Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Archivio opens slowly in the glass, darkly intense and youthfully coiled. Swirling brings an aromatic blend of foreign spice, balsam herbs, dried black cherries and lifting shaved pine notes. With its silky textures, this seduces, more lifted and poised than I’d imagined. A core of tart raspberry fruit stains the palate as a web of fine-grained tannins forms toward the close. While structured and dramatically long, the Archivio maintains a lovely harmony, as a bitter tinge of savory spice mingles with violet inner florals. Interestingly, the textural performance between the Archivio and Colle Vota seems to have traded places in 2019, as this is the more elegant and lifted of the two