There's high praise for Cave de Tain from Jeb Dunnock, "a brilliant co-op, and the wines compete with the best out there". This is a very special wine from them, with no fancy appellation name on the label, but with glorious ripe black fruit and herbal flavour that speaks of its class. This great cellar was founded in 1933 and has a small troupe of very dedicated growers supplying superb quality grapes from the northern Rhône's finest appellations.

For this humble Vin de France, it uses grapes from Hermitage, Crozes Hermitage and Cornas, as well as some superb fruit from Collines Rhodaniennes. The wine is named after a path that runs along the edge of Crozes, from which there are breathtaking views of the steep vineyards and winding river.

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.

There are documents showing that wine was made at this beautiful property as early as 1172, when it belonged to Ermengarde, Countess of Narbonne. We don’t know the exact style and quality then, but today it is exemplary – Corbières at its sensuous best! The estate has been in the same family now since 1803 – seven generations of women and now Guillaume Allien, the eighth generation. Despite being in his final year as a medical student, Guillaume gave it all up to restore the family estate and learn winemaking.

He works with consultant Gilles Dejean to make this luscious, dark-fruited red, which speaks clearly of its stony soils, the herbal-scented garrigue and its Corbières provenance. A warming red that’s perfect for a rich casserole.

It’s a rarely known fact that the Languedoc was the first French region to be introduced to viticultural practices by the Romans. This balmy red wine country took a hit in the 1980s when it became known for high volume wine, which lacked quality. But today, that quality is back thanks to passionate and dedicated Languedoc enthusiasts, such as Laurent Guillot. Born into a fourth generation Burgundian wine family, Laurent decided to head south and create an estate of his own. A north meets south style is evident in this spicy, supple red. With this wine he won Gold, crafting an authentic expression of the wild, sun-blessed terroir. Syrah based, it’s laden with blackberry and peppery spice, with a pep of fresh red fruit from Négrette.