In Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, the gifts of simplicity

GOOD, simple, everyday wines, the kind that can be opened without ceremony or permission, hold an exalted place in my heart. These are the bottles most cherished by wine lovers.

Renowned wines can be astounding, complex and contemplative. Those sorts of wines are revered, of course. But, unless you are wealthy and extravagant, they come out only on occasions worthy of the honour. Generally, they are a rare pleasure.

Most people spend far more time with everyday wines, those that require no occasion at all except a meal. If you regularly enjoy wine, notwithstanding New Year's resolutions, detox regimes and other intermittent interruptions, these sorts of bottles do the most to shape your relationship with wine.

What sets apart the everyday wine from the occasional treat? The beauty and profundity of that special bottle may provoke discussions and a sense of wonder. It rewards concentration and thought, and it may be forever memorable.

Everyday pleasures

The everyday bottle offers pleasures on a more immediate level. It does not require the same degree of absorption. Its deliciousness is direct. It might offer something more than that as well, a connection to its place of origin or to the people who made it, if you're tuned in to that sort of thing.

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It pays to think of these everyday wines as staples of the table, something you are always pleased - though never surprised - to see, like a loaf of bread, a dish of olives, a bowl of rice or whatever your family tradition might be.

Not only do everyday wines offer a gorgeous spectrum of accessible pleasures, but they set the baseline for coming to confident grips with your own preferences.

I've been thinking about simplicity over the course of the last month as we have been drinking Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, a red from the Abruzzo region of central Italy, made with the montepulciano grape.

As usual, I recommended three bottles. They were Cirelli Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2019, Tiberio Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2017 and De Fermo Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Concrete 2018.

For a long time, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo might have fit a few of the less-flattering synonyms of workhorse, like drudge or plodder. Back in the 1980s, when I was getting into wine, a lot of the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo was uninspiring stuff, either heavy and uninteresting, or - at the turn of the century - oaky and jammy, as some producers tried to jump onto the bandwagon for rich, plush wines.

More recently, however, a growing number of small, serious producers has appeared, and the wines have gotten better and better. Many of them are making the best of what Ian D'Agata, in his excellent book Native Wine Grapes of Italy, called montepulciano's "thoroughbred potential."

I thought the three wines I chose all showed the promising side of the grape and place. They were excellent bottles made by producers working simply, without artifice.

I've had the Cirelli several times and have always enjoyed it. Francesco and Michela Cirelli manage an organic farm that produces olive oil, vegetables, fruit and meats in addition to wine.

The wine was inky purple, with the sweet-bitter flavour that I find in many Italian reds. I loved the life and breezy freshness I sensed in the wine, and the bright, juicy, floral, mineral flavours. This bottle, a 2019, was the youngest of the three. It was lightly tannic at first, but really opened up in the glass with exposure to air.

Agreeable flavours

De Fermo is also a diverse estate, managed by a married couple, Stefano Papetti Ceroni and Eloisa de Fermo, who farm biodynamically.

The wine, which I had not tried before, was also juicy and fresh, with earthy, mineral flavours. Unlike the Cirelli, which was fermented in stainless steel (partly accounting for the brightness of its fruit), the De Fermo, a 2018, was fermented in concrete. It seemed both more substantial and more subdued, stonier and less exuberant. I liked it very much, too.

Tiberio has become one of my favorite producers. While I've primarily had its whites and rosés, the montepulciano is superb as well. Cristiana and Antonio Tiberio, sister and brother, are exacting in their farming and simple and scientific in their approach.

The wine, a 2017, benefited from its extra years of aging, with tannins that had mellowed. Yet it was fresh, bright and lively, with lingering flavours of flowers, minerals and sweet-bitter fruit. Like the Cirelli, it had been fermented and aged in steel tanks, perhaps accounting for that sense of immediacy.

Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is capable of different things. The wines of Valentini or Emidio Pepe - two expensive, idiosyncratic producers - can stand with the great wines of the world. The three wines we tasted were made to be easygoing. Cirelli and De Fermo also make montepulcianos intended to age and evolve. NYTIMES