Corvina

Nearly a year ago I was given a generous gift by some friends, who happened also to be colleagues, as I moved to a new job within the same firm.

Knowing I had a keen interest in wines they kindly gave me a gift certificate to be spent in a superb wine merchant's shop near to our office. Uncorked, by name. So I had £70 gently warming my pocket and a feeling that I had to use it wisely in respect of the generosity it represented.

I toyed with various ideas: a decanter? some great stemware? one really special bottle? Four good bottles for Christmas? I couldn't decide until one late morning not long ago, when I should have been concentrating on something else, I visited the shop's website and typed 'Recioto' into the search box. One wine was returned and a case of six 50cl bottles would cost me £69.60.

I have been looking for a supply of Recioto for quite a while and have found it hard to track down, so it seemed like just the right thing.

So this week's wine C (2013) is Adalia Recioto della Valpolicella 2008. £12.95 from Uncorked.

Made in the hills 30km North West of Verona, this Valpolicella is not the light bodied, highly acidic variety that is often found in pizza and pasta chains, but something much more interesting.

Recioto is a style of wine produced from grapes (this one is 60% Corvina, 40% Rondinella) that have been picked and allowed to dry, in this case until February, before pressing and fermentation, in order to concentrate the flavours and to enhance the natural sugar content. Because of the high sugar, it reaches 14.5% abv without fortification. It is rich, dark and sweet. Cherries and ripe dark fruits, spicy and warming. It is, to be clear, lovely.