Prestigious Vintage Port is produced only a few times per decade when the Port houses officially “declare a vintage.” Vintage declarations occur only when the producers perceive the harvest is of superior quality—or, when they perceive a superior need to replenish their cash flow. A Vintage Port will always display its year in large numbers on the label; and the supplier will always display its price in large numbers on the shelf.

In its youth, Vintage Port is tannic, fiery and disjointed. This ugly duckling needs at least fifteen to twenty years maturation before its transformation to one of the world’s greatest wines. After lazing around the cellar a couple of decades, Vintage Port will be chock-full of sediment, so be prepared to decant the wine before pouring. Before decanting, leave the bottle upright a few hours, if not days, before opening to let the sediment settle in the base of the bottle. With as little movement as possible, gently remove the cork and slowly pour the port into a decanter or a very clean pitcher. As soon as little flecks of sediment appear in the liquid, stop pouring. About an inch or so of wine should be left in the bottle. The wine can be served directly from the decanter or poured back into its original container once it’s been given a quick rinse.

If like the little white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, you find yourself chanting, “I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date” then opt for the less fussy LBV. In spite of its tardy name, LBV matures more quickly than Vintage Port therefore developing far less sediment and obviating the need to decant. While LBV lacks the intensely concentrated fruit of Vintage Port, it is a much softer, gentler wine in its youth. Perhaps, like my ever-youthful friend Audrey, it is because LBV is unabashedly relaxed about its lateness label.

Some Port aficionados prefer to serve Port in thimble sized glasses, whereas other fans argue it should be served in bowl-shaped red wine glasses. Either way, with its lush sweetness and warm alcohol (19-22%), this is an after-dinner wine to be sipped slowly. Relax and allow plenty of time to enjoy the wine—once opened it lasts weeks, so have no worries about being late.

They discuss how Pisa Range Estate’s “hands-off” winemaking philosophy is reaping such success and why it was “serendipitous” that they began growing the ever-difficult Pinot Noir grape in the first place. Debra also uncovers Warwick’s previous life as a New Zealand diplomat, and asks how life is both the same and different as before, as well as what the biggest challenges of this tree-change have been.

Primarily a Chardonnay producer, Paul describes the key characteristics of Kumeu River Wines’ Chardonnays, and how they achieve balance, as well as giving Debra a comparison of the wines and climate in Kumeu with other more prominent wine regions in New Zealand.

Supreme multi-takers (they also run long lunches on Sundays on the winery’s verandah, serving their own sausages, pasta, produce and more), Peter and Mark tell Debra why they think the Aussie wine industry is “faceless”, how they are involved in the wine from production to distribution, and where Longview’s focus is right now.

Having doggedly clung to the steep hills of France’s northern Rhone Valley through two-millennia of barbarian invasions, debilitating wars and capricious wine trends, a mere 12 hectares (30 acres) remained in the 1960s. Prior to the Roman Empire, no one knows for sure where this sultry, highly perfumed variety originated, though most experts attribute it to the Dalmatian Coast, which is present day Croatia. Roman Emperor Probus purportedly packed his suitcase with Viognier cuttings after a Dalamatian holiday and smuggled them into the Rhone Valley in 281 AD. Evidently he escaped questioning by border patrol — they probably didn’t know how to pronounce Viognier either. Emperor Robus was not the only man to bootleg Viognier. Centuries later Bonny Doon’s colorful winemaker Randall Grahm was hauled into court for running the vines via his suitcase from the Rhone to his California vineyards.

Two Rhone districts produce what is considered the world’s finest expression of Viognier: Condrieu and Chateau-Grillet. With Condrieu (Guigal) you can expect elegant white peach, pear and floral aromatics, somewhat like an amplified Riesling. Wine from Chateau-Grillet is a rarity because only the Chateau-Grillet winery has the right to put this district name on its label. Due to its scarcity and exclusive monopole naming rights, Chateau Grillet has been mistakenly regarded as the finest Viognier in the world. It is a top quality wine, but has not been living up to its reputation – or prices — lately.

Viognier vines are also grown in the neighboring Cote Rotie appellation, which is famed for its Syrah-based wines, not Viognier. Oddly, handfuls of these Viognier clusters are chucked into the fermentation tanks together with the inky, dark-purple Syrah variety. Cote Rotie winemakers are convinced that Viognier softens their Syrah-based wines and increases their complexity. Top Australian producers of Syrah — aka Shiraz — agree, and wines such as D’arenberg’s Laughing Magpie Shiraz Viognier consistently garners amongst the highest scores from reviewers.

Viognier burst onto the international scene in the 1990’s. Weary of the endless river of Chardonnay, sommeliers and connoisseurs greeted the variety with enthusiasm, especially in California, where Viognier plantings increased from 20 hectares (50 acres) in 1990 to over 800 hectares (2,000 acres) today. Californians were not the only producers to embrace Viognier, it is grown in fifteen other states, as well as Australia, Italy, New Zealand (ie Te Matta Woodthorpe), South Africa (ie Fairview), France (ie Domaine du Chateau d’Eau) and South America.

New world producers, such as California’s Eberle Winery and Cline Cellars or Australia’s Yalumba Y Series loosened the corset on this voluptuous grape, so expect musky fruit, jasmine blossoms and fat, ripe summer peach flavors. Like many of us, Viognier loses its good looks with time, so it is best to drink while youthful and fresh. Oh, and how to pronounce it? Try “vee-ohn-yay” or “vee-oh-nyay.” No one has quite worked it out.

