With echoes of single-malt Scotch—perhaps Speyside’s Abelour or Cardhu—the 2012 vintage combines a firmness and understated elegance unique amongst the Rombeau Rancio Sec vintages. Notes of bergamot, peanut brittle, green walnut and heather reveal themselves slowly along its subtly tannic spine. It was vinified in tank with native yeasts, then transferred to an assortment of old barrels and glass demijohns for 12-18 months' aging outdoors. A portion is then returned to the cellars, which rest above ground and lack temperature control, while another portion remained in the "barrel park" until the time of blending and bottling in mid-2022. The wine combines roughly equal parts Grenache blanc, Grenache gris and Macabeu, with a tiny amount of Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains.

It can be enjoyed with all manner of tapas, with cheese; with wood-fired pork or curried lamb, and especially as a digestif. Shelf-stable, it should be served lightly chilled or at cellar temperature. Full details

Produced from a 2.8-hectare plot of old-vine Trebbiano—grown in isolated pockets in the Sicilian highlands southwest of Palermo since the 15th century——this extraordinary wine was fermented with native yeasts and was aged in traditional 3000L Mittelberger tini for five years prior to bottling. It was rested in bottle for six additional years prior to release. This is a complex, glowing, geologic wine—autumn in a glass—with lambent notes of apple tart, beeswax, porcini mushroom, almond paste and jasmine. Enjoy through 2040 and beyond. Full details