Molise DOC

Italy’s most overlooked region — for most of its modern history, Molise was administratively attached to Abruzzo and had no vinous identity of its own. The Molise DOC was created to give the region a label, but the wines themselves are shaped by terrain that most Italian wine lovers have never seriously explored.

The Territory A small, mountainous region between Abruzzo, Campania, Puglia, and the Adriatic coast. The hills are steep, the climate is continental with Adriatic influence, and the soils are a mix of clay, limestone, and sand. Elevations range from 200 to 800 meters — far more dramatic than the neighboring coastal flatlands.

The Wines The DOC covers an enormous range: Falanghina and Greco for whites; Montepulciano, Sangiovese, and Aglianico for reds. The most interesting wines are the reds — particularly Aglianico, which here tends to be softer and more approachable than the tannic giants of Campania (Taurasi), and Montepulciano, which can show excellent fruit concentration in the hillside sites.

Di Majo Norante The single producer who has defined Molise wine internationally. Alessio Di Majo’s estates near Campomarino (Adriatic coast) produce wines from Falanghina, Aglianico, and the rare local Tintilia variety that have earned serious critical attention despite the region’s anonymity.

The Critical Take Ignore the regional label; follow Di Majo Norante. The wines offer Campania-adjacent quality at significantly lower prices.

The Sheep Roads Molise’s landscape was shaped by transhumance more than by farming. The tratturi — grassy droving roads up to a hundred metres wide, running for hundreds of kilometres between the Abruzzese mountains and the Tavoliere of Puglia — cross the region, and the greatest of them, the Pescasseroli–Candela, runs straight through it. They were protected by law under the Kingdom of Naples and taxed for centuries; they are still visible from the air, and several are still walkable. A region organised around moving sheep is a region that did not organise around planting vines.

Saepinum The clearest survival of what came before is the Roman town of Saepinum at Altilia, small, complete and almost never visited, with its walls, forum, theatre and gates standing in open fields. It sat on a tratturo, and the sheep economy is why it was there.

Three Names, Not One Molise carries the regional DOC alongside Biferno and Pentro di Isernia, plus Tintilia del Molise for the native grape. The regional label is the widest and the least informative of the four, and the interesting bottles usually carry one of the others. See the Tintilia entry for the variety that gives the region an argument of its own.

At the Table Lamb and kid above all, cavatelli with ragù, pampanella from San Martino, and aged pecorino. Reds at 16–17°C, whites at 10–12°C.

Benchmark Producers Di Majo Norante.