In the late 1990s, Riccardo Tiberio was export manager for a local winery, a stable job he enjoyed. Then he stumbled upon an old plot of trebbiano abruzzese vines near the hillside town of Cugnoli, 350 meters up and twenty-three miles inland from the Adriatic. The discovery felt like a calling. In 2000 he bought the 8-hectare plot and 31 hectares more, planting each parcel according to its soil with the region's indigenous grapes. 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 champion the grapes of this terroir, too often made and marketed as simple wines for pairing with pizza, 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 at 380 meters, 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. Each is named for one of the family's dogs. It is from these vines that Tiberio has propagated all the montepulciano plantings across the rest of the estate. The 2022 was harvested in mid-October and fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel for around 30 days, then aged eleven months, with roughly a quarter of the wine in new French barriques and the remainder in tank. It's bottled unfined and unfiltered, then held in bottle at least eight months before release.
The 2022 opens on balsamic black cherry, ground clove, incense, and rosemary, with smoky crushed stone underneath. The palate is silken and more refined than the wine's density might suggest, red cherry and tart raspberry saturating toward a firm, poised finish with beautifully integrated tannins. The oak is present but integrated, adding texture rather than flavor. Eric Guido of Vinous, awarding 95 points, called the barrel integration mastered.
Regal montepulciano, from an estate that continues to expand the conversation around Abruzzo. Drink from 2028 through 2038.
