Although based in Napa, Grayson Cellars sources fruit from other regions to make the best wines possible. This ready-to-drink Cab comes from the hot (in every sense) Paso Robles region. Aged in French Oak and blended with 11% Merlot, this is a soft, crowd-pleasing red with plenty of blackberry, chocolate, cherry and coffee notes. It's delicious, supple and very easy to like.

A Gold Medal winner at the California State Fair 2007, this single-vineyard wine is actually a blend of 81% Merlot, 6% Petite Sirah, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% each of Cabernet Franc and Malbec and 2% Petit Verdot. Look for aromas and flavours of smoke, dried cherry, blueberry jam, spice and licorice. Juicy, round and ripe, it will match beautifully with smoky spareribs and other barbecued fare.

This single-vineyard Zinfandel features some very old vines indeed, considering the Deaver vineyard was planted in 1881! The precious fruit from these low-yielding vines is hand-picked and handled very carefully in the vineyard and in the cellar before crushing. Zin fans take note - this complex, elegant but powerful wine displays concentrated flavours of ripe blackberry and raspberry as well as floral and sweet caramel notes. Enjoy with savoury grilled meats.

A homegrown success story, Catena Zapata is one of Argentina's leading producers and its Alamos range consistently offers outstanding value. Expect blackberry flavours aplenty with notes of toasty oak and café mocha on a long, lingering finish. Enjoy with gourmet sausages or grilled steak.

This medium-bodied Malbec sports aromas and flavours of juicy blackberry and blackcurrant fruit as he is for cedar and spice notes. A terrific value, it's well-balanced with crisp tannins and would pair well with barbecued steaks, rare roast beef or texas chili.

Hold your horses! Owner Eduardo A. Matte is equally famous for breeding champion stallions as he is for producing fine wines. In fact, he had his gravity-fed winery Viña Haras de Pirque designed in the shape of a horseshoe. This crisp and refreshing Sauvignon Blanc is a fantastic value offering intense grapefruit, tropical fruit and grassy characteristics. Serve with freshly shucked oysters or baked white fish.

This mostly unoaked Chardonnay emphasizes pure fruit characteristics with ripe melon and apple flavours as well as notes of cinnamon. Plump, soft and juicy with medium acidity, this generous wine will complement pasta in oil with sautéed shrimp and fresh herbs.

This wine earned Gold Medals at both the Vinalies Internationales Paris and the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles in 2007. It's dry, medium full-bodied with zesty, red-berry fruit, mint, earth and chocolate notes leading to a lingering finish. Smooth and ripe, enjoy it with grilled Italian sausages or pasta in tomato sauce.

Montes was honoured by the Chilean Wineries Association as the inaugural recipient of their Winery of the Year Award in 2006 and it was also one of the International Winery of the Year winners selected by Wine & Spirits magazine in 2007. This blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Carmenère is sourced from the winery's 'La Finca' estate in the Apalta Valley, a sub-appellation of the Colchagua Valley. A fabulous value, this wine shows the best of both varieties with its blueberry, plum, blackberry and spice flavours. It's dry and mouthfilling with plush fruit flavour and a lengthy finish.

This Chilean version of Malbec is up to the challenge of its neighbours in Argentina and is a terrific value as well. It has loads of blackberry, raspberry, toast and mocha aromas and flavours. Full-bodied and concentrated, it can be enjoyed with smoked meats or spicy sausages.

One of two Aussie Rieslings in this release, this fresh, floral and citrusy wine is named for d'Arenberg's original Riesling vineyard that is located next to a dam with a history of drying up in particularly hot summers. The extra stress on the vines during these hot, dry years usually meant a very concentrated Riesling with lots of flavour and intensity. Enjoy this refreshing white with Thai food, sushi or crab cakes.

This Riesling is the wine that started Wolf Blass' regionally focused Gold Label portfolio. Vibrant and youthful, this beauty is pure pleasure with fresh lime, apple and grapefruit aromas bursting from the glass. It's dry, juicy fruity with layers of mineral notes and a core of tangy acid. Brilliant now, it should evolve nicely over the next 5 years.

Founder Brian Edwards purchased this property located in the heart of the Margaret River region. Today, his sons Mike and Christo fulfill the roles of winemaker and viticulturist respectively.

