Get ready for one of the most pleasant surprises of your wine-drinking career—or, if you’re already a fan of Rossese, one of the best expressions of the variety you’ll ever taste.

You won’t find this lightweight, spicy, floral red anywhere else but Liguria, in northwest Italy, and a few locales in southernmost France. Farming just three hectares of gnarled, bush-trained vines cut into the tumble-down hillsides of the Italian Riviera, Maurizio Anfosso and Roberta Repaci are among a handful of producers making Rossese di Dolceaqua, so named for the Rossese grape grown around the picture-postcard town of Dolceacqua. It’s a vinous snapshot of the coastal Alps that define the Ligurian landscape, with one foot in the forest and one on the beach: ripe, brambly berry flavors, scents of underbrush and wild herbs, and a soft, juicy character that responds well to a light chill.

In the glass, the 2021 “Galeae” (named for one of the two ‘cru’ vineyards Ka Manciné farms) looks light and wan but, nevertheless, it persists! It is brightly, seductively perfumed, with aromas of dried rose petals, sour cherry, red currants, underbrush, black pepper, and wild herbs. Light- to medium-bodied, its tannins are soft, its acidity fresh and lifted, and its alcohol moderate—a silky, juicy charmer through and through, ready to drink now after 15-30 minutes of air and even better with a slight chill. Serve it in Burgundy stems at or near 55 degrees, either as a conversation-piece aperitif or as one of the more seafood-friendly reds around. Prawns or maybe some red snapper, touched up with a little tomato and herbs, is the move.