Francis tells Debra why he feels Champagne has reached its limits in terms of land expansion. He also explains why he would never order his own Champagne when on the wine list of a restaurant he’s dining at. Debra asks about the best food pairing for the Egly-Ouriet Champagne, as well as the best glassware to serve it in (you may be surprised!) and how long to keep a bottle of Egly-Ouriet before opening.

“Red wine is indeed good for your health” affirms cardiothoracic specialist Dr. Michael Hsin. Wine drinkers are not only healthier than non-wine-drinkers, but smarter and psychologically more stable – at least according to a 2001 study at Copenhagen’s Institute of Preventative Medicine.

Even the staid US government has woken up to the health benefits of wine – once the financial impact was made clear. According to a study published by the Health Care Financing Review (a US Department of Health and Human Resources journal), “Seniors who drink moderate amounts of wine – six to 13 glasses a week – are likely to have lower Medicare expenses than non-drinkers.” (Note that’s per week, not per evening). How consumers on Medicare are to fund their weekly intake of Lafite and Latour isn’t discussed in the study.

The good news about wine’s health benefits rolls in regularly. A State University of New York at Stony Brook study claims that drinking three glasses of red wine a day cuts the risk of colorectal cancers by 68 per cent. And scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health say that men with hypertension are 30 per cent less likely to have a heart attack if they drink one or two glasses of wine a day.

The primary explanation of wine’s health effects is due to its source material. Grape skins are loaded with phenolic compounds called flavonoids as well as other antioxidants. These compounds appear to inhibit the formation of blood clots and reduce the artery-clogging propensities of low-density lipids (LDL), the “bad” form of cholesterol. Also found in grape skins is a substance called resveratrol, which seems to inhibit tumour development in numerous cancers. Red wines are considered healthier than white wines due to their extended maceration with grape skins. But why not grab a handful of grapes or a cup of grape juice instead of braving a hangover? In juice, the healthy phenolic compounds are largely degraded due to their exposure to oxygen whereas wine delivers the flavonoids and antioxidants to our bodies in a preserved state. Juice is still heart-helpful, but perhaps not as effective as wine. Fresh grapes and other fruits deliver similar health benefits, but it is difficult to consume them in sufficient quantities to make an impact.

It seems not a week goes by without alarming announcements that Asia is facing a cardiovascular disease epidemic due to increases in obesity, high blood pressure and smoking. These studies are not based on small isolated incidences: findings pooled by the Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration www.apcsc.info were based on 600,000 people involved in 43 studies in nine Asian countries. Take heart. According to a 40-year study of 1,373 subjects living in the Dutch town of Zutphen, men who drink a least a half-glass of wine a wine live an average of four years longer than teetotalers. Based on New Year’s Eve’s consumption, most of my wine-guzzling friends should still be belting out “Auld Lang Syne” well into the 2080’s.

Conor explains the origins of Margaret River as a wine region, as well as the similarities of the region’s terrior to Bordeaux, and what that means for the varietals which thrive there. Finally, Conor lets Debra in on his favourite place to drink wine.

To conclude, Cliff gives Debra the lowdown on starting a winery and how anyone up for the challenge should expect not to see very much of either their family or their money for quite some time.

Cabernet Franc is mainly known by wine buffs because it one of the five legally permitted grape varieties grown in the famed Bordeaux region. On its own, Cabernet Franc produces wines that are less tannic and less saturated in color than the more famous Cabernet Sauvignon, but these wines rarely get the same attention as Santa Sauvignon.

Too often, Cabernet Franc’s sleigh is laden with disparaging descriptors such as green pepper, vegetal or stemmy, which at times is fair judgment. However, green characteristics emerge in many red grape varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon, whenever grown in excessively cool climates, under indifferent conditions or when over-cropped. Good quality Cabernet Franc does emanate a slight herbal note, but definitely not an off-putting green pepper or green asparagus aroma.

The best Cabernet Franc wines – and there are many instances of Cabernet Franc leading Santa’s sleigh – are distinctive and complex. Cabernet Franc is grown throughout Bordeaux and in the Medoc section, home to famous properties such as Chateaus Lafite, Latour, Margaux and Mouton Rothschild, it comprises about 15 per cent of a typical vineyard. On the opposite side of the river, on the so-called Bordeaux right-bank, which is further inland, Cabernet Franc thrives in St. Emilion’s cooler, moister soils. The most famous cabernet franc based wine in the world is St. Emilion’s Cheval Blanc, where Santa’s littler helper is 65 per cent of the final blend.

Cabernet thrives in northern France’s Loire Valley, where the chilly air accentuates the variety’s desirable lead pencil and herbal aromas, the finest examples grown on the slopes of the Chinon village. These wines, though of modest color, are well-structured and have excellent aging potential. Loire cabernet franc is rarely oak-aged and is lighter weight than jolly ole Santa, which means it pairs better with holiday poultry, fish and charcuterie.

Cabernet franc thrives better than Cabernet Sauvignon in cool vineyards because it buds and forms grapes earlier. By budding earlier, it is able to take advantage of a long, cool growing season, becoming far riper and therefore less harshly tannic before the winter chill sets in.

If you fancy a quick kiss from Santa’s littler helper – the charming lass, not Homer’s dog – seek out Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley, St. Emillion or Pomerol districts in the Bordeaux region, chilly upstate New York, Italy’s Veneto region or Shaanxi, China.