Founded in the early 1970s, this innovative family winery has recently launched its new state-of-the-art facility located at the threshold of the Hunter Valley. This wine is from their regional series which focuses on matching the best regions to the most suitable grape varieties. Tumbarumba is one of Australia's coolest wine-growing regions and has developed a reputation for producing consistently complex Pinot Noir like this one. Look for black cherry, smoky plum and spice notes on a plush, generous palate leading to a lengthy finish.

Kanonkop is credited by many for putting South Africa's Pinotage grape on the map. They were one of the first estates to recognize the variety's potential for producing complex wines of character. Kadette, their second wine, blends 43% Pinotage with 29% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc. Very approachable, this medium full-bodied wine features ripe red-berry fruit flavours, soft tannins, and a long tangy finish. Delicious with pasta in tomato sauce.

Darling Cellars celebrated their 10th anniversary in December of 2007, an impressive milestone! Undoubtedly plenty of the Onyx Shiraz was poured during the festivities. Bursting with aromas of blackberries, spices and coffee, this elegant, full-bodied Shiraz would be a great match with grilled boar sausages or spicy lamb or goat roti.

Over the past decade, Viognier has shown remarkable success in the vineyards of Languedoc-Roussillon (a.k.a., Midi). Once confined to vineyards in the northern Rhône, today Viognier is thriving not just in the Midi, but throughout other warm climate regions around the world. Savour this fruity, low acid, aromatic wonder with lightly spiced seafood dishes, turkey breast or grilled salmon.

Roussette is the former name of the grape now more commonly called Altesse. Roussette de Savoie is the AC that produces some of the finest wines in the Savoie. Altesse has a haunting, exotically perfumed nose with a nice seam of acidity that allows the wines to mature gracefully in a cellar. Enjoy it tonight with lightly spiced Asian seafood, or cellar it for 2-4 years.

Pascal Hebrard has been winemaker here for fifteen years. He, along with expert consulting winemaker Michel Rolland, has fashioned wines that taste like they come from one of the top châteaux. The fruit is there, but it is ably supported by fine tannins and a perfect seam of acidity. This blend of 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc is starting to drink well now, especially with grilled lamb, but will also mature easily for another 3-7 years.

Château St. Georges sits in the Libournais satellite of St-Georges-St-Émilion. The château itself was built in 1774 on the former site of a feudal castle and its vineyards are some of the oldest in France. Château St. Georges produces one of the most consistent reds ever to come out of Bordeaux, combining glorious fruit aromas such as cherry and plum with fine tannins and precise acid crispness. This beautifully balanced wine is a fine candidate for cellaring 2 to 5 years, or enjoy it tonight with roast beef and root vegetables.

Christian Moueix developed a series of 'signature' appellation wines. This is his Merlot-based Pomerol. In Moueix's mind, this wine demonstrates Pomerol's terroir perfectly. Pomerol is known for its small yields, tiny production and opulent wines with, usually, equally luxurious prices to match. This wine captures the style at a fraction of the cost.

A blend of 40% Syrah, 30% Grenache and 30% Mourvèdre, this powerful wine exhibits aromas of red and black berry, violets and vanilla. The tannins are present, but only to balance the fruit. The producer recommends this wine with Lamb Navarin (a French lamb stew).

The vineyards for this fine Lurton venture in the Midi are located near the beautiful medieval city of Carcassonne. This area is within the Corbières AC which does not allow Merlot in the appellation's wines. Thus, the Lurtons use the more generic Vin de Pays d'Oc for this pretty, fruit-forward Merlot. Many of the Midi's best producers have used this designation over the years to create exceptional wines that flout the rules of the Languedoc-Roussillon's ACs.

Oliver Bernstein, MBA, with a career in business ahead of him, got sidetracked by that most wonderful of obsessions, winemaking. He and his wife, Anne-Lise, purchased and restored an abandoned, 19-acre (7.5-hectare) property in the Pyrénnées-Orientales region of Roussillon. Fortunately, the vineyards, containing old vine Grenache, Carignan and some Syrah, were in salvageable shape ... To retain the natural fruit aromas and flavours, La 66 is aged strictly in stainless steel tanks. The result is a ripe raspberry-scented and -flavoured wine that is an excellent choice for late winter barbecued steaks.

This 60/40 blend of Grenache and Syrah displays open and attractive raspberry and plum aromas and flavours. On the palate, it replays the aromas nicely, plus it is firm and peppery, suggesting good ageing potential of up to five years.

