This a beautiful, medium-weight natural red from Abruzzo, not heavy, dark, and brooding as so many of the other entries in this category currently are. Tastes like a combination of red and black cherry, strawberry, raspberry and plum.

Vini Rabasco operates in the deep heart of Abruzzo, in the town of Pianella, near Pescara. This little estate grows mostly Montepulciano grapes and a touch of Trebbiano, with vines aging around 40 years. Here there are calcareous clay soils, filled with fossils and old river sediments: terrain that adds a clear mineral dimension to the wines. At Rabasco's vineyards, there's also the influence of the Adriatic sea, as well as that of the mountains in the nearby Gran Sasso range.