WinemakingAll fruit was hand-picked and whole-bunch pressed. The cuvee taille (first cut free-run juice) was settled naturally overnight prior to racking to a mix of stainless steel tank and large format old barrels for fermentation.Fermented and aged separately in small batch lots on settled lees for nine months. The blended wine then underwent secondary fermentation in the bottle. This wine has been aged for an extended period on its autolysing yeast lees for more than four years to garner richness and complexity to its innate elegance and finesse.Winemaker's notesThe protracted growing season allowed a drawn-out ripening, resulting in an uncommon richness of flavour tempered by the abundant natural acidity contributed by the season.A bouquet of nashi pear, glazed brioche, lemon cheesecake and Amaretti buscuit. Flavours of nougat, lemon rind, jasmine and chestnut underpin a palate of steely acidity with delicated bubble, fruit weight and earthy 'sur lie' characters providing textural accompaniement, richness and creaminess to the finish. An excellent match for freshly-shucked oysters or semi-hard cow's milk cheeses.

Girolamo Russo Nerina Bianco is a punchy majority Carricante blend (with additions of Inzolia, Coda di Volpe and Cataratto) that is at once dry, textured and rich. The fruit is harvested from various Russo vineyards on Etnas north side, particularly San Lorenzo, Feudo, and Calderara Sottana. Youll find lemon, peach, and stone on the nose, with refreshingly balanced acidity and clarity on the palate. In 2005, Giuseppe Russo was drawn back to his childhood home on Sicilys Mount Etna to make wine. Named after his late father, he creates elegant and expressive wines that speak of the volcanos incredibly varied terroir. The crus (or contrade) in which Russo grows his grapes are among the finest on Etnas north side, and he conducts all of his production organically.

Barrel fermentation and maturation in French oak barriques with partial malolactic has imparted texture and complexity to the minerally grapefruit flavours of this Chardonnay from WA's south-west corner.

Sourced and grown in the Adelaide Hills, this is a fine example of how good Chardonnay from this region can be. This is a blend of 3 different cultivars of the Chardonnay grape. Bunch pressed and in part wild fermented. Partial malolactic fermentation imparts further complexity. A beautifully textured and complex wine.

What a magnificent wine! A pioneer in the modern Australian Chardonnay stakes, the Vat 47 from the Hunter Valley has a silky bouquet of melon stone fruit and creamy oak that is followed by a palate of extraordinary balance and length. An absolute classic and will only get better with some medium term ageing.

Nectarine and white peach, textured mid palate, acid and oak to close.

Occasionally, when rare parcels of particularly outstanding Beechworth grapes become available, Savaterre's wine maker Keppell Smith likes to create something unique, like this Chardonnay, and bottle it under Savaterre's Frere Cadet (Younger Brother) label. These wines are created with the same attention to detail that goes into their premium Savaterre label.

Taking its name from the Capuchin friars who arrived in 1619, the Clos is protected from winds by the surrounding hills and by the walls enclosing it. The soils here consist of sand, alluvial pebbles and granitic gravel and this produces a Riesling as zippy, zesty and mineral-driven as it is fleshy. White peach, green and yellow citrus along with melon, kaffir lime and lemongrass notes. Lovely texture and a vibrant, fresh finish.

With 40% of reserve wines, the Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve Champagne offers complexity, voluptuous on the nose with notes of freshly baked brioche and the richness of roasted coffee beans. This is a deliciously sophisticated wine that finishes dry with a velvet texture, depth and long-lasting bubbles on the palate.