Chianti for the New World wine-lover. Bold and supple, with heaps of saucy black cherry action. The acid’s there; that common theme in pretty much all Italians that guarantees food-friendliness. Dusty cypress-lined gravel path tannins give just the right hint of the rustic, without taking away from the class and poise of what is a cracking vino. It already has one 97 point review and I’m sure there’s a few more accolades on the way.

Welcome to the new vintage of Château Sixtine, our most popular Châteauneuf-du-Pape ever! Buyer John Clark describes it as ‘one of the best wines I’ve ever bought’. Nobody’s going home disappointed with this. It’s generous and rich, but amazingly approachable at the same time. You’ll decant it, of course, to get every millimetre of depth and nuance out of it. But you won’t feel like you’re missing out by drinking it now. Have a couple this year, a couple in five, and a couple in ten. Then open your second case for the following decade. Go for a meaty lamb roast with this, and don’t spare the Provençal herbs.

It’s hard to reach hyperbole when describing the wines of El Enemigo. The project is headed by Alejandro Vigil, chief winemaker for Catena Zapata, and Adrianna Catena, an accomplished historian and the daughter of the famous Nicolás Catena. Their wines tell a story, this one of the primary grape of Mendoza with a reference and expression to the harsh conditions encountered in making wine in the foothills of the Andes. It has all the bright fruit and spice expected of malbec, but there’s a touch of cab franc in there to provide structure and herbaceousness, both nods to the slow and steady ripening that occurs in the deep rocky soils at such high altitudes.