Sesti Brunello on tasting, with Elisa Sesti 12-2pm

There are few - if any - more romantic stories in wine than that of Giuseppe Sesti. Having studied fresco painting in Venice, on graduation Giuseppe found that there was little demand for his skills. Instead, he dedicated himself to the study of astronomy, going on to write five books on the subject. By 1975, long before biodynamism had entered the vinous vocabulary, he'd published tables of the small and larger moon cycles for agricultural use in order to reduce the use of chemicals on the land.

Along the way, he met a posh Shropshire girl called Sarah. Outcast by her family for running off with a penniless Italian artist, in 1972 the two of them fell in love with an abandoned and overgrown medieval hamlet in southern Tuscany centred on the Castello di Argiano. For thirty years Giuseppe organised the festival of Baroque opera at Batignano, at the same time as restoring the estate.

Today, Giuseppe and Sarah, assisted by their daughter Elisa, continue that work (they are still saving towards the cost of restoring the tower in the hamlet), and Sesti is established as one of the leading lights in the favoured southwest zone of the Montalcino appellation. It is a heavenly place, and we are delighted to welcome Elisa to the shop at lunchtime today to show the estate's gorgeous wines. Please, come and meet her. /AR