Having salt in your hair is a common occurrence while cruising around Sicily and its glistening waters, but this feeling couldn’t be more apt than at Mozia, a tiny island off the western coast of Sicily. Since the 8th Century BC, salt has been harvested in the salt flats, and Mozia was once an important city in the Phoenician empire – squint and you might see Carthage (modern-day Tunis).

These days, it’s a historical site preserved and maintained by the Whitaker Foundation, who’ve partnered with the Tasca d’Almerita family to grow Grillo grapes among the millennia-old ruins, making a beautiful, suitably mineral wine perfect for scorching hot sunny days, just like the one we had on Mozia.

Admittedly we quaffed quite a few of these while enjoying the hospitality of the family maintaining the island, feasting on local prawns and sundried tomatoes, imagining life in the ancient trading port.