Universally recognized as one of the world’s great wineries, Valentini’s considerable legend and legacy do not overshadow the sheer quality of its wines. This year saw the Abbruzzese winery sweep up in Gambero Rosso‘s annual Vini d’Italia Awards. Valentini was not only awarded Winery of the Year, but all three of the company’s wines received the coveted Tre Bicchieri prize, the first time a single estate has taken all the top honors. We’re thrilled that Gambero Rosso has recognized these unique wines, and in celebration of Valentini’s unprecedented achievement, Vino is excited to present a very special holiday offer: enjoy FREE GROUND SHIPPING on all Valentini purchased by December 13, 2010.

Edoardo Valentini (above) produced wine for sale from the 1956 vintage until his death at age 72 in 2006. During that half-century he became widely regarded as Abruzzo’s greatest winemaker. His renown among fans of fine Italian wines grew as bottles of his Montepulciano, Cerasuolo and Trebbiano found their way onto tables and into tastings all over the world. His unique approach to handling vines that were thought inferior by many in the wine community combined with his eccentric personality caused his legend to grow but it was the excellence in bottle that really solidified his reputation as one of Italy’s great craftsmen of natural wines.

Valentini gave up a career in law to return with his family to their ancestral home in the village of Loreto Aprutino, about a half hour inland from Pescara. He tended about 170 acres of vines spread across several vineyard sites as well as hundreds of acres planted to fruit trees and olives. While farming made up a good part of his living, life in a rural village also allowed him to count agriculture and winemaking among his intellectual pursuits. He was famously reluctant to advise visitors on his techniques in the cellar but we do know through the consistent quality of his wines across the decades that whatever those methods were he practiced them with discipline and expected excellence in quality and style.

Valentini became notorious for his shunning of the media and disregard for wine marketing. Consequently, what little information we can glean about the man and his wines only serves to enhance the mystique surrounding both.

Since Edoardo Valentini’s passing his son Francesco Paolo (above) has carried on the production of the family’s much-admired line of Abruzzese wines with fidelity and rigor. It is evident in tasting that the Valentini legacy remains strong and will be well tended.

Valentini Trebbiano d’Abruzzo 2008
$98

Valentini Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Cerasuolo 2008
$90

For more information please contact 212-725-6516 or info@vinosite.com.