Pantelleria DOC One Island, One Grape, and Italy's Great Sun-Dried Sweet Wine

Zibibbo, and only Zibibbo. The grape is catalogued internationally as Moscato of Alexandria and is also called Moscato di Pantelleria on the island itself. The denomination permits no blending partner, which is unusual in Italian wine law and means every bottle carrying the name, from the dry Bianco to the richest Passito, comes from the same single variety.

Both are sweet, but they are made differently and sit at different strengths. Moscato di Pantelleria requires a minimum of 15 per cent alcohol, of which at least 11 per cent must be fermented. Passito di Pantelleria requires a minimum of 20 per cent, of which at least 14 per cent must be fermented, and is made from grapes dried in the sun until they shrivel, which concentrates both sugar and aroma.

It is the traditional low bush-vine training used across Pantelleria, in which each plant sits in a hollow dug about 20 centimetres into the ground. The pit shelters the vine from wind arriving from five named directions and helps it capture scarce moisture on an island receiving roughly 400 millimetres of rain a year. UNESCO added the practice to its intangible cultural heritage register in November 2014, the first agricultural technique to be listed.

Eight. Moscato di Pantelleria, Passito di Pantelleria, Moscato liquoroso, Moscato spumante, Moscato dorato, Passito liquoroso, Zibibbo dolce, and a dry Bianco that also comes in a lightly sparkling frizzante version. Minimum alcohol runs from 11.5 per cent for the Bianco up to 22 per cent for the Passito liquoroso, which gives some idea of the range hiding behind one grape.

No, though the sweet wines are what the island is known for. The denomination includes a dry Bianco and a frizzante version at a minimum of 11.5 per cent alcohol, both of which show Zibibbo's floral and citrus-peel character without residual sugar. They are far less exported than the Passito, so they are easier to find on the island than off it.