I am so excited about Californian wine production - it’s always a thrill to see these wines on our shores. This is pinot with power - smokey and meaty at the fore, which gives way to a dried cherry and pink flower potpourri and sweet baking spice. On the palate it’s silky smooth and delightfully shapely with some punchy acidity give the wine real get-up-and-go. This isn’t so much lithe and supple as it is round in the mouth; almost (but not quite) enough to be stepping outside the bounds of varietal typicity. Structured and bold but ethereal none the less.

Kendall-Jackson from the Sonoma County, just north of San Francisco, make a delicious Pinot Noir that has iIntense strawberry/black cherry/smoky/herb garden aromas and flavours with soft fleshy textures and underlying savoury/toasty oak.

Murphy-Goode Pinot Noir comes from vineyards up and down the coast of California, including Arroyo Seco, Santa Maria Valley, and Monterey. Cool conditions in these prime growing spots keep grapes at a perfect balance between vibrant dark fruit character and bright acidity. Notes of vanilla from aging in French and American oak add complexity to the intense black cherry aromas and flavours.

When Giuseppe and Pietro Simi immigrated to Northern California, they settled in Sonoma County because it reminded them of their native Tuscany where wine had been made for centuries. In 1876, they founded SIMI in Healdsburg, California. Today, there still making wine from diverse Sonoma County grapes in the same stone cellar built in 1890. The palate is zesty with fresh flavours of tangerine, lemon curd, stone fruit, white peach and nectarine framed by sweet toast and vanilla followed with wet-stone minerality and orange peel on the finish. GOLD Medal | San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition 2017.

Church Road is one of the oldest wineries in New Zealand. Led by legendary winemaker Tom McDonald, they were one of the first to craft exceptional Bordeaux-style red wine in Hawkes Bay. Today, they still maintain Toms vision of quality and craft in all the wines they make. Church Roads commitment to centuries-old winemaking techniques using French oak wine vats and French oak barriques remains undiminished. The winery is celebrating Tom McDonalds vision and legacy with the Church Road McDonald Series, complex, textural wines that are a fitting tribute to a legend whose influence is still felt today. This is a serious, multidimensional Merlot. The heart of this wine is its dense, brooding plum and dark berry fruit. This is complimented by lifted aromas reminiscent of roses, cedar, sandalwood and warm spice, while the oak delivers underlying dark chocolate and savoury notes. The palate is rich, weighty and long driven by a firm yet fine-grained tannin structure.

From one of Margaret River's best and original producers, Vasse Felix comes this excellent Cabernet Merlot blend has great concentration of blackcurrant fruit with cedary oak and fine tannins - a style with elegance and finesse rather than power.

This wine is made to authentically represent the attributes of this clone when done well: aromatic, jewel colours, naturally bright acidity, structure and body and vibrant fruit flavours.

Lifted floral berry fruit aromas with hints of spice and vanillan tones that flow through to dusty cedarnotes from the fine-grained French oak. A rich, smooth palate with complex layers of red and dark berry fruits. The palate is soft and juicy withhints of vanilla, spice and chocolate, supported by fine-grained tannins and perfectly integrated Frenchoak. A soft, fruit driven style of wine that is reflective of its regional varietal characteristics, displaying fruitpurity, structure and balance.

When it comes to Australian Merlot, Katnook is among the very best. Lovely plum dark berry and cedary cigar box characters slip seamlessly into a finish that seems everlasting. Aged for 22 months in French oak, the swathes of blackcurrant are a delight to the senses.