The island of Pantelleria is a curious, rugged volcanic outcrop, situated halfway between the Tunisian and Sicilian coasts, and it is here, in Italy's most southerly appellation, that this Passito Liquoroso is made. It's rather amazing, we think, that this beautiful, rich, baked apricot and marmalade-y dessert wine is made roughly 40 miles off the coast of Africa. But, being an island in a rather windy spot, it gets enough cooling maritime influence to balance the searing sun, resulting in a nuanced, balanced, but still brilliantly swarthy wine.