Duedonne Rosso Susanna

When women get together they can do marvellous things, like the Suffragettes movement! (Did you think we were going to use Taylor Swift's girl squad as the example? Well, we aren't; this is a high-brow tasting note.) Despite having to contend with the Cat and Mouse Act, force feeding and Herbert Asquith's ridiculous eyebrows, women in the UK gained the vote in 1928.

Cut from the same cloth of feminine collaboration is Due Donne Rosso. Anna Muzzolini and Susanna Grassi from the Tuscan winery I Fabbri di Lamole are the "two women" of "Duedonne." Like great female partnerships of the past, the result is magnificent. This unusual indigenous red blend delivers an elegant mixture of dark fruit flavours, tart red berries, tomato leaf and wood smoke.

Casole winery has been part of the Grassi family since the 1600’s. Susanna and Maddalena Grassi founded I Fabbri in 2000, after difficulties in earlier years had led to the abandonment of the estate. Returning to the old property sparked Susanna’s drive to reclaim the passion for winemaking that her ancestors had lived by for so long.

Olinto Grassi, Susanna’s great-grandfather, had dedicated much of his life to the winery and took a forward-thinking approach to his wines. During the 1920’s he made the unusual decision to sell bottled wine rather than by the barrel. Susanna and Maddalena continue their ancestor’s modern approach by being heavily involved in the making of I Fabbri’s high-quality wines, in what is still a mainly male business.