Terzini Abruzzo Pecorino 2020

Rest assured, we are going to hear a lot more about the Italian pecorino white grape. It’s just so immediately friendly and downright drinkable. Already we are seeing more of the wine imported from Italy, and even some Aussie producers are on to it with plantings. The key is the grape’s high sugar content which brings a lot of flavour with it. The Terzini pec (surely that will be its nickname here in Oz) is warm-hearted and textural with just a splash of fruit sweetness which opens up the food matching possibilities enormously. Summer fruits aplenty – melon, nectarine, yellow peach – on the bouquet with notes of mango skin, pear and citrus. In other words, there’s a lot happening in the glass before your lips even touch the wine. Generosity is the key word across the nougat-rich, spicy palate which is nicely countered with a brightness of acidity. Love the savoury cut of lemon skin and touch of savouriness to finish. The name’s pecorino. It’s worth remembering.

Jeni Port

Wine critic at Winepilot

Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.

Wine writer and critic