Drink: Due Amici at Panorama

With a world of international wines by the glass at his disposal, one might expect Panorama owner Luca Sena to name one of the many Italian beauties there as his favorite.

But it is perhaps precisely because he is an old-school Italian that he's thinking about the wine he helped make - even if it does come from Pennsylvania.

Due Amici ("Two Friends" in Italiano) really is made by two Italian friends, including Gino Razzi from Penns Woods, along with Panorama staff members who helped pick, crush, and blend it in honor of the restaurant's 25th anniversary.

An equal-parts blend of cab sauvignon and cab franc (the other duo reference) combines for a wine that, if tasted blind, few would guess came from Chester County grapes.

This wine has heft, structure, and a core of balanced ripe fruit - some tart plum, tobacco, and cassis from the cab sauv; leathery earth and pepper from the franc - that was spot-on with meats like the braciola, which tasted better with every sip.

- Craig LaBan

Penns Woods Due Amici 2014, $10 a glass at Panorama (Penn's View Hotel, 14 N. Front St.); $34 a bottle, Penns Woods Winery (124 Beaver Valley Rd., Chadds Ford; www.pennswoodswinery.com)