Vin Santo is one of the oldest and most venerable wine traditions in all of Italy — a Tuscan dessert wine of extraordinary complexity and depth, made by a process of such patience and labour that it has always been considered something apart: a wine for special occasions, for contemplation, for the end of a great meal when time slows and conversation deepens. The grapes — traditionally Trebbiano and Malvasia — are harvested and then dried on racks or hung from the rafters for months, concentrating their sugars and flavours to an extraordinary intensity before pressing. The resulting must is then sealed into small oak barrels called caratelli and left to ferment and age for years — sometimes many years — in the heat and cold of the Tuscan attic, developing a complexity and depth that no other winemaking process can replicate. Principe Corsini is one of Tuscany’s most historic and aristocratic wine estates — the Corsini family have been at the heart of Florentine and Tuscan life for centuries, and their Le Corti estate in the Chianti Classico zone is a place of quite exceptional beauty and heritage. The Sant’Andrea Corsini Vinsanto is their finest expression of this ancient tradition, and the 2006 — now approaching two decades of age — is a wine of quite breathtaking opulence and complexity. Precious and monumental in its radiant richness: orange blossom and chestnut honey on the nose, with the intense, heady aroma of candied orange peel, a veil of caramel, and ripe apricots that together create a bouquet of extraordinary depth and beauty. On the palate it is sweet and dense, with a body of remarkable concentration and a touch of oriental spice on the finish that lingers long after the glass is empty. At £79.99, it is one of the most extraordinary and age-worthy bottles in our entire range — and a wine that will be remembered long after the evening is over.