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. [...]

Special occasion stuff, this: a super-premium Australian Chardonnay made at the cool-climate Yarra Valley outpost of famous Champagne house Moet & Chandon. The focus here is, as you'd expect, on classic fizz, but elegant still wines are also produced from Champagne grape varieties. The fresh, peachy character of this wine was complexed by fermentation and [...]

This Sauvignon comes from vineyards not far from the town of Toulouse, in the Gaillac region. Low temperature fermentation and lees ageing helps to retain the wine's more delicate aromatics, with fresh grass, green apple and gooseberry flavours.
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A fresh, dry, crisp Sauvignon sourced only from premium vineyards throughout Marlborough's Wairau Valley. Displaying gooseberry on the nose and palate, this wine has gained structure from the partial barrel fermentation it has undergone. Quality conscious New Zealand producers are leading the field in promoting the benefit of screwcaps, which eliminate potential cork taint.
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100% Tempranillo from estate owned vineyards in the Rioja Alta region. During fermentation, the wine undergoes a daily 'remontage' to extract the maximum amount of flavour and colour. It is then aged in new American oak barrels for 6 months creating perfect balance between quality fruit and well integrated oak.
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Fruits are certainly the most suitable ingredients in making wines. However, it is somewhat hopeless to try making wines from rhubarb as it would be to try to grow potatoes on a pear tree and it is in this respect that many people would go astray; they make wines from the cheapest and most readily available fruits but the fact remains that they do not give the slightest thought to what the result will be or whether they will like it or not.

Sugar and acid levels are 2 important parts to making a great batch of wine, so adjustments to the process are based on those tests. As you are already aware, the sugar level is critical as the yeast must feed on it to make the alcohol. The amount of sugar that you start your batch with will ultimately determine the level of alcohol that will be in the final batch but in order to run these tests you’ll have to own a hydrometer.