Last year, Panorama, Old City’s stalwart Italian spot, started thinking about the best way to celebrate its anniversary — and what better way to honor Panorama’s 25th year than to create a limited-edition, custom wine?

“Due Amici,” spearheaded by Luca Sena (the owner of Panorama, pictured below right) and Gino Razzi (the owner of Penns Woods Winery) and actually created by the Panorama crew last fall, when Sena, general manager William Eccleston (pictured below middle), bartender Mackenzie Khosla (pictured below left), and former server Olivia Vaughn took a few picking and crushing expeditions out to Penns Woods in September 2014. The group returned this past January to taste a few different blends, eventually settling on the 50/50 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc that makes up Due Amici.
The wine itself is bold in flavor but light in body — Eccleston said the goal was to create a versatile wine that could be classified as a “bistro” or “trattoria” European-style of wine, describing Due Amici as a “right bank, Bordeaux-style wine,” and says the wine “gets better with food and some air.” The Cabernet Franc comes from the grapes they picked and crushed themselves, which were grown in the old Smithfield Sellers vineyard, making these particular grapes over 45 years old and giving them a good concentration of flavor. After testing a large variety of wines to pair with it and fiddling with the proportions (they went through a Merlot and an unoaked Cabernet Sauvignon, among others), they settled on the half-and-half split with a Cabernet Sauvignon that spent some time in oak, for a little bit of body. A designer in Italy designed the label, meant to represent both establishments.

Only 25 cases have been produced, and they’re going quickly — so stop by Panorama, which is the only spot to taste it. Order it by the glass ($7) or the bottle ($50) and raise a glass to 25 more years of Panorama, as we can only imagine what they’ll cook up for their 50th.

Photos via Panorama