Wines

Pitted with deep valleys and sheltered by the Aragonese Pyrénées, Somontano offers protection from bitter northerlies, Zaragozan dryness and Mediterranean humidity, natural advantages exploited by the Otto Bestué family, resident in Enate since 1640, and now owners of sizeable Tempranillo and Cabernet vineyards. A year in American oak has added toasty, spicy overtones to this fleshy style, with its rich plum and cherry flavours. One for red meats and strong cheeses.

Mainly Garnacha but with addition of Cabernet which dominates with its blackcurrant flavours. Vigorous and fruity balanced by an oaky backbone.

White Burgundy in a league of its own. Rich and golden, with honeyed depths and racy minerality; a wine for buttery scallops or fish carpaccio. Mâconnais vigneron extraordinaire Jean Thévenet makes awesomely intense Chardonnays using methods others shun as commercially suicidal. Risking calamitous weather, his grapes are picked over-ripe, often yielding wines of surpassing richness. Fermentation occurs without cultured yeasts and can last up to 2 years. Truly amazing. "Apple pie in a glass. Oh alright6 then - tarte tatin - if you want to be picky. Delicious nonetheless." Wine & Spirit, May 2008

The Great Zorbel. Youthful Traslepuy proprietor Frédéric Z. has the attention-grabbing skills of a circus ringmaster. Hearing we were in the southern Rhône he waylaid us with an invitation to taste and we're glad he did. In 2000 he took vineyards around Roquemaure and Lirac, began cultivating organically and built his own winery. This big, ripe Grenache-based red has well-structured tannins supporting velvety black fruit flavours. Great with Suffolk sausages.

Lively purple-red. Bright and vivacious with soft, ripe plum and summer fruit flavours.

Lustrous Sémillon-Sauvignon with enticing aromas of lime blossom, quinces, figs and toast. Serve chilled with Roquefort, crab, asparagus or desserts. Key to the sweetness of Bordeaux's Sauternes is 'noble rot', triggered by autumnal river fogs, that shrivels grapes to syrupy succulence. The rot sets in slowly; up to 8 successive vineyard sweeps are needed to strip affected bunches. Thanks to low yields (2-3 glasses per vine), Sauternes are complex and can last decades.

Bruno Fina spent the 1990's running Sicily's experimental cellar at Alcamo, applying radical techniques to Sicilian varieties in pursuit of their true vocation. He advised growers making plantings - so he knows where the best grapes are, and what they can do. His cellar, near Erice, was ready for the superb 2005 vintage. Nero d'Avola is also known as Calabrese, given its apparent origins in Calabria. Big, rich blackberry and dark cherry flavours make this a great wine for game.

Bruno Fina spent the 1990's running Sicily's experimental cellar at Alcamo, applying radical techniques to Sicilian varieties in pursuit of their true vocation. He advised growers making plantings - so he knows where the best grapes are, and what they can do. His cellar, near Erice, was ready for the superb 2005 vintage. Grillo, hitherto reserved for the production of Marsala, shines bright here in deliciously crisp, fragrant, full-bodied form. Try it with tuna or swordfish steaks.

A dashing blend of traditional Douro grape varieties. Rich, ripe and spicy.

Tokay-Pinot Gris: a speciality of Alsace, spicy, honeyed, musky and exotic. Wonderful with honey roast pork. Pierre Gassman, champion of biodynamic cultivation in Alsace, insists on late harvesting and lengthy cellaring after bottling, creating amply sweet yet balanced styles. In-depth knowledge of his domaine (a complex mosaic of limestone and marls, created when two Alsace families united at the altar) and pursuit of low yields promote precise expression of different 'terroirs'.

Pierre Gassman insists on late harvesting and lengthy cellaring after bottling, creating amply sweet, weighty yet balanced wines. This sumptuous, aromatic Riesling, ideal with poached fish or cheese fondue, offers a complex palate of fresh, honeyed, citrus zest flavours. Such depth of character is evident in all the wines from this celebrated, biodynamically-cultivated domaine, tended by generations of the Rolly and Gassman families since the mid-17th century.

