CONFESSIONS OF A WINE-SHOP GIRL

Don't tell Marco, but I've been daydreaming lately about Ferragosto, the two weeks in August when all of Italy shutters up and heads to the mountains or to the sea. Some days I'm lounging on a vintage Riva outside Portofino. Some days I'm hiking in the Dolomites. But every day the fantasy ends the same—with an incredible meal al fresco, a bunch of friends, and refreshing glasses of easygoing, local wine that isn't meant to be savored as much as shared.

Even if your summer (like mine) is more likely to involve a Jersey view from Hudson River Park than an Amalfi Coast panorama, you don't have to be in Italy to do a good job pretending you are. When you drink these wines, it's easy to forget you're dreaming:

Montenidoli Vernaccia di San Gimignano 2006 ($23.99)
This is to vernaccia what our Abbazia di Novacella is to pinot grigio—a stellar wine from a too-often mediocre varietal. Nearly unrecognizable from its mass-produced counterparts, this iper-vernaccia is made from grapes organically grown on the "Mount of the Little Nests," land originally planted by the Etruscans. When the owners discovered the property 41 years ago, it was overrun by brambles but full of dozens of nearly extinct varietals eventually nursed back to health by winemaker Elisabetta Fagiuoli. The vineyard sits on limestone left behind by the Ligurian Sea; no wonder this tastes so good with seafood.

Cataldi Madonna Cerasuolo 2007 ($14.99)
When Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is made as a rosato, it becomes Cerasuolo, literally "cherry-red," exactly the color of this hearty rose. Grown on south-facing slopes in the "oven of Abruzzo," the sun-baked valley at the foot of the tallest mountain in the Appenines, it's the perfect summertime wine for red lovers (especially Zaccagnini lovers)—fuller bodied and dry, with both the bright, red-fruit characteristics of a rosso and the crisp acidity of a bianco. A favorite of the pepperoncini-obsessed Abbruzzesi, it's a brilliant match for spicy tomato dishes.

Morisfarms Morellino di Scansano 2006 ($18.99)
Don't be mislead by its name. This wine—made from vines grown in southwestern Tuscany's Maremma region, the land of undulating straw-yellow hills and chalky white, cypress-lined drives—couldn't be more Italian. The region is better known for its Super-Tuscans than for its Morellino di Scansano, aka "Baby Brunello," an oversight that has allowed the Parentini family to continue producing pure, traditional wines at distinctly un-Super-Tuscan prices. A blend of sangiovese plus five percent each merlot and syrah, this Morellino's refinement isn't meant to mask what it really is—a tangy country wine, somewhere between a Chianti and a Brunello. Ripe with fruit and underwritten by earth, and perfect for drinking under a pergola—or on my fire escape.

Salute!