Taittinger Les Folies de la Marquetterie NV
If you pronounce it "Teh-tah-zhay", as howdoyousaythatword.com says you should,
then you'll definitely sound seriously flash in front of your friends. Otherwise, just having this on your table should be enough because it's a lesser-known, deeply golden variant which snaps with crisp green apple and creamy cashew aromas edged with rising dough and shortbread. In the mouth it is luxuriously graceful, with ultra-fine, pinprick bubbles, a burst of delicate white peach, brioche and layers of biscuity complexity. The Chateau de la Marquetterie is the majestic building owned by Taittinger in the heart of the Champagne region - and this wine is as cool and elegant as its namesake.
Price: $139
Trinity Hill Homage Syrah 2013
So if aliens ever arrived on your doorstep and demanded you show them the best red wines ever produced in New Zealand lest they incinerate the entire nation - best you point them in the direction of Homage pronto. They'll be happy and you'll be a hero. Crafted for the first time since 2010, from fruit sourced from both the ancient Gimblett Gravels riverbed and their vertigo-inducing Hillside vineyard, Trinity's team has employed traditional foot-stomping and whole bunch ferments to create an exceptionally elegant, floral-focused, spice and cocoa-driven syrah with fine, emery-like tannins and a perfectly poised finish. It's magnificent and a joy to drink.
Price: $132
Taylors The Visionary Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
Back in 1969 Bill Taylor snr decided to step sideways from his career in the hospitality sector and become a wine producer with his sons Bill and John. Good thing he did, or the world might never have seen the likes of this wine, the company's flagship cabernet crafted in tribute to him. Only produced in years when the fruit is head-shakingly perfect, this wine offers a peacock's tail of exotic, Christmas pudding spices, Dutch cocoa, liquorice and earthy sarsparilla. In the mouth it is generous, plump and oozing dark fruit. Immediately satisfying, with exceptional length of flavour and decades of life ahead. And it comes in its own stylish, uniquely numbered gift box with history booklet inside.
Price: $200
