Ripe cherry and dark plum fruit, light tobacco and cedar accents mark this pleasant, medium-weight wine. It’s a good basic red and will have wide appeal with its round, supple mouthfeel. Generally a workaday, inexpensive Italian red, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is a good pizza/pasta choice. It’s not to be confused with the Tuscan Montepulciano. In Tuscany, Montepulciano is a place; here, it’s a grape. Here, the place (Abruzzo) is the province on Italy’s east central coast.——W.E.(5/1/2001)—— 85