A 19th-century mine, millions of bottles, and a rescue carried out in stages while the city above it was fought over street by street.

Vines clinging to slate cliffs too steep for machinery, a grape that runs from bone-dry to lusciously sweet, and one of Europe's most underrated, most affordable serious wine regions.

Yes — just not with the big oaky red that convinced everyone otherwise. Here is what actually works, and why.

No spittoons, no tasting notes, no exam. Just six glasses lined up in the right order and a decade of assumptions about what you like, corrected in one evening.