£13.74–£20.50, Drinks & Co, Cellar Selected, Mr & Mrs Fine Wine, Noble Green Wines, Kwoff, Hedonism A jewel not just of Corbières but of all Languedoc red wines, Boutenac was officially recognised as the premier cru of Corbières in 2005 and remains its only stand-alone appellation. The 220 hectares of vineyards fan out from the Aleppo pine and Mediterranean scrub-clad hills of the Pinada range at the heart of the huge Corbières appellation. Pretty? Is the Pope Catholic? Carig

My first visit to Canada at the beginning of June took me to the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, the world’s northernmost wine region and one of its most beautiful, where seven wineries have joined forces in the Okanagan Wine Initiative to showcase this lake-side jewel Painted Rock Estate on the eastern shore of Skaha Lake, Okanagan Valley, unwilling provider of food for many a bear before it was fenced in Bear tastes like pork, only greasier, apparently, although it doe

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