Chioccioli ‘Pirocanto’

Let’s be real: a lot of orange wine tastes like a science project. This one tastes like Tuscany in a glass. The Chioccioli family farms their vineyards in Chianti like they’re tending a giant, wild garden—because they are. The woods, the animals, the limestone clay—it all ends up in here.

They let the grapes hang out with their skins in big terracotta pots for three months, which is why it’s a cool hazy gold colour and has an awesome texture. It smells like apricots in the depths of summer and a handful of crushed almonds biscuits, and it drinks like citrus and stone fruit with this sneaky, grippy edge and that perfectly bitter finish all great Italian wines have.

It’s the kind of wine that has that rare combo of being interesting enough to talk about, but drinkable enough to finish the whole bottle without noticing.

Pairs with that weirdly good roasted cauliflower with lemon and herbs, grilled fish, or just drinking it on the floor of your kitchen while the pizza crust slightly burns in the oven.