In 1999, when Cristiana Tiberio’s father Riccardo discovered this property and its rare Trebbiano Abruzzese vines in the middle-of-nowhere Abruzzo, emptied his bank accounts to buy it, and replanted most of it with Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, more Trebbiano Abruzzese, Pecorino and Moscato di Castiglione grapes indigenous to the region, people said he was crazy – and worse, that no one would ever buy his wines.
Fast forward to 2022 – his daughter is the winemaker, and his son, the viticulturalist – and their wines earn accolades every vintage from adoring industry heavyweights around the globe.
Cristiana welcomed us into her home and spoke lovingly of her father and the absolute trust he had
placed in her.
“My first vintage was 2004. There are not many female winemakers. When I started making wine, people said, ‘Oh, they’re very elegant, female wines’. No one says that anymore. Now they say, ‘this wine is so great, so vibrant, so much energy!’ Putting people in boxes makes others comfortable….It’s not about being a girl or a boy, but you know, in Abruzzo, for many generations, the girl or lady in the wine family just had the role of public relations and accounting.”
“Outside Abruzzo, I haven’t had any trouble. But here, no – she’s a girl, what can she do?! Honestly, the secret of me has been our father. Since I was a child, I grew up thinking I could do whatever I wanted – it was up to me – being a girl had nothing to do with it. My father purchased this property and spent all his money. I find this a big responsibility. It’s been tough, but I carry it.”
Riccardo has long since retired into his truffle hunting hobby (his retired dogs Quarmari and Diana are in the pictures, and all over their Instagram), but Cristiana and Antonio shepherd the 30 hectares of 20-80 year old vines with great passion, noting that “Every five minutes, there’s a new challenge. Bugs, disease, pandemics, earthquakes…whatever can happen will happen.”
I have enjoyed these wines tremendously since they became available in western Canada – especially the Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo IGT – a free run juice rosé with cold maceration on skins that is all crunchy, red fruit – pomegranate, strawberry, and new cherry – with high acidity and light tannins.
But the Pecorino IGT has such small production that I was excited to taste it. It’s a higher level wine, but it has been declassified to IGT status so the hill it hails from can be named on the label (Colline Pescaresi). This is important as these vines are 15 years old and the grape is truly indigenous, and has not been nursery corrected. 
Translucent gold from the thick grape skins, the Pecorino IGT is distinctly mouth tingling with yellow apple and white peach, augmented by rosemary, thyme, cheese rind and a slate-like minerality. The finish is long and evolves with savory, umami-toned notes.
Note the rare double vine plantings.
These Pecorino grapes have thicker skins than the modern clones planted by other wineries on flatlands that have higher yields. The skins help protect them from spring frosts, and in hotter vintages, they grow even thicker to protect the fruit. The groundcover on these 3.5 hectares planted at 360m is completely spontaneous – nothing extra is planted or introduced into the environment.
While Tiberio is neither organic nor biodynamic, Cristiana agrees it would have been much easier for them initially if they’d had those certifications. Now she asserts, “I think the organic and biodynamic route has been important, but it has been overtaken by the marketing. We don’t need a sticker or a stamp – we need to communicate the details of our land, our grapes, our process. It’s much tougher for a smaller winery like ours, because I need to invest time to communicate. But at this point, we are good and now I do it for our industry.”
With her Pecorino wine now noted widely as a true benchmark Italian white, she couldn’t be more right. They’re more than good.
Tenuta di Tavignano is located in a valley above the Musone River which flows between the Apiennes and the Adriatic on Italy’s hamstring.
As Ondine remarks, ‘In Italy, wine is our bread. We have the wine, bread and oil at church and this is part of our Italian heritage, our life. It’s our right and we want to make it available to everyone.’
And this is one of them. The Misco Riserva 2017 is made from handpicked passes over the last, most mature grapes of the harvest. Deep lemon, the nose and palate is all elegance – almond biscotti, white flowers, acacia and anise. The year it spent on lees has built a real beauty with a deeply mineral backbone. Two more years of aging in stainless steel gives the impression of it having spent time in wood, although it hasn’t.
Erica (pictured right).
I liked colleagues Melanie and Giuseppe right away. I had booked a premier tasting at the Casa Chianti Classico in Radda to learn more about the structure of Chianti Classico. We connected quickly over a conversation about Canadian fish and chips, wine, and cars.
The Riserva example was Azienda Agricola Casa Emma’s Chianti Classico DOCG, 2018 from Vignalparco, east of Radda – a delicious garnet wine with basalmic prune, cocoa nib, and an elegantly rounded leather structure.
