Each month, David Brenner of Villasfor2 in Abruzzo selects a delicious, top-value 'Special Italian Wine' for you to drink and enjoy at home – or on your Abruzzo vacation

Pantelleria Passito Liquoroso. DOC. 2008. Cantine Pellegrino.

More wine tends to get drunk during December than at any other time of year. In fact, more bad wine tends to get drunk during December than at any other time of year as too many of those 'special' bottles specially bought for Christmas lunch turn out to be the duds that have been festering in some supermarket warehouse or wine retailer's cellar.

Christmas is made decidedly cheerier by a couple of decent bottles to go with the feasting, so in the first of two festive recommendations for 'Special Italian Wine', here's a really delicious accompaniment to the Christmas pudding; the mince pies – and some blue cheeses too.

The tiny Mediterranean island of Pantelleria – less than 10 miles long – is the southernmost part of Italy. It lies some 60 miles south-west of Sicily – but only 40 miles off the coast of Tunisia. For centuries, islanders produced a wine made from the alluringly-named Zibibbo grape – a local variant of Muscat.

Harvested in August, bunches of these grapes are hung, or laid-out to dry in the sun until, just before they shrivelled into raisins, they were pressed to produce a sweet, strong wine – 15% in this case.

Such was the reputation of this wine from Pantelleria, that it became only the third Italian wine to be awarded DOC status when the system was introduced some 50 years ago.

This offering from the Pellegrino winery in Sicily, (more familiar for its world-renowned Marsala and actually based in the town of Marsala itself), is a young Passito, given just 4 months in the bottle, (you'd hardly call it 'ageing'), before release.

Consequently it's a light, fresh wine which – when you think about it – is just what you need at the end of a heavy Christmas lunch when you've probably started with a glass of champagne, before moving onto bottles of red.

The colour is golden and the fragrance is delicate and floral – the Zibibbo grape isn't renowned for the huge scent of fruit you get with some muscat wines – but that belies what awaits your first sip, which takes in candied peel, tangerines and a nutty sweetness that lingers on your tongue for an age. There's none of the rather unpleasant cloying aftertaste you find with far too many sweet wines.

Drink this chilled – but not too cold, or it'll kill the delicacy of this wine stone-dead – and it'll go like a dream with the puddings, mince pies, cakes and pretty well all the other sweet treats of Christmas. (Except chocolate. Not a lot goes well with chocolate. Even less so with chocolate mints…).

And if you don't have a sweet tooth, try this Passito with a creamy blue cheese like a young Gorgonzola (the type – for example – sold in the UK under the Dolcelatte brand). Though port and Stilton are a marriage made in heaven, (but far too heavy a combination after you've waded through turkey and pudding), Passito and creamy blues – or even Roquefort, which the French will happily partner with Sauternes – are a lighter and far more agreeable alternative.

At A Glance…

• This month's featured wine: Pantelleria Passito Liquoroso

• Vintage: 2008

• Designation: DOC

• Grape: 100% Zibibbo

• Strength: 15%

• Closure: Cork stopper

• Producer: Cantine Pellegrino

• Website: www.carlopellegrino.it

• This bottle cost: €7.85 for a 50cl bottle

Next Month…

A special Italian red wine for a special Christmas lunch. A wine I promise you'll enjoy at home – and which'll still taste pretty good if you try it on your Abruzzo vacation !

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 9:23 am and is filed under Eating and Drinking, Special Italian Wine, Vineyards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.