Italiano 
English From “I Vini d’Italia 2014” of “Le Guide de L’Espresso”
The pluri-mentioned link with tradition, today often sounds like an empty and rhetorical refrain. However, in case of Praesidium wines it is a tangible reality. The two wines we tasted this year convey an extraordinary sense of genuineness and they are added to a long collection of high level vintages years. Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Reserve 2008 – 18,5/20. Full in its eggplant color, dense up to the edge. It is very reticent during the first minutes; it needs a good aeration to disclose an aromatic and flavour outline which has got a significant expressive power: chocolate, gentian, ripe blackberry and a more definite black cherry. It has got mature tannins, a fleshy touch and it appeals the palate vigorously but gently. Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo 2012 – 18/20. It has got a very deep color, a very wide bouquet in which the ripe cherry note fades into the scent of herbs and licorice. Its taste has got a rare intensity; its tannins are tasty, dense but fully mature; the fruit is well outlined and the ending is...
Read MoreL’Espresso wine guide 2013
Few wines, in Abruzzo and all over the peninsula, express a personality as authentic as the red wines inspired by Enzo Pasquale’s red wines. Here, in the Peligna Valley, the Montepulciano grapes express their best, giving birth to powerful and lingering wines, that combine structural power with a great tanninic taste and a remarkable length of taste. Only 5 hectares of vineyard and about twenty thousand bottles produced a year. The Reserve 2007, waited for a long time, surely lives up to the expectations. It’s easy to predict a good evolution in the bottle. The quality of Cerasuolo is no less brilliant, it is a rosé with such a complexity that embarrasses red wines of higher fame (and price). Montepulciano D’Abruzzo Riserva 2007 – 18,5/20: it has got an intense, clear and peculiar iridescent scent. Also a strong smoked side, mountain herbs, graphite, wild cherry smell.A great fullness in mouth, penetrating, ferrous metallic side that adds complexity and profundity.Fine, tasty and hearty tannins; very long ending. Montepulciano D’Abruzzo Cerasuolo 2011 – 17,5/20: clear, “transparent” smell, great purity also to the taste, salty and at the same time fruity at the middle of the mouth, with a rhythmic, lively and crystalline ending. From Le Guide de L’Espresso, Vini d’Italia...
Read MoreSlow Wine Guide 2013
Enzo Pasquale and his son Ottaviano’s story (and business) is simple and beautiful; it’s a story of antique agriculture that speaks the modern language of environmental sustainability and of the link with the territory From Slow Wine – Guida...
Read MoreL’Espresso wine guide 2010
Those who estimate the austere and reserved nature of the Montepulciano “of the mountains” appreciate the savory Enzo Pasquale’s red wines , which are small jewels of authenticity, longlasting and lively as it hardly happens to be found. For those who seek a strong, authentic and uncompromised expression of the territory in wine, this small “presidio” of the Peligna Valley represents a trustable source.Beside the magnificent 2004 that hasn’t got a lower overall quality, the Montepulciano 2005 astonishes by its originality and the force it expresses. Anyone keen on red wines should try its tannic subtlety and the purity of its fruits. The balance between its astringency and its softness offers a unique sensation: it has got a velvety touch and at the same time a taste as sharp and precise as a laser ray. A first star for the winery is really deserved. Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2005 – 18.5/20 : dark (shady), visceral, complex, embryonic in smell so far, elegant, refined in its tannic component, astonishing for its subtlety and lingering, it is provided with an alcoholic ending and fades in an incredibly pure fruity flavor. From Le Guide de L’Espresso, Vini d’Italia...
Read More“Enogea” #23
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Riserva 2003 (90D): Enzo Pasquale’s cellar is well hidden, but at the end it is not so difficult to be found. Once you take the road to Prezza you just have to follow the rise of the winding road that leads to the village center until the clutch or the power steering (or both) set on fire. At this point turn the car off because you arrived. A small house, a small cellar, and only one wine that is hard to describe in a few lines. If sometimes it is selective and humoral (such as the 2001), in others – such as the 1997 – it is able to smoothen its excessive rusticity. Then there is the 2003, the youngest in commerce and tamed by the barrique as much as it is enough to give it appeal, without losing its originality in smell that varies from leather to meat, from baked onions, to tar and so on till you feel the desire of a renaissance meal. The tannin is excellent and pleases and lingers without excesses and without interruptions. Ratafià (92D): As much intriguing as the Riserva wine, but on a completely different register (so different to let you think to something like doctor Jekyll and mister Hyde in an enoic version) is the Ratafià, a cherry liqueur with a purity and fragrance that are at least inebriant. Don’t miss the opportunity to taste it! From “Enogea” #23, February/March...
Read MoreBest in the World, Gourmand, World Cookbook Awards
The Pasquale family runs one of the most peculiar winery that I’ve ever visited: in fact Prezza is a tiny isolated village hard to reach even after several directions […]. Actually Praesidium’s Montepulciano of some years seems the most elegant expression of this vine variety […].Without doubts, the territory itself and the particular vinification techniques, which reduced to the minimum technology and invasive intervention, contributed to determine such a personal style: discreet but of great drinkability and generally with very fine-grained tannins […]. Undoubtedly this small cellar is one of the most interesting firms in Abruzzo. Da Vini Naturali d’Italia. Manuale del Bere Sano di G. Bietti Vol.1, 2010, Ed. Estemporanee Best in the World, Gourmand, World Cookbook...
