New Zealand Marlborough Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is one of the most elusive and delicious of all red wines. Burgundy, the world’s most famous Pinot Noir, is classified by the French as a “feminine” wine, and they declare it the Queen of Reds, with good reason. Delicate rather than burly, yet intensely perfumed with raspberry and violet aromas, Pinot Noir can be almost overwhelming to the senses, layering on red fruit characteristics, with red cherry, strawberry and raspberry. New Zealand’s Marlborough region, at the top of the South Island, is an ideal growing area for Pinot Noir. It has the sunniest, driest climate in all of New Zealand with the brilliant sunshine moderated by cool breezes from the Pacific Ocean. This ensures that the grapes ripen slowly and perfectly. New Zealand Pinot Noir offers amazingly lush flavors and an extraordinarily long finish, with silky tannins gripping the palate like velvet, with a final elusive aftertaste of spice and toasty vanilla.

Sonoma Chardonnay-Viognier

Chardonnay is the most widely planted grape in the world, and justly so; it makes delicious wines. Viognier is a bit more elusive, having previously been associated with small-volume French superstar wines like Condrieu and Chateau Grillet, but it produces amazingly heady wines with intoxicating aromas of peach, apricot and flower blossoms and a wonderful drinkability. Sonoma produces some of the most sought-after wines in the world. The combination of well-drained, rich soil, long California growing seasons and cool coastal breeze produces grapes of powerful and unique intensity. With a hint of oak and a full-bodied, supple texture, this blend has mouth-watering apple, peach and apricot flavors lushly backed up by a rich, fruity finish with hints of vanilla and toast.

Australian Mataro-Shiraz

Mataro is better known as Mourvèdre in the south of France and in California, where fashionable winemakers use it to make wonderfully expressive red wines. However, it’s native to neither of those countries, as it is native to Spain! Whatever the name or origin, the Mataro grown in Australia basks in brilliant heat and produces wines headily redolent of blackberries and black cherry, with a rich, chewy finish. Blended with this is Australia’s most famous red grape, Shiraz. With blackberry character as well, it also brings on an intense “jammy” flavor with plums, blackcurrant, red cherries, black pepper and a wonderfully lush fruity finish. Together, these two grapes make a wine of power and weight, with mouth-filling body and richness.

Mosel Valley Riesling

Germany is the ancestral home of the noble Riesling grape, and the Mosel Valley, with its mineral-laden soil, produces some of the world’s finest off-dry wines. The grapes come from just outside of the town of Zell, where steep slopes mean that vineyard work must be done by hand, and yields are very low. This results in carefully crafted, very intensely flavored wines. Riesling doesn’t get the press that Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc do these days, and that’s too bad, because it has finesse and a refreshing vividness that most wines can’t match. Winexpert’s Mosel Valley Riesling is medium-to-light bodied, crisp and refreshing with aromas ranging from stone fruits to juicy apple, and the effusion of spring blossoms that makes Riesling so wonderfully drinkable. A Süsse-reserve pack enhances the lush flavors, while balancing the crisp acidity in this magnificent wine.

Australian Petit Verdot

South East Australia is a literal hotbed for grape growing. The abundant sunshine hours and heat there allow growers to ripen varieties that have all but been abandoned by growing regions less blessed. Petit Verdot is one such variety. It makes unsurpassed red wines in Bordeaux, where it goes into their classic Cabernet-Merlot blends, yet the climate there is too cool to ripen it reliably. Not so in Australia, where Petit Verdot rises to glory unseen in the old world. Best described as a “Super Cabernet”, it makes dark, rich wines with wonderfully concentrated flavors of spice, blackberry and blackcurrant. With smooth, gripping tannins and an elegant structure leading to a magnificent boldly oaked finish, this a wine for long term ageing and special occasions.