Castellinuzza e Piuca, Gran Selezione (only made in certain years approved by the Casa Chianti Classico DOCG). This 100% Sangiovese hails from a unique one hectare vineyard located adjacent to a cooling forest near Greve at 600m above sea level. Very few bottles of this single hectare wine were made – and this was the last one at the Casa Chianti Classico.
dusty roses and violets, white pepper, truffle, and smoked meat. Its dry palate has high acidity alongside plum, truffle, dried herb, salumi, and a drizzle of bittersweet castagno (chestnut) honey. 
A lengthy finish is complemented by velvety tannins and development remarkable for such a young sample. What might await a lucky drinker in 5, 8 or 10 years?
This special tasting was augmented by a delicious charcuterie featuring a Chianti Classico olive oil from corregiolo olives tasting of bitter green grass and ground black pepper.
Before we travelled to Italy, I had planned a casual visit to the Avignonesi Winery, imagining I’d simply enjoy some Vino Nobile di Montepulciano on the patio enroute from Perugia to Greve. I had enjoyed their wine before in Canada, and was curious to drop in and see the property. 
Their Il Marzocco Chardonnay IGT, 2020 was a complete surprise. I hadn’t flown all that way to drink Chardonnay – but then I did. What an unexpected delight. Pale lemon with verbena, pineapple, white flower, and a surprising backbone that could carry it through a meal, its delicate lees offered a creamy contrast to the excellent acidity.
The single vineyard Oceano, was an ethereal beauty. A 100% Sangiovese, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, 2017, the Oceano vineyard has blue clay soil which grows structured grapes. Translucent ruby with delicate tannins, its nose and palate are intense with rose water, sour cherry, dried rose, potpourri, thyme, and rosemary. It’s an emotional wine – with a very long and deep finish.
Fifty litre barrels are used for aging the wine for 10 years with the ‘madre’ or starter wine, plus room for air to ensure oxidation. The wine rests in bottle for at least a year after the decade in barrel. 
I brought some of this potion home with me. Thankfully it was available in 100ml bottles, so I didn’t need to risk any airline losing my wine and causing tears. My Eye of the Pheasant is safely ensconced now in the cellar. For how long, nobody knows.
The soils on which their Sangiovese is planted and farmed organically are marne and iron-rich red silt, and sit at 450m on the north-western corner of Montalcino. 
wines, and a beautiful Vermouth.
Translucent ruby red and medium-bodied, the Silio offers a fabulous nose and flavours of bright, sour cherry, violets and roses. Only lightly tannic, it lends itself to grilled chicken and mussles, or could be pressed into service to complement a skirt steak and roasted vegetables.
down, and people were despairing of the future, I read an article about Italy and how people were struggling there. 
That’s when I learned of Camilla Moccia and her family’s restaurant located in Ostia, on the lido to the west of Rome. This picture, taken by Camilla’s mother, Simona and shared in the 
We met Camilla, Simona and Bruno (father) last week in Ostia where we enjoyed a fabulous, handmade
dinner al fresco on our final night of a three week vacation. Bubbles preceded a beautiful,
fresh salad with burrata, tomatoes and crostini, and we feasted on her famous pasta – a lemon-ricotta ravioli, and classic cacio e pepe – followed by a piece of chocolate dolce heaven. As busy as she was that evening with all tables full, Camilla even took time to give us a pasta lesson. 
It was an enormous pleasure of ours to meet Camilla and her family, to experience their passion and cuisine firsthand, and to fulfil my promise to support them by visiting Il Bistrot della Pasticciona.
This bottle got a little lost in my wine cellar, and then you know, there was a pandemic, so we opened it at age 13 years. The cork broke and that made me worried we were going to be dealing with something less than lovely. But I was very wrong – it was absolutely stunning.
southwest of the Caribbean, well out of the path of any hurricanes, and just 17 km off the coast of Venezuela.
Usually when I venture to warm climates, wine is not an option, and because beer is not my ‘go to’ drink, I focus on the cocktail menus at the restaurants we visit.
published a recipe book of drinks called ‘How Can I Make You Happy’. And I was – very.
I drank the Lemon Drop before I remembered to take a picture, but the dirty Gin Martini with a whole dish of olives was a hit,
followed the next night by a Reverse Cosmo (aka Char-Tini). The Dark & Stormy was delicious, and again, I drank the Old Fashioned made with Diplomatico Rum instead of Bourbon before I realized I’d forgotten to document its deliciousness.
But the pièce de résistance was the Pornstar Martini, complete with its accompanying Prosecco shot.
winellama 