£24.50, Berry Bros & Rudd Considering that Chablis is one of my desert-island wines (on my increasingly chocca island) I’m astonished to find that this is the first to occupy the Wine of the Week slot in nearly four years. I could, of course, have found a cheaper one to recommend, but Le Domaine d’Henri’s Saint Pierre is, to me, the quintessence of Chablis – an exhilarating oyster-shell freshness and flavour, a savoury nuttiness that owes almost everything to Chardonnay and l

£19.95, Corney & Barrow Much as I love discovering quirky, unsung grape varieties, I've never given up on Chardonnay. I love it – good Chardonnay from anywhere in the world. New Zealand makes beautiful, complex, bright Chardonnays, but they often struggle to get the recognition they deserve under the weight of the country's Sauvignon Blanc. Time, then, to take a look at this one from Hawke’s Bay – and, in case anyone thinks it represents any kind of conflict of interest, time

You wait ages for a new vintage of an English sparkling Blanc de Blancs, then two come along at once: Nyetimber 2013 and Gusbourne 2014. Taste-off time. It proved to be a more fascinating comparison of two vintages, two provenances and two producers than I’d anticipated. I’ve followed Nyetimber, the first English sparkling wine to be modelled on Champagne, on and off since the debut 1992 Blanc de Blancs was released in 1997 and have tracked it closely in the last decade under

Eyes and palates have been focused on the 2017 white Burgundies being offered en primeur this month, and it's an excellent vintage in decent quantities, but it'll be a while before most are shipped, so I've tasted half a dozen of the The Wine Society's current wines, four 2016s and a Meursault from each of 2014 and 2013. Stored well, they can be drunk any time over the next fours years, or in the case of the Coche-Bizouard Premier Cru Meursault six or even seven years. Domain

£10.99 (offer price), Waitrose Crowd-pleasingly approachable fizz with generous nutty, toasty, yeasty, fresh bread flavours wrapped around a fruity heart – the ideal bargain bubbly for New Year's Eve (down £4 until 22 January). It's made in the the same way as Champagne (known as the Méthode Cap Classique in the Cape) using Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the two main varieties of Champagne, and it's aged on its lees for 15–18 months to give the generous creamy flavour and texture

The tasting of the first two vintages, 1995 and 1996, of Roederer's ultrarare Cristal Vinothèque When Louis Roederer released the first vintage of Cristal Vinothèque in September last year, the 1995, there was a launch for the press in France, but no tasting in the UK. When you know that the entire UK allocation is 48 bottles of the white (out of a grand total of 400) and 18 bottles of the rosé, you can see why. On Tuesday, for the launch of the 1996 (500 bottles of white pro

The launch of Penfolds’ 2014 Grange last month marked the release of the 64th consecutive vintage. I haven't tasted the first, the experimental 1951, but I have tasted its successor, 1952, which likewise wasn't released commercially, and I have twice tasted the first commercial release, the extremely rare 1953 Grange Hermitage (as Grange was called at the time): first in 2003, along with the next 49 vintages of Grange, at the fifth Rewards of Patience tasting in Adelaide; and

£10, but £8 on current offer, Tesco A new wine from a single vineyard, Lachica, in the Limari Valley, one of Chile’s most northerly wine regions. It's relatively close to the sea and has a dry, fairly cool climate – all good for wine growing – but even more critically it has some of Chile's rare limestone soils, which Chardonnay loves (think white Burgundy). The limestone influence shows in the characteristic mineral freshness. This wine, made by Marcelo Papa of Concha y Toro

£12.50, The Wine Society This is a stunning white Burgundy at the price and a great achievement for a first vintage in new hands. Fréderic Burrier, head of Maison Joseph Burrier and Château de Beauregard in Pouilly-Fuissé, bought Domaine de la Rochette only the year before. It's from 40–50 year old vines on a steep, limestone-rich clay slope on the sheltered southwest of Mont Sard and it was partly barrel-fermented and partly tank-fermented. The result is a wine combining fre

£17.95, Jeroboams This is one of a handful of wines Jeroboams launched under its own label for the first time this year. It's made in the Côte d'Or by the brothers Pascal and Laurent Borgeot of Domaine Borgeot in Remigny, a village of just four growers lying 4km south of Chassagne-Montrachet, and it's altogether satisfying and authentic. It's nutty and fresh on the nose, with notes of dried flowers and sweet almonds, and the palate is creamy and rounded with subtle lemon-peac

