The 1992 Vin Santo, one of Italy’s great dessert wines, is a fabulous effort, particularly considering the abysmal level of the vintage, and resembles nothing so much as a great Pedro Ximenez sherry such as Harvey’s Grand Orden. A deep gleaming mahogany, its potent nose opens to reveal apricot and fig jam, honey, molasses, hazelnuts, vanilla, and caramel. Superbly dense, lusciously sweet, but with an unobtrusive acidity which prevents the wine from becoming a syrup, warm, enveloping, and rich almost beyond description, this is almost a dessert in itself and will easily last 25-30 years. Ettore Falvo took up the cause of Vino Nobile in the late 1970’s and, together with Paola De Ferrari of Boscarelli, did yeoman’s work in defending the cause. A sizeable operation with vineyards both in Montepulciano and neighboring Cortona, Avignonesi (the name comes from Falvo’s former wife, Adriana Avignonesi) the label, for a certain period of time, demonstrated to the world’s markets that the zone continued to exist. There has been some inconsistency from vintage to vintage and from wine to wine in the 1990’s, but this is a strong series. Importer: Dalla Terra, Napa, CA; tel. (707) 259-5405