Just a week before the world as we once knew it dramatically changed — before store shelves and online retailers’ supplies of hand sanitizer and toilet paper were completely depleted, and before New York City was deemed the epicenter of the coronavirus — I made a visit to the Jane Hotel’s restaurant Old Rose with a pair of friends. It was a Monday. The weather was ominously warm for the beginning of March, and that was more than a good enough reason to stop for a glass of wine.

I settled for a pour of Nùo, a Vermentino produced by Azienda Vitivinicola Cardedu in Sardinia. The first sip was unforgettable. For starters, the aromas of citrus fruit nearly jumped out the glass. But on the palate, the white wine zinged with salinity, and herbaceous notes of basil and rosemary, with a hint of grapefruit, instantly transporting me to sunny seashores in a peaceful place far away from the noise and madness of Manhattan on the brink of a pandemic.