Cirelli Pecorino Anfora 2022

The Land

Atri sits about 8 kilometers from the Adriatic in the Teramo hills of northern Abruzzo, and the landscape looks nothing like the green mountain postcard most people associate with the region. The hillsides here are carved by calanchi, steep, eroded clay badlands that appear almost lunar. Francesco Cirelli's farm sits among them, with vines planted on clay and limestone alongside olive groves, orchards, vegetable plots, grain fields, and pasture. Sea air moves through the vineyards and tempers the summer heat, while the clay holds enough water to carry Pecorino through dry stretches. Pecorino from Abruzzo grown this close to the coast tends to carry a saline, mineral edge, and growers here credit the calanchi for that salty quality in the finished wine.

The Wine

Cirelli Pecorino Anfora 2022 is 100% Pecorino, harvested by hand, destemmed, and left on its skins for 24 hours in clay amphorae before a slow pressing. The juice goes back into the amphorae, 800-liter terracotta vessels handmade in Impruneta outside Florence, and ferments spontaneously. It then ages in the same clay for a year or more, under fitted stainless steel lids that limit oxygen. One day on the skins adds grip and texture without turning the wine orange; this is a white wine with structure, not an amber one. Clay instead of oak keeps the fruit clean and avoids wood flavor entirely. Expect yellow plum, quince, chamomile, wild fennel, and thyme, with a medium body, a textured feel, firm acidity, and a long, salty finish.

The People

Francesco Cirelli bought the farm in 2003 and runs it with his wife, Michela, as a mixed agricultural estate rather than a pure wine estate. Wine sits alongside olive oil, fruit, vegetables, and an agriturismo where guests sleep among the vines. The land is farmed organically with no chemical treatments; crops rotate through barley, wheat, and aromatic herbs to rest the soil, and grazing animals help fertilize it. In the cellar he works without additives and chose clay over oak to avoid reduction and wood flavor alike. He is also stubbornly practical: when a Cerasuolo vintage falls short, he skips it and sends the fruit to his entry-level line. This is natural wine from Abruzzo with a farmer's logic behind every decision.

Food Pairing

Think Adriatic and think simple. Brodetto, the coastal fish stew of tomato, sweet pepper, garlic, and mixed white fish, meets the wine's salinity with its own. Fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with ricotta and a sliver of anchovy let the skin-contact grip and acidity cut through the batter. Grilled sardines with lemon and parsley lean into the briny finish, and young pecorino cheese with raw fava beans and olive oil, the springtime snack the grape shares a name with, picks up the herbal side. Keep a bottle cold for the night you finally cook a whole fish at home.