Ned Goodwin.

Given the festive nature of the season, bubbles are imperative. The Champagne Laherte has a seamless, creamy texture. And nothing awakens one better than the saline wisp of chamomile emanating from a fine Manzanilla, and any from Equipo Navazos are fine! I was recently asked which grape variety I would be and my answer was grenache. It’s joyful and elemental of fruit, complex, ‘pinot-esque’ at times, and faithful to its site, with myriad expressions. Grenache also has a sunny disposition due to the languorous places where it shines. I’ve chosen several examples here, from the wiry, transparent Comando G Rozas Garnacha (pinot meets grenache, with a slaking rasp of white-pepper acidity) to Jauma’s kirsch-doused fruit hanging from sandalwood-charged tannins.

I believe the Cullen Diana Madeline is possibly the finest cabernet blend produced in Australia. With exemplary ripeness at a digestible alcohol, it has ageability in spades and beams of ‘ jenesaisquoi’ energy. It’s a wine worth treasuring, especially in magnum. The Chinon cabernet franc has gulpability and precision of acidity, tannic detail and the whir of place. Meanwhile, 2015 Beaujolais wines are hedonistic – delicious and dangerous. The Si Vintners chardonnay is a beautifully textured skin-contact wine that is great with cheese, solo as a wine of meditation or duck with orange. The Bondar rosé is just the right colour, with plenty of crunch and berrypopping sass; a fine example Australian rosé’s evolution – and it’s grenache again. As for the two whites from the great, unsung white-wine region of Roussillon, I like to think of them as ‘Chablis meets the Mediterranean’. And I believe Domaine de l’Oratoire produces the most consistently delicious wines of any import into Australia.

Ned’s diverse selection of local and international wines reveals a leaning towards grenache in all its forms.