Valentini Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC

Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC, Italy

Francesco Paolo Valentini's Montepulciano is produced only in the finest vintages from the estate's best barrels — sometimes not released at all in poor years. An intensely private producer who refuses to advertise or participate in competitions, Valentini's wines have achieved mythic status through word of mouth alone. The wine shows Montepulciano's most intellectual character: refined, complex, and built for decades of evolution.

Pairing intelligence

• main: Valentini's rare Montepulciano demands the simplest, finest preparations — a whole pig roasted over wood with just rosemary and salt honours both the wine's complexity and its peasant roots
• cheese: The world's rarest Italian cheese — made only in one village with whey rennet from black pigs — with Italy's most enigmatic producer's red wine: a pairing of absolute regional rarity