Montepulciano is not exactly undiscovered, but it's below the radar enough and big enough (with a population of almost 15,000) to absorb its visitors gracefully, without becoming a tourist souk.

Piazza Grande. And view, foothill Montepulciano. After three decades of living in Italy and having 'done' umpteen times many of its celebrated sights and cities, I sometimes rouse myself from ...

Perhaps my favourite village osteria, though, is La Botte Piena (piazza Cinughi 12, tel 00 39 0577 669481, average 30 euros a head with wine, closed Wed) in pretty Montefollonico — at the end of ...

Although you might not realize it, almost everything about this wine is on the label: It’s from the up-and-coming Abruzzo region of central Italy; the grape is montepulciano, the area’s ...

The gamble would pay off: "The only other Montepulciano-dominated denomination of real significance — in terms of prestige if not of volume — is the Marche's Rosso Conero," Nicolas Belfrage ...

But there’s another Montepulciano worth knowing. Over dinner, I recently opened a bottle of Il Feuduccio ’s Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Ursonia 1999. As the name suggests, it’s made from the Montepulciano ...