As February wraps us in its softest glow, our wine club is celebrating love in all its forms by journeying through Italy’s most enchanting landscapes, from the rolling hills of Tuscany to the richly indulgent kitchens of Emilia‑Romagna and onward to the moonlit canals of Venice. This month’s selection brings you bottles worthy of a Valentine’s weekend: expressive, comforting, and just a little bit seductive. Whether you are loving thine self, your friends, your family, or the special love of your life, these wines are to accompany laughter, long conversations, and the simple pleasure of being together, with these wines I have chosen, I hope they elevate the moment, invite connection, and remind us that love, like great wine, is meant to be savoured and because every great love story deserves a little sparkle, we’ve included a vibrant Lambrusco — that irresistibly playful fizz from Emilia-Romagna — to add just the right touch of sexy effervescence to your celebration.
Fratelli Barba “Le Salare” Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2024
Based in the region of Abruzzo east of Rome, the Fratelli Barba estate operate as a traditional farm from yesteryear: wheat, olives, dairy products and of course wine. For the last 30 years head-winemaker Stefano Chioccioli has been making excellent examples of Montepulicano d’Abruzzo, the flagship wine of the region. It stands to reason, given that the estate owns 60ha of Montepulciano vines in the hills of Abruzzo, planted to sandy loam soils, allowing them produce huge volumes of bottles but never compromising on the quality of the wine. Farming has improved hugely over the last two decades, with Fratelli Barba committing to sustainable farming practices and minimal intervention winemaking.
Le Salare is an exceptional example of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. Grapes are hand harvested, destemmed and gently pressed with a small proportion of carbonic maceration. The wine macerates on its skins for 6 days to extract colour and aromas but limit excessive tannins. After alcoholic fermentation and malolactic conversion in stainless steel tanks the wine is lightly filtered and bottled. An approachable wine offering lively notes of dark cherry, ripe strawberry, plum and crushed almonds on a bed of earthy minerality.
Vintage: 2024
Alcohol: 13%
Drink: 16-18*C
Price: 16
Region: Abruzzo, Italy
Grapes: Montepulciano
Drink At: The Old Spot, Etto, Pause Cafe
Gregoletto Manzoni Bianco Colli Trevigiani IGT 2023
In the hills of Colli Trevigiani, the historic Gregoletto estate offers a textbook example of Manzoni Bianco — a deliberately bred grape created in the 1930s by Luigi Manzoni at the Istituto Agrario di Conegliano through a crossing of Riesling Renano and Pinot Bianco. The aim of the experiment was to combine Riesling’s aromatic precision and acidity with Pinot Blanc’s texture and adaptability to the Veneto climate, and the results are clear here: a dry, finely structured white grown on hillside vineyards around Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, hand-harvested, softly pressed, and fermented at controlled temperatures in stainless steel to preserve varietal purity. In the glass the wine shows pale straw colour with green reflections and a profile that neatly illustrates the grape’s genetic heritage — floral citrus notes such as lime blossom and orange flower from the Riesling side, round orchard fruit from the Pinot lineage, and a distinctly savoury mineral finish typical of the Treviso hills. Drink young for aromatic clarity, or cellar briefly to watch the fruit evolve toward more pronounced mineral tones; at the table its high acidity and moderate body make it particularly effective with seafood, vegetable risotto and simply prepared white meats.
Vintage: 2023
Alcohol: 13.4%
Drink: 8-10*C
Price: €25
Region: Veneto, Italy
Grapes: Manzoni Bianco
Drink At: Kai (Galway) Franks
Podere Cipolla di Danny Bini “Ponenete 270” Lambrusco 2023
Danny Bini set up Podere Cipolla as a passion project in 2003, starting with two small plots of native Emilia-Romagna grapes. Today the winery manages over 3ha of vines of many different grapes including Montericco, a genetic mutation of the world famous Lambrusco grape. This particular Lambuscro varietal emphasises freshness and gives wines with lifted aromatics, higher acidity and a more delicate tannic structure. Unlike bigger commercially produced Lambrusco this wine is produced using the Ancestral Method, which was the original method historically. Danny believes this is essential to express the region’s unique terroir and wine style
Grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed, placed into stainless steel tanks and subsequently fermented using native yeasts. After alcoholic fermentation, the wine macerates on its skins for 5 days before being lightly filtered and bottled. The second fermentation occurs in bottle when the yeast finish metabolising residual sugar into carbon dioxide, giving a fully dry, lightly sparkling red wine. Bright red and black cherry, pomegranate juice and fresh plums are framed by delicate and refreshing bubbles and a light but firm tannic grip.
Vintage: 2023
Alcohol: 11.5%
Drink: 12-14*C
Price: €30
Region: Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Grapes: Lambrusco 90%, Malbo Gentile 10%
Drink At: Piglet, Grano, La Pause Cafe
Monteraponi Chianti Classico 2023
The Monteraponi estate, 200ha large, is nestled in the middle of the Chianti Classico area of Tuscany, based in a small historic village dating back to the 10th Century. It was bought the current owner’s father in the 1970s and officially founded as a winemaking estate in 1974. Of those 200ha of land 12ha are planted to vines, managed by Michele Braganti. Due to the area’s steep slopes and high elevation, all at at least 540m above sea level, all vineyards must behind harvested. Farming practices are certified organic and winemaking follows minimal intervention principles. It is an idyllic, classically Tuscan place.
Meticulous hand-harvesting of grapes from vines grown on limestone-rich marl and schist is followed by gentle pressing and spontaneous fermentation using native yeasts in concrete tanks. Once full alcoholic fermentation and malolactic conversion occurs the wine is macerated on skins for 25 days before being transferred into large and used French and Slavonian oak barrels. After 16 months of ageing in barrels, the wine is bottled with no fining or filtration. Bright red cherry, raspberry, rose hip, dried oregano and gentle cigar box nuances play with Sangiovese’s classic profile of firm yet silky tannins and high acidity. An exceptionally gastronomic Chianti Classico.
Vintage: 2023
Alcohol: 13.5%
Drink: 18*C
Price: €42
Region: Tuscany, Italy
Grapes: Sangiovese 95%, Canaiolo Nero 5%
Drink At: Osterio Lucio, Glovers Alley, The Shelbourne Hotel