Torre Dei Beati

The name of the estate is drawn from a detail of a big fresco dating back to the 14th century, in the Santa Maria church of Piano. In the representation of the Day of Judgment, the Tower of the Blessed (“Torre dei Beati”) is the final goal the souls strive to achieve through diligence and work. This ancient story is reflected in the culture of the Torre dei Beati winery. Here, through diligence and extremely careful work in the vineyard and at the winery, the Torre Dei Beati bring out the best from the native grapes they grow.

Located in the celebrated Loreto Aprutino area, Fausto and Adriana started their family-operated winemaking activity in 1999. They commenced cultivating the vineyards that were gifted to them by Adriana’s father, Rocco who had planted them decades earlier in 1972. Both Fausto Albanesi and Adriana Galassi have been members of the Italian Sommelier Society since 1992.

Their first bottling was in 2000. In 2002 their organic farming practices got the organic certification complying with the CE 2092/91 European law regarding organic agriculture. This was done because of their beliefs that to be high quality, wines should also be natural without the use of chemicals.

The vines are spaced at 2.5 mt/ 8 ft square, the foliage develops parallel to the ground at a height of 1.8 mt/ 6 ft. Those in favor of the system maintain that the foliage prevents excess sun on the grapes, and helps reduce the evaporation of water from the ground. Having said that, as vineyards are replanted at Torre Dei Beati, they are now being trained low to the ground in the Spurred Cordon system. The management of the vines reflects the characteristics of the variety and the specific nature of the land on which it grows.

The family began winemaking on the ground floor of the old farmhouse in the center of the vineyard. Now a new cellar and additional parts of the winery have been added, allowing the original house to be used as a welcome and tasting room. In 2004, a new 8 ha/ 20 acre plot was purchased for the planting of new vineyards. The family now tends to 30 ha/ 74 acres of vines, all located in Loreto Aprutino, between 250-300 mt/ 820-985 ft, about 25 km/ 16 miles from the Adriatic Sea. Their land is on the first slopes of the Tavo Creek and the land then soars above them towards the 3,000 mt/ 9,842 ft peak of the Gran Sasso d’Italia, the highest mountain of the Apennine range. The particular position of Torre Dei Beati gives the vineyards a warm wind coming up from the sea during the day, and cold air coming down from the mountain at night, especially during the last month of the maturation, when the Gran Sasso can be expected to be blanketed by snow. Torre Dei Beati has specialized in the Montepulciano grape but more recently they have started to plant Pecorino. These are perhaps the most interesting of the traditional white varieties of this region.

During harvest there are repeated pickings of the same plots only selecting the perfectly healthy and ripe bunches. This allows the other bunches to gain more maturity until they go back and pick again. The grapes are carefully selected and placed in 20 kg/ 44 lbs. cases and are immediately brought to the winery. There, the grapes are placed on a sorting table and only the best are selected. This process is applied to all the grapes Torre Dei Beati uses for their wines.

The careful selection of perfectly, healthy bunches of grapes, both in the vineyard and at the winery is done so the wines express the potential of the varieties cultivated. At Torre Dei Beati, the most advanced technology is dedicated to traditional winemaking while always remaining respectful to the authenticity of the organic grapes.