Know your roots and regions

There is more to enjoying wine than just drinking what comes out of the bottle. It is a complicated business that deserves a lot more time and attention than we all give it - and that attention can increase the enjoyment factor exponentially.

Wines grown in cooler climates tend to have more complex flavours and go better with food. A grape is a fruit that develops more flavour the longer the growing season. The reason for the pre-eminence of the classic French wine growing regions - Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne - is simple: they all have a marginal climate

and hence a long growing season for the predominant grape varieties they grow. Pinot Noir, for example, works really well in relatively northern France whereas in Bordeaux in the south west of France that grape variety would over-ripen.

The New World, by and large, has much hotter climates which means bigger yields, more obvious upfront fruit – and that's about it. Try a bottle of good Australian 'Show Reserve' Chardonnay alongside a bottle of good white Burgundy of roughly the same price. The Aussie will normally knock spots off the Burgundy with the first glass, with much more instant flavour and appeal –