ever since i have started my wset diploma (touch wood i will pass my last exam), people i meet have been asking me what is my favourite wine. normally, i duck the question because i consider myself a student and therefore in a never ending quest for knowledge (...) kidding aside, i find this a difficult question to answer because for me, wine depends so much of who i am drinking it with and what food we are also enjoying at the time.

but last night, with maria and sophie, i had my 3rd bottle of "lacrima di morro d'alba selection rubbjano 2005" by luigi guisti and i can now definitely say that it is my favourite wine - by far.

lacrima is actually a grape that is mainly grown in morro d'alba, a commune in the marches in italy. it has actually nothing to do with alba in piedmonte. an autochtonous variety, it was almost extinct but was revived in the last few years by dedicated growers who are more artisan than businessmen - people of passion rather than money (just my type of people!).

thanks to the giusti patriarch who kept his old vines on his best plots for more than the last 50 years, the selection rubbjano can be crafted and the result is like "une potion ensorcelante", a magic potion.

light ruby color with dark purple hues, it has an incredible perfumed of rose petals, violets, peppermint, and vanilla. a touch of cinnamon, and a kind of warmth on the aroma not unlike a beautifully warm summer night in the country side. the palate is soft, silky, round, and rewarding. the taste much like the nose but more pronounced and complex. with a medium length of the after-taste, it leaves a nice and savoury lingering taste.

out of 2,000+ wines that i have tasted in the last 2-3 years, this is the one that i could recognise blindfolded among all of them... je suis ensorcelé...

unfortunately, that wine is very very difficult to find as the giusti family only produce 3,000 bottles per year. the bottle we drank last night was 1 of 12 that i was super lucky to receive as a christmas present from my super sweet wife (with the help of franco and mama italiana, of course...).