Graacher Himmelreich is a renowned vineyard that borders the southern edge of its more famous neighbour Wehlener Sonnenuhr. The Auslese examples typically show grapefruit citrus and green apple aromas, with honeyed overtones, wonderful density and pronounced minerality carried along by signature Mosel racy acidity.

Shaw & Smith is a benchmark Sauvignon Blanc. This release shows ripe tropical characters with restrained grassy notes and crisp dry acidity. Delightfully fresh lively and flavoursome. Always a classic and always quick to disappear off the shelves.

The fall of communism in Hungary saw many new beginnings, and one of note for wine lovers was the formation of The Royal Tokaji Company by wine-writer Hugh Johnson, and a consortium of foreign investors with the sole vision of revitalising the magnificent sweet wines of Hungary. The Royal Tokaji Company today is a benchmark for the noble wines of the region, from their 3 Puttonyos wines at around 60-90 grams per litre of residual sugar through to the intense Essencia at 450-850 grams, they are wines that offer the drinker a unique insight to one of the great wine styles of the world. Fine quality Aszú berries with good structure and perfect botrytis were macerated in fermenting must for two days. After pressing and finishing fermentation the wines were filled into 300 and 500 litre Hungarian oak casks in our extensive, deep, underground cellars to mature for over two years. The final blends were carefully crafted in the spring of 2020. Bottled at 189 grams of residual sugar per litre. Rich intense nose with hints of orange peel and spice. Very fine and elegant wine, full-flavoured with vibrant acidity, citrus and peach on the palate with a long, balanced finish. Summer was hot, so we began the Aszú berry harvest in early September and continued to pick steadily in the ideal autumn weather. In particular October provided three textbook weeks for the development of fine quality Aszú, with day after day of early morning mists, afternoon sunshine and drying winds. The Aszú wines show great structure, plenty of botrytis, depth and freshness with excellent complexity, all attributes of long ageing potential.

The fall of communism in Hungary saw many new beginnings, and one of note for wine lovers was the formation of The Royal Tokaji Company by wine-writer Hugh Johnson, and a consortium of foreign investors with the sole vision of revitalising the magnificent sweet wines of Hungary. The Royal Tokaji Company today is a benchmark for the noble wines of the region, from their 3 Puttonyos wines at around 60-90 grams per litre of residual sugar through to the intense Essencia at 450-850 grams, they are wines that offer the drinker a unique insight to one of the great wine styles of the world. Harvest was the earliest in living memory and probably the earliest ever, providing good volumes of healthy, ripe grapes with firm acidity and excellent quality. The warm, dry autumn was more conducive to drying the grapes than to botrytis, but nevertheless we managed to pick a very satisfactory amount of fine quality Aszú berries, a generous proportion of which are included in this blend. Overall, a record-breaking and outstanding vintage, ripe, rich, and balanced. The grapes were harvested in October and at the beginning of November. After pressing, the settled juice was fermented in tanks and then the majority of the blend was transferred to barrels for five to six months ageing. Bottled at 108 grams of residual sugar per litre. Pale gold colour with delicate citrus and spicy aromas. Light and refreshing on the palate with hints of white peach and honey. It has an excellent acid balance, a smooth, silky texture and a clean, long, crisp finish.

Domaine Jean Dauvissat Père & Fils works 22 hectares of vineyard in Chablis across 7 communes with 53 separate parcels across Chablis and Chablis Premier Cru. Fabien took over from his father in 2009, following training in Beaune and Dijon concluding with a Masters on Bordeaux. The Domaine began with Fabien’s grandfather in La Chapelle-Vaupelteigne, but it was Fabien who took up where his grandfather left off in terms of bottling and labelling rather than selling off in bulk. Fabien’s approach is one of respect for the terroir, working each vineyard and parcel individually to express the differences from one site to another; and one of respect for the environment by restricting interventions wherever possible. Vinification is in temperature controlled stainless steel with the total maturation for the premier crus around two years. A young new Chablis producer to watch. Domaine Jean Dauvissat Pere & Fils are known to produce Chablis that are rich, with the perfect balance between minerality and fruit. Using no oak, the wines are aged for a considerable time in modern stainless steel tanks before being bottled, so they have time to develop. Fourchaume is the best known of the Chablis premier crus, perhaps because it is an extension of the Grand Cru vineyards, and benefits from a similar Right Bank exposition. Round, mature fruit, crystalline purity, sweet, lemony acidity classic cool river rock minerality. A classic Chablis premier cru.

Created in 1940 and formerly known as Coche-Bizouard, the Domaine Fabien Coche cultivates all the nobility of the great wines of Burgundy. The Domaine Fabien Coche uses traditional methods for the production of its wines: vineyard work, farming, bottling, every step is done so as to ensure production of exception. Les Chevalieres lies just above the village of Meursault where the slope follows at the same altitude as the premier cru’s just a little further south. Chevalieres adjoins Les Luchets which is positioned against the top part of this lieu-dit. Lovely fine floral lift over what is clearly a very deep and rich wine showing obvious real old vine intensity. This is a real step up in intensity and character with the cooler site adding a little more acidity and lift to the wine. A fabulous village Meursault.

The fall of communism in Hungary saw many new beginnings, and one of note for wine lovers was the formation of The Royal Tokaji Company by wine-writer Hugh Johnson, and a consortium of foreign investors with the sole vision of revitalising the magnificent sweet wines of Hungary. The Royal Tokaji Company today is a benchmark for the noble wines of the region, from their 3 Puttonyos wines at around 60-90 grams per litre of residual sugar through to the intense Essencia at 450-850 grams, they are wines that offer the drinker a unique insight to one of the great wine styles of the world. In truly exceptional years Royal Tokaji selects the finest berries from its finest vineyards and carefully produces a few barrels of Single Vineyard Aszú. 2017 was such a year, just the eighth this century, showing exceptional richness, structure and backbone balanced by lively acidity - a truly volcanic vintage. Summer was hot, so we began the Aszú berry harvest in early September and continued to pick steadily in the ideal autumn weather. In particular October provided three textbook weeks for fine quality Aszú, with day after day of early morning mists, afternoon sunshine and drying winds. The Aszú wines show great structure, plenty of botrytis, depth and freshness with excellent complexity, all attributes of long ageing potential. The excellent Aszú berries with good structure and perfect botrytis were macerated in fermenting must for two days. After pressing and finishing fermentation in barrel the wines were filled into Hungarian oak casks in our extensive, deep underground cellars to mature for over two years. The final blends were carefully crafted in the spring of 2020. Bottled at 203.3 grams of residual sugar per litre. Nyulászó (meaning “a good place to catch hares”) is a celebrated First Growth vineyard overlooking the village of Mád. Its volcanic bedrock is overlaid with rich, brown clay interspersed with lighter rhyolite tuff, consistently producing racy, perfumed, elegant wines with a steely backbone. This wine is lively and elegant, highly perfumed on the nose with ripe peach and apricot on the palate balanced by silky acidity. The finish is long and incredibly complex.

A sweet botrytis styled wine made from the grape varieties Furmint, Hárslevelű and Muscat de Lunel.

Is this Australia's best Chardonnay? If not then it shares the rarified air reserved for only the finest examples. Rich yet restrained, with mineral notes, cashew and almond meal, amazing fruit complexity and wonderful length...why not try the benchmark?