This wine is a labor of love made only by the most tenacious and passionate producers in Tuscany. The Isole e Olena 2010 Vin Santo del Chianti Classico (in a 375-milliliter bottle) is beautifully balanced and offers a rush of candied fruit aromas and honey with hints of the smoky elegance that comes with time. On top of apricot, brown sugar and maple syrup, this Vin Santo offers unique complexity with aniseed, beeswax and toasted cardamom pod. The mouthfeel is equally finessed with a soft texture and, surprise, a wonderful dose of freshness. That acidity is the wine's ace card. This is one of the best Vin Santos I have tasted.

Rich, deep and exotically beautiful, the 2010 has so much to offer.

Ten years in small casks yielded a Vin Santo loaded with personality, complexity and character. Orange confit, burnt sugar, dried herbs, spice and caramel are some of the many notes that lift out of the glass. A touch of Petit Manseng (unusual in Vin Santo) helps brighten the acids. If I had to pick only one bottle to demonstrate what Vin Santo is all about, it might very well be Isole e Olena, as it is a real reference-point of both excellence and pedigree.