Winemaker Peter Vinding-Diers is a challenger for the title of the Most Interesting Man in the World. In the '60s, the Danish Vinding-Diers served as a war correspondent reporting from Vietnam, Aden, Malaya, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Nigeria. Then he started making wine--first in South Africa, and then in Bordeaux, Brazil, Kenya, Spain, Chile, and Hungary. Even more impressive, he essentially revitalized Graves in the '80s, reinvented Hungarian Tokaj in the early '90s, and in the late '90s, he invigorated Ribera del Duero when he prompted his nephew Peter Sisseck to start a new venture there, the now-renowned estate Pingus. Most recently, Peter has landed in Sicilia, where he makes stunning Syrahs at his estate Montecarrubo.

Montecarrubo exemplifies why Sicilian wines are hot right now. Sicilia competes with Puglia for being Italy's biggest producer of wine, but while much of Sicilia's wine has been bulk, the last couple of decades have seen a rise in small, artisanal producers who carefully tend their vines to imbue their wines with Sicilia's unusual volcanic terroir. Most, however, have chosen to grow indigenous grapes like Nerello Mascalese and Nero d'Avola, so even among these boutique producers Vinding-Diers, with his choice to grow Syrah, stands out.

In 2006, Vinding-Diers leased three hectares of twenty-year-old Syrah vines near Ispica, and he used these vines to craft the first five vintages of his Montecarrubo wines. These are wines that bring the very best of Sicilia's wild, mineral, unique nature together with the masculine nuance of the Cote du Rhone, but they're only the beginning. The peripatetic Peter is putting down roots in Sicilia, converting an old stable into a modern, state-of-the-art winery, planting more Syrah, adding Grenach and thinking about planting a hectare of white as well. We look forward to the ever-expanding Montecarrubo line, and we're pretty sure that as soon as you drink a glass of Vinding-Diers' Syrah, you will too.

Montecarrubo offers perhaps the finest expression of Syrah in Italy. It's rich, full-bodied, a wine whose unusual blend of elegance and wildness suggests a meeting of Hermitage and Burgundy, but imbued with all the opulence of Sicilia. However, given that enologists are seeing a genetic link between indigenous Sicilian grape Nero d'Avola and Syrah, it's hardly surprising that the latter should grow so well on this rocky, windy isle. Today, we're delighted to offer both the silky, voluptuous 2008 and the leaner, herbal and earthy 2007. These gorgeous, surprising wines were handpicked by Sergio, and they're available only at IWM.