Barone di Villagrande strikes a classic expression in this dessert wine from the heart of the Mediterranean. The 2017 Malvasia delle Lipari Passito (in a 500-milliliter bottle) flaunts its air-dried, or passito, personality with a lovely mix of dried apricot, honey and baked apple. This was a very hot vintage across southern Italy, and the wine shows extra thickness, ripeness and concentration as a result. Indeed, the appassimento style used here has definitely absorbed the summer heat; this is reflected in the wine's deep golden color and the slightly more oxidative style of the bouquet. I would also venture that the wine's acidic footprint, or that impression of freshness you need in a great dessert wine, is underserved in 2017.

The 2014 Malvasia delle Lipari Passito (in a 500-milliliter bottle) opens to warm-climate aromas of raisin box, dried apricot, brown sugar and honey. I am a huge fan of Malvasia delle Lipari, and this wine, being a passito made with air-dried fruit, tends to offer more volume and weight compared to its peers. It is fermented in stainless steel and left to rest in steel vats for six months. Only 2,200 precious bottles were made.

Made on the island of Salina off the northern coast of Sicily, the 2013 Malvasia delle Lipari Passito (500 ml) is a very rich and layered wine. This is a Passito-style dessert wine that sees air-dried fruit before fermentation. In fact, the bouquet here is deeply redolent of raisin and dried apricot. The sugar content is contained and the wine actually offers a dry finish (or at least it feels dry) with sea salt and marine tones of crushed oyster shell. This is a unique dessert wine that could be paired with salty foods. Only 2,500 bottles were produced.