Giulio Cocchi was a restless Victorian dynamo in the wine business of Italy. He popularised Barolo Chinato, a type of after-dinner drink made of fine wine and spices; he established an Asti sparkling wine business; he invented an aperitif; and with good commercial sense he set up a chain of bars in north-western Italy to sell his products. Even today there are Cocchi bars in the town of Asti.

The tradition continues and the restless Victorian dynamo has become a restless modern dynamo in the person of Roberto Bava, of the Bava family. We are delighted to have chosen five fine products from the traditional Cocchi portfolio.

First, the Asti. It used to be called Asti Spumante, now it is just called Asti, in abbreviated chic. Asti is a much misunderstood wine. It is a fine wine, officially so now that Asti has been made DOCG. But, imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, there are enough cheap imitations of Asti on the market to confuse the wine lover entirely. This is one of the genuine ones.

It is definitely not a sweet, poor man’s Champagne. It costs about as much to make and in some ways is better than Champagne. It’s a much more pleasant drink as an afternoon aperitif or with the wedding cake. It goes well with strawberries, too. It is also more natural than Champagne, the muscat grape being the sole ingredient; there’s no need to add any liqueur d’expedition to sweeten it. But fundamentally it’s one of the freshest, grapiest, most enjoyable sparkling wines you will ever drink.

Then there is the Barolo Chinato Giulio Cocchi could never have imagined, a century after he created the original recipe for this unique after-dinner drink, that the recipe would be the same today, and that it would be a fashionable drink in the smartest Piedmontese restaurants as well as being the basis of a fine cold-killing hot toddy (with the addition of a dash of hot water and a sliver of lemon peel, of course).

Then, more classically, there is the Aquaforte, an Armagnac style brandy of great distinction; and finally the Grappa di Moscato Doree, aged for two years in small casks of Slovenian oak. Meditation drinks, as the Italians call them; sit back, sip and relax.