Read more: The Italy Report 2023

Moving beyond Amarone, each of Italy’s diverse regions has its richer, more generous side. In both Chianti Classico and Montalcino there is a distinctly sunny, Mediterranean flavour to Sangiovese from the southern edges: from the helpfully, though perhaps confusingly, similar-sounding Castelnuovo Berardenga and Castelnuovo dell’Abate respectively. The luminous inner glow of Fèlsina’s Rancia or the meaty robustness of Tenuta di Arceno’s Strada al Sasso make them great holiday fare. A mature vintage of Rancia sipped slowly over the course of an evening by the fire would gradually reveal its spectrum of shimmering medicinal tones. Strada al Sasso would be happiest at the table, weaving its plums and violets through a cut of something meaty and a little feral.

From further south, Giovanni Neri from single-site Brunello pioneers Casanova di Neri really captures the intensity of Sienese sunlight and is pure luxuriance, while Lisini’s Brunello Annata braces its blacker toned fruit with tense green edges and piercing acidity.

Finally, it would be remiss of me not to mention the country’s most hallowed seasonal treat, the white truffle, and its natural bedfellow, the Nebbiolo grape. Though Nebbiolo is a wine that – in my experience – rarely gains weight in relation to its alcohol level, there is still a spectrum of fullness and a massive spectrum of texture. Plush tannins can give a sense of opulence to an otherwise lithe, translucent wine. Cannubi, historically prized for its southerly exposure and the resultant luscious mouthfeel of its wines, is an inspired choice for drinking when sweater weather arrives, and examples from Burlotto and Brezza, as well as Damilano’s Riserva 1752, fit the bill nicely, providing a pillowy accompaniment to plates of buttery pasta with fragrant flurries of white. Meanwhile, my attraction to darker-toned, rigidly structured wines also skyrockets as the temperature drops. I’d readily tuck into a glass of Mirafiore Barolo Riserva and Luigi Baudana’s or Ettore Germano’s Cerretta with a plate of dense braised meats, again doused in truffles.

Finally, Barbaresco – typically (though not always) home to the dazzling, lyric soprano Nebbiolos that I gravitate towards throughout the year – has its spinto and dramatic stars too. Though we can’t always plump for Gaja’s Sorì Tildin or Sorì San Lorenzo (even during the holidays), Rabajà from the illustrious Produttori and Tettineive from Scarpa bring a potency to Barbaresco that makes them ideal cold weather sippers long after the last truffle has been shaved.