Crozes-Hermitage, on a fertile plain encircling the stony hill of Hermitage, offers less heroic styles for sooner drinking. There is much to admire in these elegant northern Rhône Syrahs: spicy smokiness evoking bacon, black olives and thyme. At his estate in Mercurol, Philippe Desmure and daughter Emilie preserve essence of Crozes with minimum intervention methods. With its supple red fruit and roasted ham aroma, this is perfect with slow-cooked pork.

There's nothing lean, mean or green about the Loire Cabernet Francs of Frédéric Mabileau. As wife Nathalie (mother of two dimpled boys) says "He knows how to make chubby babies. " Frédéric lovingly tends his Bourgeuil vineyards, ploughing between rows to aerate the soil, and pruning and training to expose bunches to maximum sunlight. His perfectly-ripe grapes produce soft, fleshy wines like this, full of juicy red berry flavours. Delicious with poultry or delicatessen meats.

Search no further for finely-crafted, small-production Champagne outside the mainstream. This creamy, biscuity, minerally-fresh and flinty wine owes its full body and depth of flavour to the use of 80% Pinot Noir in the final blend. A wine for food as well as an apéritif for the connoisseur: it makes a pleasing match for shellfish, fish or chicken. Henri Billiot runs his family's domaine from chalk-lined cellars beneath their home in Ambonnay, a 'Grand Cru' village of the Montagne de Reims.

Aim to have at least half-a-dozen bottles of this sure-fire impressive, stupendous value, pleasingly fruity 100% Chardonnay Champagne in your house (office, club, shed ...) at all times. Le Mesnil soars way above other Champagne co-operative wineries, thanks to Gilles Marguet's meticulous management. He ensures that the Chardonnay bounty of one of the Côte des Blancs' greatest growths, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, is used to create wines of outstanding complexity and finesse.

Classic claret. Mellow, complex, mature aromas and flavours. The perfect match for traditional roast beef.

Supple, spicy Cinsault meets juicy blackcurrant-scented Cabernet Sauvignon in this soft, generous Cape style. Peppery notes make it a great match for steaks. Revitalised management at this 60-year-old co-op winery in the Western Cape's idyllic Franschhoek Valley has rallied the number of crush-contributors to 50, including historic Huguenot estate La Motte. Dynamic, Cape- and California-trained Jolene Calitz has proven that Franschhoek can be red wine country.

Natalino Gino's father went 'green' twice over. First the herbicides he'd been advised to spray on his vineyards (planted by patriarch Amadio Gino in 1925) to the west of the Veneto's Soave region made him unwell. As a result, in 1980 he set out to achieve organic certification, finally succeeding ten years later. Here, grapes harvested late and early were half fermented in barriques, resulting in a complex style: fresh flavours of honey, angelica and mandarins smoothly-integrated with oak.

As handy a summer wine as ever you'll find. Supremely juicy Aussie Cabernet Sauvignon rosé chock full of ripe raspberry and strawberry fruit with a fresh, dry bite at the finish. The perfect sunshine quaffer, great for barbecued chicken and seafood. You'd more than likely be served this on the deck of a cruiser on Australia's Murray River. See those oval-shaped scars on the ancient riverbank trees? That's where the Aborigines cut into the bark to make canoes.

The town of Andosilla, at Rioja's northern edge, has prospered by its proximity to vineyards set among the fertile plains of the rivers Ebro and Ega in the beautiful valley of Baztan. Bodegas Bagordi was born of the enthusiasm of several local grapegrowers who united in 1995 to produce organic wines. Their success is evident in releases like this smooth, well-structured Tempranillo with its warm berry fruit flavours and supple, spicy tannins. Roast lamb wine.