I am saddened and shocked to learn of the premature death of Italian vintner Gianni Masciarelli. He died of a sudden stroke on July 31st at the young age of 53 while on a business trip to Munich. Italy has lost much more than a great winemaker. Masciarelli was a feisty and charismatic voice of truth and he served as a moral compass for Italian wine many years before scandalous reports of fraudulent wines were splashed across headlines.

I last spoke to Gianni just months ago when he invited me to the baptism of his youngest child, Riccardo, who is almost one year old now. In quintessential Masciarelli style, Gianni deftly moved the conversation from his infant son, to senator Obama and the US presidential elections, to Italian politics and to housing prices in Florida. His ideas were firm and unyielding yet he had the amazing ability to inspire and encourage a young wine writer like myself. He was a man of wide international vision and every word uttered was spoken with enthusiasm and passion. I honestly cannot think of another winemaker with the same caliber of conviction and purpose.

Gianni’s best qualities are reflected in his wines. Take Villa Gemma (a pure expression of Montepulciano). I gave the 2001 vintage 95 points and described it as “one of those ‘wow’ wines you encounter on fortunate but rare occasions that radically changes the way you think about a relatively unknown, workhorse grape like Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.” In fact, that wine earned a spot on our Top 50 Cellar Selections from around the world in 2007. It is a truly amazing and exceptional wine and I am proud to have a bottle in my cellar that I will cherish and hold in his memory.

Gianni Masciarelli was a guest speaker at a special seminar I gave at Vinitaly in April and he presented the 2001 Villa Gemma. I’ll never forget his intervention. He stood up in front of the crowd and said: “I am not here to talk about my wine, I am here to talk about Abruzzo.” He proceeded to describe his region, which is rustic and sometimes harsh, with the poetic tones one would reserve for a woman or a child. You could take Masciarelli out of Abruzzo but you could never take Abruzzo out of Masciarelli.

In my opinion, no winemaker did more for the region of Abruzzo and its wines than Masciarelli. He made it his mission to promote his territory and he has just finished a beautiful “conservation-restoration” project of an ancient abbey in which he tracked down original building materials with an enormous investment of passion, time and money.

Masciarelli was born in San Martino della Marrucina, near Chieti in Abruzzo and he started making wine in 1978. Since then, he has been credited with reviving Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and bringing it to the world stage. Masciarelli was also an importer of fine Italian wines to the United States and French wines to Italy. He launched Villa Gemma in 1984 and started a second line of wines, named after his wife Marina Cvetic, in 1991. His estate is about 370 acres and produces 1.1 million bottles per year.

I’d like to call out to all the Italian-Americans out there – especially those with ancestral roots in the Abruzzi – to try one of Masciarelli’s beautiful wines. There is no better way to “taste” the flavors of this special part of Italy and his wines are a direct link to your heritage.

My warmest sympathies go to Gianni’s wife Marina and his three children Miriam, Chiara and little Riccardo. Italy has lost an exceptional winemaker and Abruzzo has lost its guardian angel.

Monica Larner is Italian Editor with Wine Enthusiast. She is based in Rome and reviews wines from Italy for the magazine.