£19.50, Tanners Wines From a region favoured by sommeliers looking for wines that are versatile with food, this white is a mouthwatering combination of toasty hazelnut richness and pristine lemon-zest and candied citrus intensity. There’s a strong streak of fine white Burgundy about it, but with more spring in its step. Chardonnay needs no explanation, but the other half of the blend may do. Savagnin is very much a variety of the Jura, where it’s used especially for Vin Jaune

£13.69–£14.50, Penistone Wine Cellars, Just in Cases, TheDrinkShop.com, Sandhams Wine, Hailsham Cellars This is just the kind of thing I want from a Bourgogne Blanc at this price – softly yielding texture, lemon-curd fruit, a suggestion of nutty, spicy oak and a refreshing swish of grapefruit and green-apple acidity. Not deep pools of intensity, but balance, energy, roundness and bucket-loads of charm. 2014 was a very good vintage for white Burgundy, but even so it needs a se

No one could accuse Champagne Charles Heidsieck of rushing things or releasing vintages too frequently, not so far anyway. The new vintage of its top cuvée, Blanc des Millénaires, was unveiled in London three weeks ago: the 2004 is only the fifth in the 35 years since the debut 1983 Blanc des Millénaires ousted the previous cuvée, Champagne Charlie, in 1993 and it follows the magnificent 1995 which has been on the market for a decade. There's been no vintage of Millénaires re

£13.99, Rude Wines Does anyone still say they don’t like Chardonnay? I defy anyone not to be won over by this sophisticated, nimble Chardonnay from one of Australia’s coolest wine regions and its highest vineyards, Koomooloo in the Orange region of New South Wales. Planted on the volcanic slopes of the extinct Mount Canobolas, the vines stop at 900 metres, but not before they’ve reached the winter snow-line. The soils are as promising as the climate – wind-blown, fine red loe

Olivier Krug was in town last week for the launch of the 2004 vintage Krug. Unsurprisingly, there wasn’t a spare seat in the house – a gem of a Georgian house in edgy Whitechapel, as it happens. Olivier charms everyone and a Krug tasting isn’t something you miss without a very good reason (death throes, exile, that sort of thing). I must say I do find that a Krug tasting at 10.30 in the morning puts a shine on the rest of the day. The rest of the week, in fact. The tasting tu

Hawke's Bay is producing stellar Chardonnays, some from vineyards within spitting distance of the Pacific Ocean. Left and centre above, Rod McDonald vineyards; right, Elephant Hill vineyards. New Zealand wine growers can afford to be magnanimous towards their Australian counterparts. NZ Sauvignon (aka savvy) has been Australia’s biggest selling white wine for several years, much to the chagrin of Australia’s white wine producers. So perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised to

£12.99, Waitrose I love a good Chardonnay – anything from taut, streamlined, mineral Chablis to fuller, richer, barrel-aged styles. But it has to be good. I draw the line at cheap, mass-produced Chardonnays that taste of tropical fruit, lemon-sherbet sweets and oak chips. I’m glad to have got that of my chest. Now to this week’s wine: a Chardonnay that edges discreetly towards the fuller style, but balances its rich lemony fruit, toasted wheat and cashew-nut flavours with a l

£14.99, or £12.99 in a 6-bottle mix, Majestic Seems odd that this is the first white Burgundy I’ve recommended here. I’ve homed in on Chardonnays from other regions but neglected it in its homeland. Time to put that right with the zingy candied-citrus fruit, rich buttery texture, walnut and vanilla flavours of Domaine Cordier’s Jean de la Vigne. Christophe Cordier could label this Mâcon-Villages instead of Bourgogne if he wished, but chooses not to because his wine has so muc

This is the sort of piece I normally write at the close of the year, but I have more than enough material and deserving wines to mention already. Who knows how many more I may have by the end of the year? So, the next big thing in wine is? Well, goodness, don’t ask me. If I knew, I wouldn’t be sitting here telling you, I’d be making sure I was in on the action and the rewards. What I can say is that I seem to have had more frontier-breaking wines this year than ever. Admitted

£35.95, The Whisky Exchange; £38.99, Handford Wines; £44.99, Selfridges The first week of October is National Champagne Week. I don’t know why – something to cheer us up as we view the prospect of months of cooler, darker days perhaps? Whatever the reason this is my contribution to the festivities/commiserations. It goes without saying that I’ve chosen it because it’s so good: fine bubbles, beautiful citrusy fruit opening out into richer brioche flavours, then a sustained, fr