It was hardly a wine-related consideration that led Molise to the separation from Abruzzo, which made Molise the 20th and newest region in Italy in 1963; and if it wasn’t for the producer Di Majo Norante, probably many wine enthusiasts would still not even realise that Molise existed.

But it does, and with wines that somewhat differ from the Montepulciano and Trebbiano wines from Abruzzo. However, it is not from Apulia, south of Molise, that it sought inspiration to complement the increasingly dominant Montepulciano, but from Campania, the region just east of Molise. From there they adopted the grape Aglianico, and the mix between Montepulciano and Aglianico is interesting, especially as expressed in Molise’s most famous DOC, Biferno, that stretches over a large, separated area north and east of the regional capital, Campobasso, completely onto the sea where Termoli offers good seafood restaurants…

Northwest of Campobasso, we can find Molise’s second DOC, Pientro d’Isernia. Here Montepulciano is complemented with Sangiovese, and this makes sense, as you will find in Marche too, but the version of the wine you find in Molise is very different from the one in Marche.

Maybe the wine issue was not among the most weighty considerations when Molise was established as a region, but the independent character of its wines might well be taken as a symbol of the individualism of Molise.