Buyers’ Picks from Beyond their Regions Case

This classic Italian red sparkler has deep-purple bubbles, a fragrant, ripe fresh dry palate of cranberry-fruit flavour and a lovely refreshing finish. An adventurous aperitif, not to mention an excellent match for cold cuts.

A syrah dominated blend (92%) from a vineyard in the Swartland that yielded just two tonnes per hectare in 2023. Blended with 8% grenache the result is a concentrated and intense wine with elegant tannins and herbaceous notes from use of whole bunches in the natural fermentation. Delicious young but will age.

Vincent and his South African wife, Tania, have farmed organically since 2007 at Vernou, in the heart of the Vouvray appellation, and they aim for minimal intervention in the cellar. This single-vineyard wine is lifted by fine, racy acidity and is perfect with soft, ripe cheese, or a mild and creamy curry.

Our third vintage of the successful Exhibition Spätburgunder has been produced by a young winemaker in the Pfalz, Vincent Eymann, whose estate has been working organically and biodynamically for many years. The 2024 vintage was cooler than both the 2023 and 2022 vintages and is reflected in crushed strawberries, red currant and red plums combined with lots of energy on the palate. Tannins are fine grained and the wine is incredibly well balanced.

One of New Zealand's great chardonnay benchmarks, this is produced from six vineyards around Kumeu and showcases just how successful the 2025 vintage was for the region. The warm, settled growing season has brought an extra layer of generosity to the wine, with ripe citrus and stone-fruit flavours framed by subtle oak spice and a creamy, rounded texture. Fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured in French oak, it is unmistakably Kumeu in style, balancing richness with freshness and precision. There is plenty of immediate appeal, but the concentration and structure suggest this will continue to evolve beautifully over the coming years. A particularly complete and satisfying release.

With bags of vibrant, fresh gamay character from an excellent producer with vines close to Juliénas, this versatile estate-bottled Beaujolais is consistently great year in, year out. Emeringes is a village perched above Juliénas and its vines, often laid out on steep slopes, offer a good source of Villages-quality Beaujolais. The château itself is at the top of the village, next to the church where Pierre David uses the cellars to make his wines.