Read More10 great wines low than 35 Euro
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Riserva 2001 Praesidium: Color fruit wood. Who doesn’t remember the triangulation that made the fortune of many “vinoni” of the ‘90s? Well, forget it: the Enzo Pasquale’s Montepulciano has got a totally different expression register. Not really for its color, that, as it is well known, never lacks to this wine/vine; but for its style, that clearly distinguishes from the strong smoothness belonging to many wine makers of the coast. This wine reveals a profile that is sourer and less facilitated. Its smell is beautiful, spicy and mint-full; it recalls bitter herbs, licorice, and china bark. It is extremelyrich also in the mouth, fat and full-bodied, but even tasty and long; nevertheless its recollection of black cherry preserves naturalness of the juice. A mountain Montepulciano, as it was defined, a champion in personality, really beautiful and enjoyable: just the opposite of a calligraphic wine.. From Eccellenze e dintorni: 10 grandi vini sotto i 35 euro in GoWine...
Read MorePaolo Massobrio’s “Golosaria”
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Riserva 2001 Praesidium: Color fruit wood. Who doesn’t remember the triangulation that The “Top Hundred 2009” 100 wines for 100 emotions. This is the evaluation we gave at the end of one year tasting. We are glad to be able to deliver, once again, a selection of the 100 best Italian wines according to us. This selection is not made by renowned red, white and sparkling wines, but we considered mainly those little known labels signed by producers that it is worth knowing for the passion and talent they work with or for the innovation theybrought […]. PRAESIDIUM Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Praesidium 2001. From Golosaria, rassegna di cultura e gusto del Club di Papillon Anno...
Read MoreBibenda
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 1998 Praesidium: 87/100. Dense and intense ruby red, with subtle purple shade. Smelling it, the impact is based on a touch of red berries preserved in alcohol. There are clear scents of black cherry and mulberry. In the end it comes out a rose flower, a touch of sweet spices and slight tobacco. In the mouth the fruit comes back firm and leading, withshades of sour cherry and strawberry. Tanninsare elegant and non-aggressive. It emerges a refreshing, pleasant and balanced touch. The maceration lasts about 8 days at a supervised temperature. For the refining, they are used oak barrels. The wine is not pasteurized, neither clarified: only natural decantation. It is surely long-lasting, it will benefit of some years in the bottle, as it proved the year 1993 that was recently tasted. You must test it with fresh pecorino cheese. At the moment it is the only product of the winery, a part from the liqueur Ratafià which is obtained by themix of Montepulciano wine and “amarelle” cherries, which can be found only in the near areaof Raiano. From Bibenda, nº 2 Giugno/Agosto...
Read MorePorthos. june 2001
The wine tasting was held at the restaurant “La Conca” in L’Aquila[…]. The bottles were made anonymous. The wines were divided into three groups according to the price levels and qualitative ambition. In some cases we “shuffled the cards” for example introducing in a higher group a wine that we believed was particularly interesting: the Enzo Pasquale’s Praesidium.[Montepulcianod’AbruzzoPraesidium 1997] It has got a beautiful, lively and dark ruby color. It features a charming smell, a mix of fresh touches of mint and herbs, warm touches of flesh, leather and licorice, fruity touches ones of dark cherries and blackberries. It is still young but it already boasts a great complexity. Its taste has got a beautiful texture, a remarkable tension and a great ending; it isreally amazing and clear how it recalls the blackberry and black cherry sensations. It was A powerful exploit, one of the best wines tasted with an excellent price. We predict a wide variety of emotions for the next years. It is alsoastonishing the endurance of the open bottle because of the increase of the smells and the dynamic of its taste. We suggest you to follow in the years the Reserve ’93 , matured in the steel. Since ’95 Pasquale began to use oak barrels of 10-15 hectoliters. Porthos, June 2001. From Porthos, June...
Read MoreL’Espresso wine guide 2006
Those who appreciate the austere nature of the Montepulciano “of the mountain” already contend Enzo Pasquale’s selections . They are small jewels of authenticity, as long-lasting andlively as rarely it is given the chance to drink. The 2001is maybe the best year ever. To the usual even sour expression of the territory, that is authentic and without compromises, it matches an impressivejuiciness and ending. You mustn’t miss also the Cerasuolo, very tasty, surely more tannic and long than a simple rose […]. Montepulciano D’Abruzzo Riserva 2001 – 18/20: Beautiful spicy feature, rich and juicy in the mouth, it provides an extra naturalness and a very long ending. From Le Guide de L’Espresso, Vini d’Italia...
Read MoreOttaviano’s interview on I am wine magazine
The on-line magazine I am Wine interviewed us. Here it is the video from I am Wine Youtube channel. You can also read the full article on I am Wine
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