That’s 200 gallons to be exact – the same amount that each American household was allowed to make for ‘personal use’ during Prohibition.

And the go-to grape during this DIY time wasn’t Cabernet or Merlot, it was the bold and juicy Alicante Bouschet - widely planted in California but originally from Portugal.

Today, award-winning winemaker Jamie Quendera has crafted a mighty, Reserva-quality red, from rare 100-year-old vines.

And the unique twist? Jamie aged the wine for 12 months in custom double casks. The top and bottom are French oak (imparting subtle spice) while the long side planks are American (for vanilla notes).

The result is an ultra-smooth, cherry-ripe, well-spiced drop!

It won a Trophy for its first release, another Trophy and Gold for 2007 and 2009, and Gold for 2010.

It’s from the Elqui Valley, an extraordinarily high region next to the Atacama Desert.

Thanks to the wonders of irrigation, flourishing green vineyards stand out in stark contrast to their moonscape surroundings.

The award winning Viña Falernia was set up by Italians Aldo Olivier Gramola and Giorgio Flessati in 1995 and is one of only two wineries here.

Today they have extensive vineyards and a cellar packed with state of the art equipment.

With impressive richness, great complexity and finesse, this is a wine to decant and serve with roast lamb on a special occasion.

Altos de Bergasa is from Bodegas La Eralta, a family-owned winery founded in 1990. Quite young in terms of Rioja.

It proudly owns 360 hectares of vineyard throughout the three subregions, with this luscious Gran Reserva named after its first plots, planted in the village of Bergasa.

At their modern cellars, they boast 10,000 French and American oak barrels, within which they age their finest wines – from Crianza to this exceptional Gran Reserva.

For this wine, they only age their finest grapes, all Tempranillo, ageing the wine at least a year in barrel and the rest of the time in bottle.

Despite its 7 years' age, it is still fairly youthful. Delicious drinking now, we recommend early opening and decanting to release all the flavours.

His secret? He's Bordeaux born and trained at First Growth Château Haut Brion. His aim was to make Grand Cru Classé wines in Rioja, so he chose only high altitude vineyards, the highest in all Rioja.

So grapes ripen slowly, with great finesse and intensity. Visit his winery, up in the clouds – it's cold! Salix Alba is a new release for him and very special.

It uses grapes solely from El Pisón, a tiny location where the famous Artadi bodega gets grapes for its £260 a bottle wine.

Ageing in all new French oak lends the finishing touches to this sumptuous red. A special dinner red.

But a huge haul of Golds later and they've changed their minds. The velvety black fruits that are so loved by our customers can now be enjoyed tenfold with the even richer Reserva edition.

José has searched out the very finest, low-yielding and intensely ripe Alicante grapes for this super cuvée, and you can taste the mouth filling difference.

Even more richness and spice, but at only 13%, it's still no heavyweight and has a lovely zip of freshness to all that blackberry, cassis and damson fruit.

Enjoy with richly flavoured casseroles and red meat dishes.

Wine Enthusiast calls Amarone “one of the 15 icons in Italian wine”. They are certainly some of the most prized reds from Italy, made by the ancient tradition of sun drying grapes before fermentation. This gives them an amazing richness, a glorious combination of power and complexity that cellars well, too. No wonder they are prized the world over. This 2017 from the renowned Cantina Negrar is named after the 18th century poet Bartolomeo Lorenzi, whose epic poem celebrating rural life made Valpolicella wines famous. The grapes are from the ancient dry stone terraces of the cool Marano Valley, where they ripen slowly. They are then air dried for 120 days to intensify flavours. A superb bottle to enjoy now with hearty dishes or to cellar.

In these tunnels are stored a fascinating library of older vintages. This is a rare opportunity to get your share of one. Just this year, Wine Advocate rated a 1970 Rioja from this estate at 95 points. It was in fine form with years ahead of it! All goes to prove that the ancient tunnels (los calados) provide the ideal conditions for long ageing the wines. The grapes are also key – for this red they were picked from 40 year old bush vines high up in the Alta, so flavour is exceptionally concentrated. In fact, the grapes used to supply Paternina – legends of Rioja. Ideal with game or mushroom risotto.