The present invention relates to a method comprising (A) reacting a β-keto ester with a 2-halo ester under basic conditions to obtain a 2-aceto-3-methyl-succinic acid ester; (B) reacting the resulting 2-aceto-3-methyl-succinic acid ester with methyl vinyl ketone under basic conditions, optionally followed by a decarboxylation reaction and hydrolysis, etc., to obtain an α-methyl-γ-keto acid; and (C) reducing the resulting α-methyl-γ-keto acid to obtain wine lactone or a stereoisomer thereof or a mixture thereof. Alternatively, the present invention relates to a method comprising step (A) as recited above; (B) reacting the resulting 2-aceto-3-methyl-succinic acid ester with methyl vinyl ketone under basic conditions, followed by decarboxylation reaction to obtain an α-methyl-γ-keto acid ester; and (E) reducing the resulting α-methyl-γ-keto acid ester in the presence of a ruthenium complex having a specific structure and in the presence of a hydrogen donor to obtain wine lactone or a stereoisomer thereof or a mixture thereof.