Winemaker
Franco D’Eusanio
- Discipline
- Winemaker
i. Biography
In Nocciano, Abruzzo, the work starts in the field. Land, grapes, and farming discipline set the terms before any ferment begins. Here, wine is treated as something planned through patient vineyard decisions, not as a romantic byproduct of harvest or weather.
Coming Up
The roles fit a working logic that keeps wine tied to its source. His practice moves between vineyard and cellar, with each decision shaped by agriculture first and bottling second. In that sequence, the farm is not a separate story from the wine; it is where the wine’s character starts to form.
Where They Are Now
As he puts it, "A great wine is not only produced: it is planned." That line gets to the center of Franco D'Eusanio’s method. In Nocciano, the estate works by intention, with vineyard choices carrying forward into the glass. Noccese Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, from Chiusa Grande in 2012, stands as another named expression from the Nocciano estate. Read together, they point to a winemaking approach that favors structure over display and purpose over flourish: wines grounded in ordinary farming discipline, but exact enough to register place clearly.
Career - consultant to Abruzzo wineries — Abruzzo wineries, Abruzzo - leader of Chiusa Grande Organic Farm — Chiusa Grande Organic Farm, Nocciano, Abruzzo, Italy
Signature
Franco's signature wines include In petra, Noccese Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, and Terre Casali Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. Taken together, those names trace a regional logic: grounded, specific, and tied to Abruzzo’s own vocabulary. They point to a style built on continuity rather than spectacle, with each wine linked to the work that precedes it and the land that supports it.
In Their Words “The decision to embrace organic agriculture cannot be driven solely by the need to flood the market. The foundation must be one of committed beliefs and a lifestyle attuned to the choices made.” “A great wine is not only produced: it is planned.” Taken together, these lines frame organic agriculture as practice, not branding. Planning here is not a sterile exercise; it is a way of respecting the vineyard, the crop, and the wine that follows from those decisions.
Honors
His personal statement of purpose is quieter than a trophy line and more useful for understanding the cellar: "In my life, I have tried to be who I am, to give true meaning to what I do." In Nocciano, that meaning is expressed through organic agriculture, consultancy rooted in winegrowing, and bottles planned from the farm outward.
FAQ What is Franco D'Eusanio's craft? Owner and vigneron — Chiusa Grande (Nocciano, Italy), 1994.
