Fragola Spezieria Liquore alle Fragoline, Bepi Tosolini

Another good bottle for Valentine’s Day this week - this time an wild strawberry flavoured liqueur in an extraordinarily blingy bottle with wild strawberries floating on top. It’s part of Marks & Spencer’s new international spirits range which now runs to over 70 different spirits and liqueurs.

It’s intensely sweet so needs to be served well chilled - unfortunately the curvaceous bottle isn’t the easiest to fit in the fridge - but I think it would be lovely poured over strawberries as well as with any dish of which strawberries is a component - pannacotta and strawberries for example, a strawberry pavlova or Eton Mess. And I'm sure homemade strawberry ice cream would benefit from a dash.

It would also work well with lighter chocolate desserts than the Alcyone last week - milk chocolate desserts or a light cake like Dan Lepard’s delicious-sounding Chocolate Custard Mousse Cake.

And you could also use it to make a simple sparkling wine cocktail topped up with champagne or prosecco.

The Bepi Tosolini distillery is a family-run firm based in Udine in the Friuli region. They also make grappas and a Limoncello which is also stocked by M & S.

Fragola Spezieria Liquore alle Fragoline (24%) is available at £23.49 in larger branches of Marks & Spencer, £27.85 at Weavers, Nottingham, £28.49 at Alexander Hadleigh, Southampton and cheaper still at £22.75 Fareham Wine Cellar though they say they need 4-5 working days to order it.

Alcyone Tannat Dessert Wine

Although this site is called matchingfoodandwine.com you may have spotted it contains a fair few other drinks including beer, cider, spirits and soft drinks. So I’ve been thinking for a while of creating a weekly slot to showcase some some more off-beat bottles and bevvies I come across.

This week’s selection is in fact a wine but about as obscure a one as you can get: an aromatised sweet red dessert wine from Uruguay made from Tannat. It’s made by a winery called Vinedo de los Vientos and is apparently named after Alcyone the goddess of calm and tranquillity (who knew?) who is depicted on the rather beautiful label.

It’s made by a family of Italian origin and modelled on two Italian wines - Barolo Chinato and Marsala and fortified with brandy up to 16%. Like Barolo Chinato it’s aromatized with different roots and herbs about which the label and website is studiously vague, waffling on about “being touched with a bouquet of winter flowers, Madagascan vanilla bean and wild apple mint indulged with a warmth and savor of white cacao soufflé".

Whatever. It’s utterly delicious with a rich hit of ripe cherries and a definite hint of vanilla, chocolate and some kind of spice (allspice?) though don’t run away with the idea that it’s spicy. Much like a vintage port only richer, less alcoholic and more caressing. It would be absolutely wicked with almost any kind of dark chocolate dessert which of course makes it a perfect pick for Valentine’s Day.

You can buy it from Wines of Uruguay for £19 a 50cl bottle. For stockists in the US and Australia check out the Vinedo de los Vientos website