Packaged in a tall 500-milliliter bottle, the 2018 Passito Moscato is like a Vin Santo from the deep south of Italy. The wine shines with golden intensity and hot-climate aromas of brown sugar, dried jasmine, tuberose, candied apricot and maple syrup. There is a big amount of sugar in this opulent dessert wine that finishes with cinnamon and nutmeg.

The 2016 Passito Moscato is a very enjoyable sweet blend of 50% Guarnaccia Bianca and 50% Malvasia that is concentrated (or reduced by being boiled down). Fermented on air-dried Moscatello di Saracena grapes, this is an incredibly unique wine with virtually no equals within the wide world of Italian enology. Indeed, it is only made in the little town of Saracena, Calabria. This wine is packaged in a 500-milliliter bottle and some 3,500 bottles were released. The alcohol clocks in at 14%. The bouquet is bright and fragrant with peach, honey and grilled herb.

Here is another thick and deeply concentrated dessert wine from Southern Italy. The 2012 Passito Moscato (500-milliliter) is a beautiful wine that is loaded tight with immense intensity and power. The large-scale sweetness is framed by dried apricots, honey, toasted almond and balsam herb. In fact, there is a strong component of cola and rosemary oil. The wine is made with Malvasia Bianca and Guarnaccia Bianca that is concentrated by being boiled down and is later fermented with air-dried Moscatello di Saracena fruit (which accounts for up to 25% of the must). The technique used to make this wine is unique in Italy and has earned its own Presidio Slow Food status.

The 2010 Passito Moscato (500-mililiter) opens to a dark amber color with browning copper highlights. The bouquet shows great intensity with caramel, dried figs, candied orange and pressed rose. This is a thickly extracted and very sweet dessert wine from southern Italy that has the austerity of a Tuscan Vin Santo and the vinous, raisiny appeal of a Sicilian passito. This expression represents a good middle ground between those two important schools of Italian dessert wine.