Old Man of La Mancha - de Sol a Sol Airén 2011

Never mind the special six course foraged dinner "010 020 Het Wilde", cooked by a crack team of chefs from Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The star of the show for me was de Sol a Sol - a thrilling, profound orange wine which transcends its seemingly extreme met

(Almost) every week, I select an orange wine (a white wine made with extended skin contact) that grabbed my attention. View the whole series here

Last week at Choux (an all-time favourite Amsterdam restaurant of mine), I happened upon sommelier and founder Figo van Onna grinning at me, as he opened a bottle of this arrestingly labelled wine. "403 days on the skins" he shouted excitedly, knowing exactly how to light my fire.

Never mind the special six course foraged dinner "010 020 Het Wilde", cooked by a crack team of chefs from Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The star of the show was de Sol a Sol - a thrilling, profound wine which transcends its seemingly extreme method of production.

What was this curiously packaged beauty? The producer is Esencia Rural (Julian Ruiz), based in that great wasteland of wine La Mancha - home to the world's most planted and perhaps dullest variety, the neutral Airén. Or is it? There was nothing remotely dull about de Sol a Sol, made from 100 year old pre-phylloxe…