Here's your perfect excuse to eat salted chocolate caramels - one of the world's great fortified wines; Amontillado from a top producer. Bodegas Hildago Amontillado Napoleon is a complex full bodied amber coloured sherry with flavours of caramelised almonds, sandalwood and vanilla. It's a blend made up of Oloroso Faraon, Cream Alameda and PX Triana, all between six and 20 years old, which add to the taste of cedar and sandalwood.

It is excellent served lightly chilled with a platter of aged cheddar and nuts or simply on its own as a late night cap with salted caramel. 

Bodegas Hidalgo - a rare sherry producer, six successive generations...

Bodegas Hidalgo is one of the few independent sherry producers remaining in Andalucia in the south of Spain - the home of sherry. All of its grapes come from its own vineyards, another rarity these days and one that definitely supports the universally high quality of its wines, which are made at Sanlúcar de Barrameda near the Guadalquivir River, at sea level. The continuous exposure to sea breezes bears a strong influence on the quality of the wines and their long aging process, helping to keep barrels moist in the solera system, which creates a slow and steady aging. 

Bodegas Hidalgo produces about 200,000 cases of sherry and brandy every year.

Domaine Denis Race is a small, family run winery in Chablis. This Chardonnay uses no oak, resulting in a focused and linear wine. Steel ageing results in a very pure expression of terroir. The nose is fresh and mineral, with grassy and citrus notes. On the palate there is a textural richness, which is balanced by citrussy acidity and savoury minerality.

The Bilancia Syrah is sourced from a single vineyard on Roy's Hill, Hawke's Bay. This is a very fruit forward, bright wine with floral complexity on the nose and a spicy, youthful palate.

Dry Australian Sémillon is one of our neighbour winemaking neighbour's quirkiest, most individualistic wines. This wine comes from the iconic Brokenwood Winery in the Hunter Valley, a relatively rainy region where moisture tends to force early harvests with slightly lower sugars and pronounced acidity, which allows the wines to age well for decades. 

This wine drinks well now and has fresh green herb aromas and flavours. It will also age well. We'd give this accessibly priced Aussie Semillon a good 10 years in the cellar and then vive la difference.

Classic Graves from an exceptional vintage which favoured the left bank. This shows hallmark cassis and bramble fruit with lovely ripe tannins and keen balancing acidity. Entry level Bordeaux at it's best.

This barrel fermented Pinot Gris is a great alternative to Chardonnay, which was inspired by the classical French approach to Pinot Gris, using lees stirring and partial malolactic fermentation to add texture, weight and dryness to burn. 

This wine is made from 100% Martinborough grapes, all grown on Te Muna Road, 9 kilometres east of the township on a vineyard first planted in 1999.

Winemaker Larry McKenna recommends cellaring it for up to five years - or enjoy right now. 

The l’Ancestrale is a natural sparkling wine made in the pétillant style. The fermentation starts in tank and the wine is then bottled while still fermenting (at around 18-20 grams sugar) and then finishes in the bottle without the addition of any sugar and using only the natural yeasts. Generous citrus notes, subtle hints of toasted almonds. Mineral and complex with a persistent foam.

Barrel fermented, dry style of Pinot Blanc which is aged for 11 months. What more could you ask for in an alternative white wine from Te Muna Road in Martinborough? Winemaker Larry McKenna models this Pinot Blanc on the great dry whites of Germany's Kaiserstuhl district where spicy wines are made to complement rich food. 

This wine is made from vines planted in 1999 on Te Muna Road in Martinborough. It's bone dry with less than one gram of residual sugar and the finished wine spent 11 months aging in barrel prior to bottling. It can age for up to five years and drinks well now too. 

Domaine des Pothiers makes wines from Gamay Noir, the Beaujolais grape, only this producer is in the Cote Roannaise, in the northern Loire Valley. Eclipse is a pale pink sparkling wine made solely with Gamay Noir, using the Methode Ancestral technique; the oldest winemaking method to create sparkling wines via a fermentation in the bottle. This style is now affectionately known in wine circles as Pet Nat; an abbreviation for petillant natural, due to being naturally sparkling following its second ferment in the bottle. Unlike champagne, which is made this way, pet nat is not disgorged, so this style retains lees and therefore a touch of cloudiness. 

This bubbly is medium dry with 9% ABV, and really well balanced by crisp zingy acidity and savoury flavours. A great aperitif style.

The Blanc is pale yellow in colour, with green highlights. The bouquet is strong and characterful, with aromas of broom flower, citrus fruit, peaches, and apricots. The wine is elegant, delicate and quite vivacious on the palate.

Grape 80% Semillon, 20% Sauvignon Blanc

Food match oysters, mussels, fish

The Alary family's involvement in viticulture and wine production dates back as far as 1692. The estate now comprises 29 hectares of vines of which 26 hectares are Grenache dominant and 3 are Rousanne dominant - with holdings in Rasteau and Cairanne.

The wine is a deep red colour and opens with a nose of dried fruit, ripe plums and savoury notes. The palate is broad and rich with dark plum fruits and good tannin structure leading to a long mineral finish.

Unfined, unfiltered and organic.