We met Lucia Duran Raimondi a few years ago. We were taken with the story of how she and her late husband, Chicago-born neurosurgeon Anthony Raimondi, searched for a wine-producing estate and settled at Villa Monteleone. After Dr. Raimondi’s death in 2000, Lucia persevered in upgrading the estate’s vineyards and cellar practices. She hired the young and well-regarded Federico Giotto as her enologo, and has tirelessly sought new markets for her wines in northern Europe and America.

"My idea is to make traditional wines," Lucia said. "I don't like the globalization of wine. Maybe that's what the market wants, but sooner or later the pendulum will swing the other way, towards typicity."

The Villa Monteleone wines share a lively peppery quality, luscious fruit and a restrained use of oak. We don’t wish to contradict Lucia, but we think the wines dance on the edge of tradition and modernity with considerable grace.