“Until Cristiana Tiberio came along, everybody thought Valentini’s great Trebbiano d’Abruzzo was a fluke. Not so: Tiberio’s 50-year-old Fonte Canale vines, with minimalist intervention in vineyard and cellar, delivers a standout wine of crystalline purity, offering lingering echoes of liquid minerals, orchard fruit and almonds...” - Decanter Magazine

“One of the best Italian white wines I have tasted in the last few years.” - Ian D’Agata (2015 Fonte Canale)

“Tiberio developed her own winemaking style with the Pecorino variety. Today, her wine, Cataldi Madonna’s Frontone and Cocci Grifoni’s Colle Vecchio are, by a huge margin, the three best Pecorino wines made in Italy.” - Ian D’Agata, (Pecorino vertical tasting)

Located in the rugged Adriatic region of Abruzzo, Cristiana Tiberio’s 30 ha estate has fast gained a reputation for her unapologetic take on what the wines of her region should be. Working with very old, own-rooted Trebbiano Abruzzese vines and with the indigenous varieties of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and Pecorino, she has made it her mission to craft wines that display real purity and elegance with a very distinct character. The focus here is on combining indigenous varieties and unique terroir with state-of-the-art winemaking. The resulting wines are some of the purest and long-lived wines in the region.

Prior to taking over the family estate, Cristiana had an impressive array of winemaking experience, including Jacques Selosse in Champagne, Nicolas Joly at Coulee de Serrant, Egon Muller in the Mosel, and various producers in Chablis. You can assume from her resume that structure and minerality are key to her style. Wine Spectator’s Robert Camuto: ”Cristiana exudes a quiet, determined energy as she explains the lengths to which Tiberio goes for ‘purity.’ I thought I’d seen everything when it came to winegrowers working in tune with their vineyards, but Cristiana takes it to another level.”

To achieve her ends Cristiana uses methods that are extreme in their rigour and, when considered together, possibly unique. In the vineyards, Tiberio does not prune or plow in the summer, and doesn’t irrigate or fertilise at all. Anything that can be considered an adjustment to that natural vineyard state is ruled out, including biodynamic practices. Cristiana is resolute: “Bringing other elements from another soil or subsoil or process is not a good idea. It’s super important that the vines express what they get from the roots and these subsoils only.” The ultimate purista...
 

2018 Tiberio Trebbiano Abruzzese ‘Fonte Canale’

95 pts, vinous.com “... The 2018 is a wonderfully complete and harmonious vintage of Fonte Canale that will enjoy a long and open drinking window. At the time of tasting, this was transporting me to Puligny-Montrachet.”

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