2015 Lunadoro Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Pagliareto DOCG 750 ml

Two glasses, check. One opener, check. Bottle of Brunello—nowhere to be found.

Good thing our friend’s favorite wood-fired pizza place stepped up with a bottle of the 2015 Lunadoro Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Pagliareto, a mouthwatering Tuscan red with the juicy red fruit and sandalwood spice to make you forget about that bottle you thought your heart was set on.

A recipient of Gambero Rosso’s Tre Bicchieri, Italy’s highest wine honor, and 92 points from Wine Spectator, the lip-smacking Pagliareto is the ultimate food wine: subtle, earthy, and fragrant, it’s perfect with pizza, pasta, roasted pork, or chicken. So don’t stress about the Brunello you abandoned on the kitchen counter, because the bottle you’ll never want to leave home without is right here, at a full 50% off SRP—just $20 per bottle.

A good friend had asked us to join him at his favorite bakery’s Tuesday wood-fired pizza night, an outdoor affair he always attends with the food-friendliest wine he’s got close by. We texted that we’d bring a bottle—but it somehow never made it into our bag. 

So instead of forking over the $10 corkage when we ordered our Maitake-studded pizza funghi and spicy diavola, we glanced at the chalkboard and ordered the Pagliareto. The girl working the counter pulled a cool bottle from down below, and with a few twists of her tattooed hand, popped it open, stuck the cork back in, and handed it over. “Can’t beat it,” she said.

Compliment the customer’s taste—it’s Hospitality 101, and we thought she was just following protocol until we found a table, poured ourselves a healthy glass, and proceeded to be mesmerized. Made of 100% Prungnolo Gentile, the local clone of Sangiovese, the nose of dried cherry with sandalwood spice dazzles with sun-baked Tuscan red fruit, until the mouthwatering palate of soft and savory fruit takes over, finishing with the kind of tea-like tannins that will please even the biggest Burgundy fan. 

Chatting and people-watching over this Sienese stunner on a spring night, we forgot we’d ostensibly come for the food! Until it arrived, that is, and the Pagliareto elevated every last bite.

Our allocation was tough to come by, and we’ve got to give the place credit for tracking down Lunadoro, a tiny property with just 25 acres of Sangiovese (or Prugnolo) planted in clay soils about 1,000 feet above sea level. Influenced by the breezes of the Val di Chiana and cool of Lake Trasimeno, the grapes enjoy a long and gradual ripening that guarantees a perfect balance of red-fruit ripeness and zippy acidity.

The fruit is all harvested and selected by hand, before aging for two years, one of them in 500-liter French tonneaux that contribute a seasoning of beautiful brown spice. Now a few years after harvest, this bottle is singing all the right notes, and ready to accompany whatever you, your local bistro, or favorite pizza place have on the menu. And even if it’s just a long-overdue conversation with a good friend, the Pagliareto hits the spot.