I can’t recall when I first tried one of Tiberio’s wines, but last year they seemed to keep crossing my path. I then had the chance to meet winemaker Cristiana Tiberio when she came to pour at Bâtonnage Forum last year, and where I took the picture above. It also gave me the chance to taste through the full line up of her wines, which impressed me with their elegance and freshness.
My friend Maura, with whom I collaborate on Della Donna, had the chance to visit and taste with Cristiana at her winery in Abruzzo and spoke glowingly about the experience. All of this inspired me to want to get to know the wines and the woman behind them better.
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| The Tiberio line-up, photo by Maura Passanisi. |
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| The Tiberio landscape, photo taken by Maura. |
In that spirit, I recently reached out to Cristiana and she kindly answered questions regarding the family estate, her background, winemaking style and more. I’m so excited to share our conversation with you today. I also asked for her recommendations for pairing her delicious Pecorino, which I used in creating a Saffron Chickpea Stew with Cod and Shrimp. I’ll be sharing that recipe in my next post.
We’ll get to the interview in just one moment, but here’s just a little bit of background first. Azienda Agricola Tiberio is located in Abruzzo in central Italy, a mountainous region along the Adriatic Sea. If you drive east from Rome, you hit Abruzzo.
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| Map courtesy of WineFolly.com |
Tiberio is located near the medieval town of Cugnoli, not far as the crow flies from the seaside city Pescara. (I invite you to check out this post for more background on Abruzzo.)
Riccardo Tiberio, Cristiana’s father, had been an export manager for a cantina in the region. He eventually found a plot of 60-year old Trebbiano Abruzzese vines and purchased it in 2000. He released his first wine in 2004, then turned over the reins to his kids in 2008 with Cristiana as the winemaker.
Cristiana trained all over the world with a seriously impressive list of winemakers including Jacques Selosse in Champagne, Nicolas Joly at Coulee de Serrant, Egon Muller in the Mosel, with various producers in Chablis, and in Australia’s Clare Valley.
Without further ado let’s get into our conversation. I can’t think of a better way of kicking off Women’s History Month!
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| Cristiana with her Abruzzese Shepherds Quarmari. Photo courtesy of Cristiana.Photo courtesy of Crisitiana Tiberio. |
