Stefano Papetti Ceroni, proprietor of De Fermo, has always carried an intense passion for wine. While studying law in his native Bologna, he met his future wife Eloisa, with the early years of their relationship spent traveling to wineries and local tasting fairs on weekends. It wasn't until 2007, seven years after the couple had met, that Eloisa proposed they visit her family farm in Abruzzo. Situated between the Adriatic coast and the glacial Majella mountain range, it had been in the de Fermo family for generations but she had no real connection to it; Stefano was smitten. The couple went from spending weekends at the farm to managing a hectare of vines on the property to hone their understanding of viticulture, eventually forgoing their law careers to take the reins of De Fermo full time in 2009. Since resurrecting the family's cultural heritage (and beautiful old cantina), Stefano and Eloisa have proven themselves to be stewards of their land and talented winemakers, understanding that the best thing they can do is to intervene as seldom as possible in the cellar, allowing the soils of their native Loreto Aprutino to do the talking.
A brawny and intense take on the iconic Abruzzese varietal, named for Eloisa’s Francophile uncle Carlo. At once ripe and viscous yet firmly structured, with a punchy, spicy, and sweetly floral nose of granny smith, spring flowers, dried chamomile, lime zest, and wet stone. The juice has some serious textural roundness on the palate, with a pretty inner sweetness offset by a spine of salty acidity, as minerals and tart orchard fruit keep things fresh and persistent. Hints of spiced orange and tangerine linger through the long and cheek-puckering finale. A stunning expression of Pecorino, built to age but bang-on for these late summer months.