Cataldi Madonna

Purity of fruit and elevated expressions of indigenous grape varieties are what define the winemaking style of the Cataldi Madonna winery in Italy’s Abruzzo. Following in his father’s footsteps, second generation winemaker, Luigi Cataldi, has taken the Cataldi Madonna winery to new heights following the modernisation, replanting and renovation of the original site which was founded in 1920. Situated in Ofena, Cataldi Madonna lies at the heart of a natural amphitheatre carved from the foothills of the Gran Sasso mountain range. Known as the “oven of Abruzzo”, this location offers extraordinary sun exposure to over 65 hectares of the Cataldi Madonna winery, as well as high altitudinal temperature variations and soil characteristics that make the region particularly suited to viticulture.

Cataldi Madonna is an institution of excellence in Abruzzo, producing not only some of Abruzzo’s greatest wines, but some of Italy’s, too. To this winery we owe much of Abruzzo’s traditional winemaking revival – and especially to Luigi’s unfailing celebration of the region’s specific characteristics, its land and, most importantly, its native grape varieties. From 2003, collaboration with consultant Lorenzo Landi and Cataldi’s winemaker, Raffaele Orlandini, facilitated the successful showcasing of Montepulciano D’Abruzzo, Trebbiano D’Abruzzo and Pecorino, the results of which we continue to enjoy today. We’re particularly taken by the Cataldi Madonna Montepulciano ‘Malandrino’ and Cataldi Madonna Pecorino ‘Giulia’ – both organic (the estate achieved organic certification in 2016), and both evidence of the success of Landi’s hyper-reductive winemaking technique which obtains wines of extraordinary clarity, olfactory elegance and consistency. In fact Cataldi Madonna were the first people to produce a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo without the influence of oak, allowing the wine to sing in all its plum-like glory! Across the range, Cataldi Madonna’s wines are penetrating, energetic and bursting with expression of the wild herbs and terroir that fill Abruzzo with such potential.