Our Quality Assurance laboratory has determined that this organic wine contains 23 mg/L of free sulphur. Lovely with grilled meats, leg of lamb or eggplant parmigiana.

'Jean-Baptiste' is named after the main character in Carl Zuckmayer's play, Der fröliche Weinberg or The Merry Vineyard. Zuckmayer, who would go on to write the Marlene Dietrich/Josef von Sternberg film The Blue Angel, later admitted that Jean-Baptiste was based upon Carl Gunderloch, founder of the Gunderloch estate. The fruit for this wine is sourced from the Nierstein vineyards. The 2006 vintage displays pretty aromas of peach, pear, mineral and a hint of almond. Try this terrific Riesling with hors d'œuvres.

Moschofilero is a pink-skinned white grape that will turn the wine a lovely shade of light pink if the producer allows even moderate skin contact. This maceration can also result in a more impressive aroma and flavour profile than that of wines which are immediately pumped off their skins. As this example demonstrates, there is a lively peach, smoky citrus and apple essence here. Pair this classy wine with spicy calamari dishes.

Wines from Nemea can only be made with the deeply coloured, fruity Agiorgitiko variety. Agiorgitiko has a complex nose with aromas suggesting spice, red and black fruit, vanilla bean and ripe plum. As with this version, the wine is dry, ripe and round with just enough tannin to give it balance. Match this one with braised beef dishes.

Fausto Maculan is one of northern Italy's finest producers. His wines are appreciated for their elegance and finesse. This Pinot Grigio works perfectly with flavourful fish dishes or pasta with a simple sauce and a few slivers of black truffle or a drizzle of truffle oil.

This ancient Burgundian grape variety has been successfully grown in the Veneto region for about three centuries. Our Pinot Bianco grapes are grown in a high elevation vineyard and after fermenting at cool temperature, the wine is kept several months on its lees. [This is a] classic wine that pairs with appetisers and first courses based on seafood and vegetables. (www.vignalta.it)

Tignanello 2004 was #4 on the 2007 Wine Spectator Top 100 list.

A lively, fruit-forward, Sangiovese-dominated wine with a crisp, refreshing fruitiness on the palate. Enjoy this with your favourite pasta dish.

Micheletti is among the new wave of Tuscan winemakers who have found great success with international varieties, as this fruity and balanced blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot shows. Serve it tonight with rare roast beef or cellar it 2-4 years.

Bright ruby red in the glass, this Chianti offers aromas of black cherry and sweet ripe plum, with nuances of rose petals. Smooth with balanced acidity on the palate, it displays crisp fruit flavours of cherry, raspberry and a hint of strawberry/rhubarb on the finish. Match it to Tuscan meatballs with pasta.

69369    (XD)            750 mL    $ 27.95   

The wine is a relatively-rare-for-Italy 100% Malbec (spelled Malbech, locally). The finished wines are matured for 12 months in French barriques. This one finds a happy place between the fruit-forward Argentine style and the tannic French interpretation. The aromas suggest berry compote, cranberry and spice. It is dry with a nicely balanced palate. This medium long-finishing wine is an excellent choice for braised beef dishes.

A new line for Santa Margherita, this northern Italian Merlot is loaded with sour cherry, raspberry and citrus aromas and flavours. Enjoy it tonight with grilled beef and root vegetables.

This is a true Venetian blend, as it consists of 30% Corvina, 30% Corvinone, 30% Rondinella and the remaining 10% from Molinara, Rossignola, Oseleta, Negrara, Dindarella and Sangiovese. The resulting Ripasso wine is round, fruity and quite ripe, making it an ideal partner for a meat-based lasagna.

Zenato's Valpolicella Superiore Ripassa quickly became a customer favourite and their Merlot is sure to garner a loyal following as well. Exhibiting pretty plum and black cherry aromas and flavours, this versatile, food-friendly Merlot is equally at home with veal tenderloin, pork chops, grilled portobello mushrooms or pasta in a light tomato sauce. In short, a sure bet for the next dinner party.

DNA analysis has determined that Vranec (also spelled Vranac) is a close cousin to Zinfandel. Based on its deep colour and aroma profile (ripe plum, raspberry and dark chocolate), this association is unsurprising. Vranec also has a very pleasing bitterness on the end to balance out the fruit flavours. This wine is an excellent partner for grilled steak, roast beef or stuffed veal tenderloin dishes.