Riccardo Tiberio founded the estate in 2000 after discovering a remarkable old plot of Trebbiano Abruzzese vines near the hillside town of Cugnoli, at 350 meters above sea level and twenty-three miles inland from the Adriatic. The estate is now run by his children: Cristiana, a trained chemist and oenologist who handles the winemaking (her training stints include Jacques Selosse, Nicolas Joly, and Egon Müller), and Antonio, who oversees viticulture. Together they farm 30 hectares of indigenous varieties, and alongside Valentini and Emidio Pepe, Tiberio has become one of the estates that has pushed collectors to take Abruzzo seriously.

Archivio takes its name from the idea of an archive. The wine comes from a specific 1.2-hectare section within a larger 2.5-hectare vineyard planted to montepulciano vines now approaching 70 years of age. This parcel is the only plot on the property with a strong clay presence in the subsoil (limestone topsoil over clay and iron oxide), and it contains four distinct montepulciano biotypes that look and behave differently from any other known clones. It is from these vines that Tiberio has propagated all the montepulciano plantings across the rest of the estate. The wine is fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel for approximately 40 days, then aged twelve months in French oak barriques (30% new) and twelve months in bottle. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.

The 2020 opens with notes of red and dark cherry, followed by violet, rose, licorice, and balsamic spice over a fine-grained tannic structure. The oak is present but integrated, adding texture rather than flavor. Regal montepulciano, from an estate that continues to expand the conversation around Abruzzo.