character of our wines, and have led to the growth of technical knowledge and of an economic and cultural awareness. It is our aim to further develop the special character of Capestrano wines which are closely related to the identity of the region.