Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, Abruzzo, Italy

Cristina Tiberio is a former chemist who trained in Champagne, Chablis and the Mosel before taking the helm of her family’s winery in Abruzzo, Italy. This is one of her many elegant and affecting odes to the regional Italian grapes that have defined (and until recently, were neglected in) the region for centuries. The grapes are organically farmed from 50 year old vines and vinified as clean, low-intervention wines that are approachable and food-friendly, something for you but also your Merlot-obsessed uncle! Drinks like Tilda Swinton in I Am Love, silk-lined, pedigreed and impeccable with notes of IKEA lingonberry jam, ripe cherries and blackcurrant cassis on a palazzo, not a villa, darling. As the night (and wine) wanes, Cuban cigars emerge with a hint of raw leather and river earth. Pairs perfectly with meaty proteins, Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce & someone else doing the cleaning.