A decade spent uncorking bottles across Europe gave Luca Bevilacqua a clear conviction: great wine needs nothing added to it. In 2001 he returned to his hometown of Atessa, in the Val di Sangro valley of southern Abruzzo, and began making wine from the small plot his father had farmed before him.
Backstory
Bevilacqua trained and worked as a professional sommelier for roughly ten years before turning to production. When he came back to Abruzzo he found everything he needed already in place: a couple of hectares of 35-year-old vines on clay soils at roughly 300 metres above sea level, and the knowledge of what he did not want to do. He named his label LAB, from the initials of his two sons Lorenzo Amerigo and Leonardo Andrea Bevilacqua.
The Region
Atessa sits in the lower Sangro river valley in the province of Chieti, in a landscape caught between the Majella massif and the Adriatic. Mountain air provides cool nights throughout the growing season; sea breezes moderate daytime heat. The territory belongs to a new generation of Abruzzese producers who are reclaiming the region's native varieties from industrial conformity.
Vineyards and Farming
Luca farms roughly two hectares of vines on heavy clay soils without pesticides or herbicides, using only small quantities of copper when disease pressure demands it. Cover crops are planted around the traditional pergola-trained rows to prevent erosion. The primary varieties are Montepulciano and Trebbiano, with some Passerina and Pecorino.
Winemaking
Fermentations rely entirely on ambient yeasts. Luca works with spontaneous fermentation, carbonic maceration for some reds, and ageing in stainless steel or fibreglass tanks. Nothing is added. Production is very small, under 10,000 bottles in total, with most work fitted around his continuing work as a sommelier.
The Wines
The LAB range includes Red Lab (Montepulciano), White Lab (Trebbiano and Passerina), Rosé Lab, Super White, and the carbonic-maceration Carbonic Lab. The wines are deliberately light, food-friendly, and built for the table rather than the cellar.
