Arunte and Montepulciano wine

A very serious incident took place in Chiusi after the death of Lars Porsena. An Etruscan ruler raped the wife of the nobleman, Arunte. To get his revenge, he went to the Senones in Gaul and invited them to come to the land of the Etruscans where, he promised, there were fertile lands and cities to conquer. As confirmation, Arunte brought with him some skins of Montepulciano wine. The point he made was so convincing that the Gauls immediately got their horses. When the people of Chiusi saw
this menacing army, they immediately sent ambassadors to the Gauls. The negotiation led to the promise of peace by the invaders in exchange for the excellent wine they had tasted. Chiusi asked the Romans for help who, in new negotiations, boasted of owning even better lands and wines. The Gauls, tempted by this idea, thought it wiser to go to Rome, which was sacked. But the wine came at a high cost as the barbarians were exterminated by Marcus Furius Camillus. In any case, it is one of many affirmations to the excellence of Montepulciano wine, which has always been produced there, and not surprisingly defined with the epithet of “Nobile” (“noble”). In a document dated 789, the cleric Arnipert offers a vineyard located in the castle of Policiano to the church of San Silvestro in Lanciniano. In another document dated 1350, the terms are laid down for the trade and export of wine from Montepulciano. In 1685, Francesco Redi in his work of Bacchus in Tuscany, recited an ode to Count Federico Veterani: “Montepulciano is the king of all wines!” The term “Nobile” is mentioned for the first time in a document dated 1787.