DOMAINE DE LA POUSSE D'OR Les Caillerets Clos des 60 Ouvrees 1er cru Monopole, Volnay

Wynns Michael Shiraz is a 'best-of-vintage' Shiraz from Wynns vineyard sites in Coonawarra and is named after David Wynn's youngest son. Made in the years that best show Coonawarra's unique terroir, this latest release displays the qualities that have made the 'Michael' one of the most highly regarded of all Australian Shiraz with aromas of red currants, cherries and raspberry that mesh every so well with the olive and white spice characters. The palate follows with an elegant structure bursting with dark brooding spice and succulent ripe tannins.

Taittinger Comtes de Champagne is the finest expression of the world famous wine from one of the greatest Champagne Houses. First produced in 1952, Comtes is made from 100% Chardonnay grapes from 6 Grand Cru sites in the Cité de Blancs. Showing a pristine pale yellow colour with very light, abundant bubbles which rise uniformly to form a fine mousse. The evocative bouquet opens with notes of pears and fresh cute white flowers. Left in the glass for a time, the nose develops a richness and density of pure character. Once on the palate, Comtes is lively, direct and precise with flavours of candied lemon zest and fresh pineapple. The balance is something to behold. This Champagne's marriage of finesse and aromatic intensity is a promise of further potential, but already offers very pleasurable drinking.

Named of the sundial erected in the vineyard in 1842, Wehlener Sonnenuhr is the most famous vineyard in the Mosel. Extremely steep with optimal south-south west exposure, it yields fragrantly floral wines with ripe stone fruit aromas, underlying slately minerality and wonderful depth of flavour and structure. The Spatlese wines are very reticent in youth, blossoming between two and four years of age to display vibrant green apple, and white stone-fruit notes supported by a backbone of racy acidity.

FONTODI Flaccianello Della Pieve, Colli Della Toscana Centrale IGT

Krondorf 121 Settlers Barossa Valley Shiraz The 121 Settlers Old Vine Shiraz is sourced from a single site at the cooler southern extremity of Barossa, in St. Jakobi, abutting the western ridge of the Lyndoch sub-zone. Here, a conflation of red clay and loam promotes earlier ripening, a mitigating factor against inclement weather and the growing risk of early season frosts that Climate Change has foisted upon us. As importantly these dense soils imbue the wines with a firm tannic carriage, ensuring passage to greater complexity in the cellar, while serving as a structural harness for typically exuberant Barossan fruit. The average age of the vines is in excess of 35 years, with gnarled octogenarian survivors among them. Yields are inherently low as the established root systems reach deep below the soils substrata in search of water and the requisite nutrients drawn through it. Yet the fruit that is produced is immaculate: vibrant, concentrated and firmly stamped with the regional postcode of generosity. The winemaking is dutifully sensitive, chaperoning the fruit from vineyard to bottle with minimal intrusion: gravity feeds, gentle pigeage and 16-18 months in used, rather than new, oak. The result is one of dark fruit allusions from plum to blackberry, underlain by a potpourri of spice including black pepper, clove and star anise, all melded to a pungent thread of mineral. The oak is apparent, but only as an adjunct to propel the finish long. As with many Barossan greats, the fruit weight allows for early appeal, albeit, this is a wine that will easily cellar for 15 years onwards.

FORJAS DEL SALNES Finca Genoveva Caino, Rias Baixas

Casa Castillo El Molar Garnacha, Jumilla Casa Castillo El Molar Garnacha Jumilla is borne of sandy clay and gravel, differentiating itself from the pack by virtue of its Garnacha makeup. Hand-harvested and fermented wild in concrete, with a finishing of 14 months in assorted large format French wood. With consistent scores in the mid-90s across vintages from the Wine Advocate and James Suckling, this rich wine bares a striking resemblance to the brawn, core of kirsch, tapenade accents and long-limbed garrigue-soaked tannins of fine Châteauneuf du Pape, at a fraction of the price. It is now wonder, as the fragmented rocky soils are virtually interchangeable.

Casa Castillo Pie Franco Monastrell, Jumilla Casa Castillo Pie Franco Monastrell is hewn of concentrated fruit from 75 year vines, planted on calcareous soils of sand and clay, hand-picked and fermented in stone lagars where extraction is achieved by foot treading, with whole-bunches intact. Élévage takes place in neutral 500L French demi-muids. A wine that consistently scores in the high 90s, this received a 96 in the Wine Advocate and 95 from Vinous in accordance with its reputation as one of Spains finest wines and arguably, the worlds greatest example of Monastrell/Mourvèdre/Mataro. The fruit is of a darker persuasion, with scents of black rock, cinder, clove and rosemary to accompany. As always, despite the capacious nature of the wine, there is an uncanny stream of pungent mineral freshness, beautifully articulated tannins and the breadth of larger format wood, tucking in the seams and towing the flavours long.