Customers invariably ask: "What's Blanc de Blancs Champagne and what makes it so special?" The Champagne region grows three grapes, two red – Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier – and one white ¬– Chardonnay. Blanc de Blancs is made only from Chardonnay and, as Hugh Johnson says, it therefore has "great grace and less weight than traditional Champagne". Laithwaite's is a tip-top example which for years has been expertly created for us by superb cellars in Avize, one of Champagne's finest villages. This particular cuvée is 100% Premier Cru vineyards and was matured for 30 months before release – double the required minimum – to ensure a really luxurious character. Showing complex white blossom, citrus and toasted brioche notes, it has great finesse, a very fine mousse, and the perfect amount of acidity to cut through a range of delicious canapés such as velvety chicken or duck liver parfait.

Fruit was predominately sourced from the cooler areas in the southern end of the Napa Valley where bay fog and breezes allow the grapes to ripen at a gradual, flavour building pace while retaining refreshing, natural acidity. A small percentage (4%) of fruit from Sonoma’s cool, ocean-influenced Russian River Valley adds diverse texture and flavour. Fermented in French oak barrels (16% new) then aged for a further 9 months in the same barrels on its yeast lees with regular stirring. Bright straw colour with a watery hue. Intense ripe peach, honeycomb and crème brulee scents fill the nostrils followed by some butterscotch, bacon fat and spicy nougat notes. Rich, round and fat the full bodied palate is awash with ripe peach, honeycomb and butterscotch flavours which meld into a bacon fat, roasted almond and spice background. Creamy textured it finishes long, toasty and opulent. Drink over the next 3-4 years. Alc. 13.5%

The wines of Fraser Gallop Estate are intensely flavoured, textured and complex. Only the finest quality French oak barrels are used for all Fraser Gallop Estate wines, with very specific Bordelais coopers used for the Cabernet Sauvignon and Semillon Sauvignon Blanc blends, and Burgundian coopers for the Chardonnay. The complete winemaking process takes place at the estate - picking to vinification to barrel maturation to bottling to cellaring. Fraser Gallop Estate is an estate grown, produced and bottled wine. Flavours of lemon curd and grapefruit with searing length. A wine with clarity and finesse. A tightly focussed and very precise wine showing seamless fruit purity with the lightly toasted French oak very much in the background. Crystalline acidity and a mouth-watering finish complete this Chardonnay.

Precision, strength and freshness are words that form the signature of Brocard's winemaking philosophy. The domain is among the most important of Chablis. Brocard wines represent the higher end of expression at each quality level. The Chablis Grand Cru Valmur forms a valley which offers subtle variations in terms of exposure: one part faces northwest and the other the south. With a well-balanced mineral character, the Valmur is imposing through its strength and surprising fruitiness. The wine comprises of 100% Grand Cru chardonnay, aged in old French oak for 14 months. A multitude of flavours can be discovered, including lemon, pepper, brioche, licorice and toast with mineral strength underpinning all.

A complex array of melon fig and cashew aromas is followed by a typically elegant and subtle palate with beautifully integrated oak. Petaluma had set a benchmark in Australian Chardonnay.

'Wow Tangy mixed citrus peel and complex white stonefruit smelling; subtle flintiness and icy cold quartz. Amazing the mouth too: intense, long, edgy and mouth-sucking. So complex and charged with energy that descriptors elude.' (2012 Vintage) - 97/100. - Australian Financial Review, 29 Aug 2014.

Beginning with mineral grapefruit and flinty notes on the nose, this wine opens up superbly on the palate. Long, deep and subtle in flavour with crisp acid which completes a fine example of the style.

Levantine Hill is located in Victoria’s Yarra Valley and is one of Australia’s most premium wine producers. A family-owned estate comprising two vineyards and a state-of-the-art winery, cellar door and highly awarded restaurant, its wines are handcrafted without compromise by renowned Australian winemaker Paul Bridgeman. With a stated ethos of producing cool climate, delicate and refined wines of uncompromising quality, Levantine Hill has established a world-class reputation, winning many major international awards and the acclaim of leading wine experts.