DOCG Alta Langa is the top appellation for sparkling wines in Piemonte. The requirements are very strict, including use of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and at least 30 months for the second fermentation in bottle. Full details

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

With its inviting, redolent nose, the 2011 vintage serves as an exemplary invitation to the world of Rancio sec, its notes of caramelized apricot, tamarind and tobacco leaf delivered in a manner that is strictly analog. 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 was 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.

This wine 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

DOCG Alta Langa is the top appellation for sparkling wines in Piemonte. The requirements are very strict, including use of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and at least 30 months for the second fermentation in bottle. Full details

The lightest of the Rombeau Rancio secs, the 2010 is distinguished by its cepage and its shorter elevage, with an increased percentage of Macabeu and, atypically, a small amount of Muscat à Petits Grains (roughly 10%) added to the foundational Grenache blanc and Grenache gris. 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-2016. Full details

DOCG Alta Langa is the top appellation for sparkling wines in Piemonte. The requirements are very strict, including use of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and at least 30 months for the second fermentation in bottle. Full details

The 2009 vintage is the most complete and balanced of the Rombeau Rancio secs, combining the pronounced umami funk of 2008 with the lighter touch of 2010. 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 was 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-2016. The wine combines roughly equal parts Grenache blanc, Grenache gris and Macabeu, with a touch of the rare Malvoisie du Roussillon (Tourbat). Full details

This is Rivesaltes as God—or whatever gods may be—intended: Topaz, with a lifted nose. Deep and rich, but without weight. Café miel, with every autumnal spice. Grenache blanc, Grenache gris and Macabeu were co-fermented in tank with native yeasts, then aged up in the rafters for more than a decade in old barrique, without temperature control and with minimal ‘topping up’. Bottled after thirteen years in mid-2022, it can be enjoyed on its own, with a variety of cheeses (especially Bleu d’Auvergne), with roasted nuts, and desserts including crème brûlée and apple pie. Shelf-stable, it should be served lightly chilled or at cellar temperature. Full details

The most evolved of the Rombeau Rancio secs, the 2008 exhibits a pleasing "rancio funk" while nevertheless retaining its complexity and rough good manners. 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 was 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-2016. Full details

Produced only in exceptional vintages, the Domaine du Dernier Bastion Maury Rancio is pure Grenache noir, selected from the estate’s oldest vines. Fermented in a 200-year-old concrete tank, the wine was aged in a 1,000-liter tonneau for eight years, then placed on the rooftop under glass and exposed to the elements for a final year prior to bottling. The resulting wine exhibits warming complexity and reverberative depth, its mellow rancio character embroidered on flavors of spiced cherry, caramelized orange, fruit cake, fig, walnut, coffee and cocoa. Full details

From a tiny, roasted parcel within what is perhaps the most prized of all of Domaine du Mas Blanc's vineyards, Coume del Mas, the Banyuls Rimage ‘Diadème de la Coume’ 2008 has been produced in just two vintages and is notable for its diffident, smoky character, thought to be the result of ash from an adjacent fire. Its east-facing, 1.5-hectare vineyard sits at 350 meters altitude, overlooking the sea. Soils are the classic poor brown schist and decayed shale, and yields are just 15 hl/ha. The ‘Diadème de la Coume’ is 90% Grenache noir, 5% Mourvèdre and 5% Syrah. Full details

Recalling his grandfather’s fondness for the old wines aged in chestnut barrels, third-generation winemaker Jean-Michel Parcé commissioned two 500-liter barrels from a stand of chestnut trees on his cousin’s property in Roussillon. Once common in cellars throughout Europe, chestnut is now rarely found. More porous than oak, it requires greater attention on the part of the winemaker, but managed well it can impart structure married to a fat, exuberant, oxidative expression, full of generosity and rustic charm. Full details

This is a rare example of what is one of the oldest forms of winemaking, once found throughout the Mediterranean and now preserved by Catalan tradition on both sides of the French-Spanish border. The grapes are hand-harvested and fermented with native yeasts, without fortification. The youngest vines informing this wine date from 1946; the oldest from 1908. Exposed to the elements and aged for many years in partially filled oak barrels, the resulting wine has what the Roussillon locals call le goût de soleil, the taste of the sun: dry and concentrated, with complex rancio flavors of walnuts, cocoa and curry spices. This wine slumbered in barrels until May 2018. Full details

A smoldering wine of great intensity and persistence, the 2007 Rivesaltes Rancio is marked by notes of torched Seville orange, walnut, chestnut honey and garam masala. Grenache blanc, Grenache gris and Macabeu were co-fermented in tank with native yeasts, then aged up in the rafters for more than a decade in old barrique, without temperature control and with minimal ‘topping up’. Bottled after thirteen years in mid-2022, it can be enjoyed on its own, with a variety of cheeses, with roasted nuts, and desserts including crème brûlée and apple pie. Shelf-stable, it should be served lightly chilled or at cellar temperature. Full details

Produced only in exceptional vintages, the Domaine du Dernier Bastion Maury Rancio is pure Grenache noir, selected from the estate’s oldest vines. Fermented in a 200-year-old concrete tank, the wine was aged in a 1,000-liter tonneau for nine years, then placed on the rooftop under glass and exposed to the elements for a final year prior to bottling. The resulting wine exhibits warming complexity and reverberative depth, its mellow rancio character embroidered on flavors of spiced cherry, caramelized orange, fruit cake, fig, walnut, coffee and cocoa. Full details

The H&H Verdelho Single Harvest 2007 is a colheita bottling: an early-bottled vintage wine. This is unique among Madeira wines: a single-vineyard wine produced exclusively with estate fruit. The wine was aged for 12 years in ancient casks at the H&H cellars at Câmara de Lobos. It combines a vineyard signature of shimmering acidity and hints of eucalyptus with the depth of concentration and elegance for which H&H is renowned. One of the four “classic” Madeira varieties, Verdelho is meio seco—medium-dry—and highly versatile at the table. Full details

