Dinner at St Finbarre's

From three parcels of old vines at the top of the valley, around 500 metres above sea level, planted almost a century ago. All the fruit is pressed into concrete, where it ferments and ages over winter as a single mass. Sylvan complexity on the nose and mineral density in the mouth, with a thread of bitterness on the finish that brings gusto and class, and the salinity to sit beside shellfish.

Samodia is the old Latin name for Valsamoggia, itself named for the Samoggia river that runs down through the Apennines between Bologna and Modena. The old vines here follow the Emilian tradition of mixed farming, with fruit trees and several varieties planted together on one site. At the top of the valley the temperatures allow for slower ripening than below, preserving acidity in a warm climate.

Named for the Arabic word for star. Antonin makes his assemblages after fermentation, recreating the estate's iconic cuvées each year from a new configuration of varieties, so Nedjma stays true to its recognisable personality while capturing the intricacies of the vintage. Fluidity and volume of fruit, a white of the south built on the refreshing drinkability Antonin loves, with the breadth to meet brown butter.

The fruit comes off the open, rocky limestone of the southern Ardèche, the arid white landscape of the Bas-Vivarais between the Coiron plateau and the gorges of the Ardèche river. The wines are soft and supple in the fruit, digestible and full of character, the soulful quality of well farmed fruit being the estate's calling card since Gilles Azzoni founded it, with Antonin now writing its next chapter.

Aglianico is the prominent variety, from vines averaging 90 years old trained in the recognisable raggiera avellinese. A two week maceration is followed by eight months in chestnut barrels. Black fruits, bitter cacao and a smoky minerality, with the structure to stand beside short rib and truffle, served from magnum.

Aglianico is grown across Irpinia, with the cluster of villages around Paternopoli and Montemarano in the Calore valley the variety's regional heartland. The fruit comes off old vines on volcanic-calcareous soils at altitude, the same country that gives the estate's longest lived reds. What makes this wine different is its intention: where Le Fole and Drogone are built for decades in bottle, this is made as an everyday red for the table, with good food and friends.

A lambent haze in the glass, the colour showing some signs of ageing in bottle. A bright, zesty minerality on the nose, followed by fleshy white fruits and biscuit crumb. The palate is substantial, with the acidity of Xarello keeping things fresh and flowing beside the strawberry and white chocolate.

This cuvée is closest to Ferran's heart: bubbles from old vine Xarello made in the ancestral method, channelling so much of Catalunya's wine tradition, past and present. Bottled a month after picking with 23.4 grams of sugar remaining, the wine fermented and aged in bottle, completing malolactic, and was disgorged in October 2025. The vines were planted in the late 60s in the La Creu plot, trained in gobelet between 300 and 350 metres of elevation.