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Laithwaites' own-label Abruzzo red: hand-picked old-vine Montepulciano with a dash of Sangiovese. Soft, juicy spiced plum and black cherry, silky tannins, 12% ABV. A weeknight pour for pizza, tomato pasta and arrosticini at 8.99 GBP.
Laithwaites' tasting card promises a rich mouthful of juicy, spicy dark fruits with soft, silky tannins, and the Vivino crowd broadly agrees at 3.5 stars across 872 ratings. Here is how the old-vine Montepulciano and its Sangiovese seasoning read in the glass.
Spiced plum leads, the descriptor Laithwaites' tasting card and the Direct Wines technical sheets repeat for this wine, with ripe raspberry and black cherry behind it. The UK bottling adds a ripe mulberry tone, and the portion of Sangiovese brings a peppery lift rather than any oak-derived spice.
Black cherry
Cherry
Mulberry
Plum
Raspberry
Black pepperMedium-bodied and softly juicy at 12% ABV, exactly the approachable-young Montepulciano style the merchant promises. Tannins are silky rather than grippy, and the Sangiovese that winemaker Davide Dias blends in threads a fresher line of acidity through the tart-cherry mid-palate. The fruit concentration comes from 30 to 40-year-old hillside vines in Abruzzo rather than from winemaking artifice.
Smooth and moderately long, closing on dark plum and a mild spice note; the Direct Wines sheets call it a long, smooth finish, and at this weight smooth is the operative word.
An honest everyday red: the Vivino crowd places it at 3.5 stars across 872 ratings, solid rather than stellar, which matches its 8.99 GBP own-label positioning. Drink it young, ideally by the 31 December 2028 drink-by date printed on current stock, alongside pizza, tomato pasta or lamb from the grill.
Scored on our six-dimension Italian Wine Fit framework: the 8.99 GBP own-label price band, the 12% ABV softness and the drink-fresh profile shape every number below.
Soft, juicy and approachable even young is the merchant's own framing; 12% ABV, silky tannin and plummy fruit make this a textbook first Italian red.
At 8.99 GBP with 12% ABV and pizza-to-roast versatility this is precisely a weeknight red; the inverse of its cellar score with no price-band penalty to subtract.
Soft tannin plus the Sangiovese portion's fresher acidity spans tomato pasta, pizza, grilled lamb, roast beef and firm sheep cheese, the exact spread the merchant's own pairing card claims for it.
An own-label table wine without appellation, vintage or scarcity signals; it earns its place at the weeknight table rather than at a celebration.
Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.
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Farinelli Rosso is bottled without a vintage year; current UK stock carries a 31 December 2028 drink-by date and a 12% ABV. Buy it to open this year, not to lay down.
Bottled without a declared vintage: the label carries no year and current UK stock shows a printed drink-by date of 31 December 2028. Open it young while the spiced plum fruit is fresh; a declassified Vino Rosso at 12% ABV has no ageing case.
Bottled without a declared vintage: the label carries no year and current UK stock shows a printed drink-by date of 31 December 2028. Open it young while the spiced plum fruit is fresh; a declassified Vino Rosso at 12% ABV has no ageing case.
Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.
Laithwaites' own pairing card names roast beef, game and aged cheeses. The soft tannin and Sangiovese-lifted acidity also point straight at Abruzzo staples: arrosticini from the grill and tomato-sauced spaghetti alla chitarra.
Farinelli's medium body and soft tannin sit level with char-grilled lamb rather than fighting it. Arrosticini, the skewers of Abruzzo where this wine's 30 to 40-year-old Montepulciano vines grow, are the natural local match: enough fruit weight for the lamb fat, no hard edges to clash with the char.
Try with: Arrosticini · Lamb chops · Porchetta · More pairings →
The portion of Sangiovese that winemaker Davide Dias adds is there for acidity, per the merchant's own technical copy, and that fresher line is what lets the wine mirror tomato sharpness instead of tasting flat beside it. Juicy plum fruit rides along with the sauce.
Try with: Pizza Margherita · Pizza Romana · Spaghetti alla chitarra · More pairings →
Direct Wines' own pairing list names cured meats and firm cheeses, and the structure explains why: fresh acidity from the Sangiovese portion scrubs sheep-milk fat off the palate while the silky tannin handles the salt and cure of the meat board.
Try with: Pecorino sardo e pan carasau · Caciocavallo farcito · Cheese board · More pairings →
Laithwaites' pairing card puts roast beef first, sensibly for a wine sold by UK mail order. Roast protein binds to what tannin there is, leaving the spiced plum and black cherry fruit in front; at 12% ABV it stays comfortable across a long Sunday lunch.
Try with: Sunday Roast Beef · Beef wellington · Roast Lamb with Mint Sauce · More pairings →
The spiced plum and black cherry notes on the Direct Wines tech sheets bridge straight to fennel-and-herb porchetta and slow-cooked lamb ragu. The wine's own gentle spice echoes the seasoning instead of competing with it.
Try with: Porchetta · Agnello Ragu Lucano · Lamb shank · More pairings →
At 12% ABV with soft tannin and ripe fruit, Farinelli has nothing to push back against serious chilli: the heat strips the plummy mid-palate and leaves the wine tasting thin and hot. The mellow everyday profile the Vivino crowd describes is exactly what Scoville-heavy dishes flatten.
Skip with: Lamb bhuna · Szechuan beef · Pizza Diavola · Pairing guide →
A declassified, non-vintage Vino Rosso with a printed drink-by date is the definition of a drink-now wine. Buy Farinelli by the case for the table, not the rack, and open it by the 2028 date the merchant prints on current stock.
Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.
A short splash decant softens the first-pour edge and opens the aromatics.
A non-vintage, declassified Vino Rosso with a printed 31 December 2028 drink-by date has no ageing case; no DOC ageing mandate applies and the structure is built for freshness.
Drawn from what drinkers consistently report on Vivino and Wine-Searcher, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic.
Confidence · MediumOur reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.
Confidence · MediumStyle guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.
Confidence · MediumLaithwaites presents Farinelli as a seaside estate on the Adriatic coast of Abruzzo, run by Federica d'Amato and Pasquale Caldora with head winemaker Davide Dias. It is an own label created specifically for the merchant's customers, which is why the name never appears on Italian shelves; the bottler code on the back label is the reliable way to trace the cellar behind any own-label bottling. Our guide "Who Really Makes Britain's Own-Label Italian Wine?" walks through how these merchant exclusives are produced and how to read those back-label clues.
It is a Montepulciano-based blend with a smaller portion of Sangiovese. Direct Wines' product pages state the Montepulciano is hand-picked from 30 to 40-year-old vines high in the Abruzzo hills, with the Sangiovese added for a touch of spice and fresher acidity.
Because the wine is deliberately declassified: Laithwaites itself notes it carries no official DOC status. Skipping the appellation removes certification costs, which the merchant credits for the 8.99 GBP price, so the label reads simply Vino Rosso even though the fruit is Abruzzo-grown Montepulciano.
Expect a soft, medium-bodied red of spiced plum, ripe raspberry and black cherry with silky tannins and a smooth finish, per the merchant's own tasting card. On Vivino the crowd rates it 3.5 stars across 872 ratings: a solid, easy everyday red rather than a fine-wine experience.
Arrosticini, tomato-led pasta and pizza, roast beef and firm sheep cheeses such as pecorino all suit its soft tannin and juicy fruit. Laithwaites suggests roast beef, game or aged cheeses, and the modest 12% ABV keeps it comfortable with simple weeknight pasta too.
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