Viña Falernia, Elki Pedro Ximenez, 2023

This wine exhibits a delicious balance of peachy lusciousness with crispness and length, which allows it to be enjoyed with a variety of foods or on its own. The Elqui valley is an astonishing place – set amid the bleak arid hills just south of the world’s driest desert, the Atacama, it virtually never rains here. And yet there is a steady supply of water in the valley, thanks to snowmelt from the Andes. What’s more, the climate is cooler than you would expect: cold ocean currents mean that coastal areas are chilled by sea breezes, while inland, altitude has an effect (the highest vineyard is at 2,070 metres). The combination of constant sunshine with cool temperatures leads to crisp texture and exciting, bright fruit character in the wines. Italian winemaker, Giorgio Flessati, recognised the potential for the Pisco grape, Pedro Ximenez, to make delicious wine, and this is the product of his vision.