Bosco de’ Medici, Pompeii (Campania, Italy) 2023

 It is already a major selling point for this wine that it comes from Pompeii, and if you don’t know why that is cool or where or what Pompeii is, you really need to look it up.  But we can immediately dispense with history and geography because the wine is fascinating in its own right.  Made entirely from the Caprettone variety, it was macerated in amphorae, which makes perfect sense in Pompeii — but let’s stick with the wine.  Skin contact from maceration lends lots of flavor details on a base that recalls apricots (fresh as well as dried) with undertones of tangerine, some floral aromatic topnotes, and a very long finish.  To be clear, this is not a weird “orange” wine or somebody’s “natural wine” ideological statement, but rather a unique white with medium-plus body that you could pair with robust dishes as you might a great old vine Semillon, such as the spectacular one made by Boekenhoutskloof in South Africa.  That’s a rare wine, but so is this, so there aren’t many points of comparison available.  Completely compelling.  Thank heavens for Italy.