Montepulciano. This robust red grape variety is planted throughout central Italy, but it does best in the Abruzzo and Marche regions. There, in wines labeled Montepulciano d’ Abruzzo and Rosso Conero, respectively, it creates plummy, forceful reds with broad, soft tannins.ne of Italy’s most compelling white grape varieties, Vermentino is grown up and down Italy, but almost always by the coast (in Liguria, for instance, as well as in Tuscany and Sardinia).