About the Wine

While exploring the coastal beauty of Pescara, where the Adriatic meets Abruzzo's rugged charm, BHW founder Greg Martellotto made a discovery that would change everything. Every top restaurant in town were proudly pouring wines from one family: the Pasettis.

After falling in love with these wines during his holiday, Greg knew he had to meet the family behind them at Vinitaly. What followed was immediate—a direct import partnership that broke all our own rules. While BHW typically imports just one or two wines per producer, Pasetti's entire range was so extraordinary that we brought them all.

These aren't just some of Abruzzo's finest wines—they consistently rank among Italy's absolute best. We're thrilled to introduce you to the Pasetti legacy.

The Pasetti vineyards occupy something truly special: prime real estate inside Gran Sasso National Park. These are the same imposing Apennine peaks visible from Rome on clear days—mountain wines born from altitude and surrounded by breathtaking natural beauty. This is where rustic charm meets sunny hospitality, earning recognition from Wine Spectator as a "stunning, under-explored, year-round destination" and praise from Travel + Leisure for "stunning ocean views, three national parks, and rolling vineyards."

The Pasetti story began in the early 1900s when great-grandfather Silvestro purchased the first vineyards, starting as a humble grape grower. His grandson Franco made the bold leap to bottling under their own label, but the family's journey wasn't without struggle. Phylloxera devastated their vineyards, yet they emerged stronger, rebuilding in the 1950s to become a regional icon. Today, Mimmo Pasetti leads alongside his children Francesca, Rachele, Massimo, and Davide, continuing to elevate the family legacy with wines as distinctive as the region itself. This is a true family affair—every child involved in winemaking, sales, marketing, and administration.

High in the Pescosansonesco vineyards at 550 meters above sea level, something extraordinary happens. Clay-calcareous soils rich in organic matter meet dramatic temperature swings and refreshing Adriatic breezes, creating terroir that's perfect for wines with bold acidity, powerful structure, and incredible aging potential. As Domenico Pasetti puts it: "Wine is not an exact science but an experience of life." Each bottle carries generations of love, sacrifice, and vision for the future.

When Mimmo Pasetti took the reins, he doubled down on something rare: making wines that actually taste like the place they're from, not a lab.

The Testarossa line — named for the red-haired women in the family — became the estate's calling card, and this Trebbiano Riserva is the white expression of that vision.

Trebbiano d'Abruzzo doesn't get the hype Verdicchio or Soave command, which is exactly why the smart money is here. When a producer treats it seriously — low yields, manual harvest, a blend of steel and oak — you get what this bottle delivers: stone fruit and citrus depth, the kind of texture and length you'd expect from wine twice the price. Abruzzo's continental climate and limestone soils give Trebbiano both freshness and weight, and Pasetti lets the grape do what it does best.

The 2023 vintage was brutal. May and June rains brought downy mildew, muddy vineyards, and production losses topping 40% across the region — some estates lost 70%. What survived produced exceptionally pure, concentrated fruit, and this Riserva shows it: explosive golden orchard fruit, flint, almond, a round palate with the kind of acidic backbone that carries the wine through a long, clean finish.

The depth, the texture, the finish — this is the kind of wine that makes you question what you've been paying for. Pull the cork tonight or let it age through 2028; it's built for both.

Tasting Notes

100% Trebbiano d'Abruzzo.

Bright straw yellow in the glass. The nose leads with citrus and yellow-fleshed stone fruit, cut by a clear flinty edge. Dry through and through — under 0.5 g/l residual sugar — with pronounced salinity and minerality off the sandy, pebbly Capestrano soil. Firm, clean acidity carries a rounder mid-palate than you'd expect from the grape, closing long on a lightly almondy finish. Serve at 10–12°C. Best inside ten years of the harvest.

Critic Reviews

NYR.