Cantina Zaccagnini, "Twiggy", Montepulciano d'Abruzzo MAGNUM

I love Twiggy - instantly recognisable, consistent and tasty. Never over-the-top and never too weedy, it is a brilliant calling card for the wines of Abruzzo. There are white and rosé versions as well, but it is this, their house-style red that has for decades been in the hearts and glasses of us here in Ireland.

Black forest fruits, redcurrant and subtle spices - this is what you should get from any Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, but to it, the Zaccagnini family add softness of texture, depth and fruitiness with complexity to set it apart from most others in this category.

Plus, this is a Magnum.

Based in the hill town of Bolognano and its surrounding area, the Zaccagnini family have been in the grape business for many generations, but it was not until 1978 that they began to bottle the wine from their own grapes. They set about showing that world that they were authentic and seriously int he vineyard business by tying a piece of the cut vines from the previous harvest around the bottle of all of their wines - a 'tralcetto' in Italian. And of course, this has stayed as the most obvious hallmark of the company and is even the word that has taken the place of the DOC and the authentic name! Well, perhaps they have business savvy as well as humility and a desire to be taken seriously. It's unlikely they'd have prospered so well without it, in fairness...