Recalling his grandfather’s fondness for the old wines aged in chestnut barrels, third-generation winemaker Jean-Michel Parcé commissioned two 500-liter barrels from a stand of chestnut trees on his cousin’s property in Roussillon. Once common in cellars throughout Europe, chestnut is now rarely found. More porous than oak, it requires greater attention on the part of the winemaker, but managed well it can impart structure married to a fat, exuberant, oxidative expression, full of generosity and rustic charm. Full details

Manuel Jorel’s first Rancio sec was the result of the scorching 2003 vintage and amongst the most unique in the Sotolon Selections portfolio. His small parcel of Macabeu grapes began to shrivel on the vine; he picked the grapes and set about making an ‘orange wine’ with them, leaving the emerging wine on the skins for 28 days. It began to oxidize and he feared the wine lost, but with the advice of an old-timer, he racked the wine into old Rivesaltes casks in the corner of his second cellar (which then doubled as a garage, or garrique). Full details

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Harvested from the Domaine du Mas Blanc’s oldest Grenache vines, the Banyuls ‘Collection’ 2002 is a special subset of its Banyuls ‘Vieilles Vignes.’ Hand-harvested and trodden by foot, it was fermented in stainless steel with native yeasts and aged in 650-liter oak demi-muids for 10 years. A single 225-liter barrel was then diverted from bottling and set aside for continued elevage as part of the estate’s library of its most important wines. Dubbed ‘Collection,’ only three vintages have been previously released to the public. Full details

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Domaine du Mas Blanc Banyuls Rimage ‘La Coume’ 2001 comes from what is perhaps the most prized of all of the domaine's vineyards: Coume del Mas, celebrated not only for its Rimage ‘La Coume’ and ‘Diadème de la Coume’ but as the source of the historic Banyuls ‘Cuvée St. Martin’. East-facing, the 1.5-hectare vineyard sits at 350-meters altitude, overlooking the sea. Soils are the classic poor brown schist and decayed shale, and yields are just 15 hl/ha. ‘La Coume’ is 90% Grenache noir, 5% Mourvèdre and 5% Syrah. Full details

The H&H Sercial Single Harvest 2001 is a colheita bottling: an early-bottled vintage wine. Bright and deep, this edition could easily be mistaken for Verdelho but for the saline/sea smoke signature of its Sercial fruit. More off-dry than dry, its caramelized apricot, tangerine and almond flavors mask impressive extract, the result of its extended time in canteiro. Sercial is the palest and the driest of the classical madeira varieties. Full details

One of three single-vineyard Collioure “crus” produced by Domaine du Mas Blanc, ‘Les Junquets’ comes from a steeply-terraced, west-facing parcel of the region’s celebrated schist soils. Vinification is traditional: Old-vine Syrah and a small section of Marsanne and Roussanne (which together comprise 10% of the blend) are hand-harvested from miniscule yields, trodden by foot and fermented in stainless steel with native yeasts. Matured in old Bordeaux barrels for at least one year, this wine boasts great dimension and savory mineral depths, with notes of cassis, smoked venison and garrigue herbs underscored by a telltale iodine signature. Enjoy with all manner of roasted game, porcini mushroom or risotto. Capable of continued improvement over the next 10-12 years. Full details

One of three single-vineyard Collioure “crus” produced by Domaine du Mas Blanc, ‘Clos du Moulin’ comes from a 1.8-hectare plot, southeast-facing, on the banks of the river Baillaury. The soil is schist mixed with gravel and sand. Vinification is traditional: Mourvèdre and Counoise (10%) are hand-harvested from goblet vines, trodden by foot, and fermented in stainless steel with native yeasts. Matured in old Bordeaux barrels for at least one year, ‘Clos du Moulin’ is simultaneously dark and brooding, carnal and oceanic. Notes of blackberry, dried blood, cured tobacco, tapenade, violet and bay leaf speak to the grandeur and savagery of this unique terroir. Enjoy with spit-fired lamb, smoked duck and truffles. Capable of continued improvement over the next 12-15 years. Full details

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A selection of the estate’s oldest Grenache vines, the Banyuls ‘Vieilles Vignes’ 2000 was hand-harvested and vinified traditionally: crushed by foot and fermented in stainless steel with native yeasts, it was aged for 10 years in 650-liter oak demi-muids before bottling. Always limited, a small portion of its production was set aside for inclusion in the estate’s library of its most important wines, a practice inaugurated by Dr. André Parcé in 1947. Full details

Harvested from the Domaine du Mas Blanc’s oldest Grenache vines, the Banyuls ‘Collection’ 2000 is a special subset of its Banyuls ‘Vieilles Vignes.’ Hand-harvested and trodden by foot, it was fermented in stainless steel with native yeasts and aged in 650-liter oak demi-muids for 10 years. A single 225-liter barrel was then diverted from bottling and set aside for continued elevage as part of the estate’s library of its most important wines. Dubbed ‘Collection,’ only three vintages have been previously released to the public. Full details

The H&H Boal Single Harvest 2000 is a colheita bottling: an early-bottled vintage wine. Atypical for the house, this is reserved and surprisingly understated, imbued with detail and quiet confidence. Clove, cherry, brown sugar and rancio notes beckon from the glass. In the mouth, it’s supple and focused, a rich caress of pixilated Boal flavors enjoined to a long and refined finish. One of the classic white grape varieties of Madeira, Boal is meio doce: medium-sweet, thought to offer Madeira lovers the ideal combination of elegance and richness. Full details