Tintilia del Molise is one of the very newest DOC titles created for the Molise region of central-southern Italy. It was approved and made law in late 2011, almost 30 years after Molise's first two DOCs. The wines covered by the title are varietal reds made from Tintilia, which is the closest Molise comes to having a 'signature' grape variety.
Molise is Italy's second-smallest region, both by area and population (only the Aosta Valley is smaller), and lacks the long-standing winemaking traditions enjoyed by most other Italian regions. It produces only a tiny amount of wine each year (neighboring Puglia makes more than 20 times as much), within which there is relatively little stylistic diversity. As such, there is no need for the region to have a wide range of DOC titles, so it has long made do with a regional 'Molise' DOC and a just two others (Biferno and the little-known Pentro di Isernia). In 2011, however, as Italy's wine lawmakers hurried to create more DOC/G titles before handing their powers over to the European Union, Molise was granted a new DOC title: Tintilia del Molise. This covers wines from almost 50 parishes, which make up almost half of the entire region.
Tintilia is a black-skinned grape whose ancestry and origins are disputed. Its name could reasonably be traced back to a number of tint* words in either Spanish or Italian, as it remains unclear in which of these countries the variety originated. The answer to this is largely academic in the modern day, as most wine lovers are content with the image of wine-tinted tablecloths left by the variety's deeply pigmented wines.
Tintilia was once the most widely planted variety in Molise. Because of its notoriously low yields, however, it was largely abandoned after World War II, as producers looked for more higher-yielding, profitable alternatives. The variety gained new momentum in the 1990s thanks to some careful producers and to the introduction of the regional 'Molise' DOC in 1998. This was compounded in 2011 by the creation of the Tintilia del Molise DOC title. Even despite this, Tintilia and its wines are still relatively rare.
Tintilia del Molise wines tend to a rich ruby-red in color and are full bodied, with pronounced tannins. They are mostly high in alcohol, which is usually balanced by their highly aromatic and juicy nature. Typical flavors include prunes, plums, sour cherries, licorice and black pepper.
