Fonte Canale Trebbiano d’Abruzzo – 2021

95 Points

This unoaked single-vineyard white from Tiberio’s ungrafted, near-centenarian vines ably demonstrates its deserved reputation. Subtle pineapple and dried stone fruit scents with a waft of creamy lees leads into a bright and vibrant palate. Flinty, textural and zesty, it is both complex and appealing, offering yellow plum, lime and ginger with a lovely mouthwatering sapidity. With time in the glass it relaxes enough to reveal a juicy core of sweet pineapple. Gorgeous. 2025 – 2046

18 Points

From 80-year-old vines. The name comes from a little stream that runs underneath the vineyard, which is trained on tendone. Aged for two years in bottle before release and will be bottled in autumn.
Intense straw yellow. A nose bursting with stony, minerally, chalky notes, cut Amalfi lemon and a white-pepper tingle. A big squeeze of lemony juice that electrifies the palate. Nothing less than spectacular.  2024 – 2036

96 Points

Pale yellow-green color. Layered low-pitched nose combines ripe apricot, candied ginger, crushed flint, candied lemon, balsamic oils plus saline and white flower nuances. Quite reserved today but very pure, displaying outstanding depth and richness but also wonderfully penetrating thanks to an underlying strong acid spine. Closes saturating the entire mouth with tactile minerality and repeating balsamic oils, plus a stronger than usual gingery note. A great example of this super wine, if in a different style in relation to the year (for the first time thay had to lightly press the grapes because tehre was little or no free-run juice because of the smaller grapes in relation to the heat and wind of the year that made for thicker skins and smaller berries). Very rich in keeping with the year’s weather, but doesn’t taste thick, in the way of the best examples of this famous wine. This has delivered on its early promise but will require patience to show all it has to offer. 2026 – 2031

Family-owned estate, Tiberio specializes in wines made from authentic Abruzzo native grape varieties. At 350 meters above sea level, twenty-three miles inland from the sea near the lovely medieval hillside town of Cugnoli, Riccardo Tiberio found a very old plot of Trebbiano Abruzzese vines, which, despite the variety’s name, is a rarity in Abruzzo. A high-quality variety has nothing in common with other Trebbianos, the 60 years old vines must have been a great sight for Riccardo, who then and there decided to change his and his family’s destiny by quitting his job as an export manager starting his own winery in 2000. Today the winery is run by son Antonio (viticulture) and daughter Cristiana (winemaking) and it makes some of Italy’s best white, pink and red wines.

95+ Points

Named Vinous #32 of Top 100 2024, 11/14/2024!    Click HERE for Vinous listing

Wildly fresh, the 2021 Trebbiano d’Abruzzo Fonte Canale is impossible to ignore, with a vivid blend of fennel and minty herbs, stone dust, flint and crushed green apples. This flows across the palate with liquid florals and depths of lime-infused orchard fruits, taking on a distinctly salty sensation toward the close. A whiplash of minerality and zesty acidity enlivens the finale as the 2021 finishes with staining concentration yet still vibrant and chiseled. Fonte Canale remains the benchmark for Trebbiano d’Abruzzo, without a runner-up anywhere in site. 2026 – 2036

95 Points

The Fonte Canale is the old vine bottling of Trebbiano from Tiberio. It is made from ninety four year-old vines that grow in pergolas and were already very old when Riccardo Tiberio purchased their estate in 2000. His daughter Cristiana first made a wine solely from the old vines in the 2007 vintage, which the family did not release until in 2012. The wine is fermented solely with indigenous yeasts and aged for a year and a half prior to release. The 2021 version is stunning, coming in at a svelte 12.5 percent octane and offering up a vivid bouquet of fresh lime, green pear, wild fennel, wet stone minerality, a touch of menthol, dried flowers and a topnote of orange peel. On the palate the wine is crisp, full-bodied and laser-like in its focus, with a superb core of fruit, outstanding mineral drive and cut, impeccable balance and a long, complex and electric finish. This is absolutely stunning Trebbiano! 2024 – 2050+