It’s axiomatic that if you call your own wine an icon as so many South American producers do about their top-of-the-range brands, then it’s not an icon. How do you distinguish a genuine solid gold wine icon from fool’s gold? Bordeaux’ Château Lafite and d’Yquem, Burgundy’s Domaine de la Romanée Conti, Champagne’s Krug are blue chip icons. An icon is a wine that’s earned its stripes with a proven track record of quality and longevity, a recognition factor and more often than not an investment value. A cult wine is something different, an ‘in-the-know’ wine that could become an icon but just as easily be gone tomorrow.

With an enviable track record spanning 60 years, Penfolds Grange, recently rated 100 points by both The Wine Advocate and the Wine Spectator, is about as iconic as an icon can be. How about Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz though? First made in 1960 by Max Schubert, it has come to be known as ‘baby Grange’ or ‘poor man’s Grange’. It epitomizes all that’s best about Penfolds and the generously-flavoured Australian cross-regional blend of cabernet sauvignon and shiraz. It may not have quite the stature of Grange itself but the fact that it’s become part of the Australian wine furniture makes it, in my view, an icon.

The magnificently aromatic, richly spiced and intensely blackcurranty 2010 Penfolds Bin 389, £42 - £49.99, Edgmond Wines (01952811951), Nickolls & Perks (01384394518), Cadman Fine Wines (08451214011), has just won the trophy for Australian Red Blend over £15 at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards. To call De Bortoli’s seductively peachy 2009 Noble One Semillon, around £19.99, Majestic, Waitrose, Harrods, the Château d’Yquem of Australia may be overegging the pudding, but this luscious sweetie justifiably won the trophy for Australian sweet wine over £15. Demonstrating its pudding wine credentials, De Bortoli’s 2008 Deen de Bortoli Bat 5 Botrytis Semillon, around £8.99, Jascots (02089652000), Cambridge Wine Merchants (01223568989) won the under £15 sweet wine trophy.

Maybe Sainsbury’s should claim icon status for its undervalued herb and lemongrass- zesty 2006 Taste the Difference Semillon, £9.99, one of the few under £10 wines to be awarded a gold medal at the DWWA. Australians would almost certainly award Peter Lehmann’s Margaret Semillon icon status and not just because the man largely responsible for saving the Barossa Valley died last month. His Margaret Semillon, around £13.99, Noel Young Wines (01223566744), Invinity Wines (0190523770) is consistently fabulous, gaining, as the 2007 does, richness, weight and honey-on-toast characters as it matures. The gold-medal winning 2012 Dandelion Wonderland Riesling, around £12.99, Cambridge Wine Merchants, Corks Out (01925267700), Invinity Wines, is definitely not an icon. Who cares? It’s a gorgeous young fragrant and zesty riesling you just want to drink it, and plenty of it.

Something For The Weekend

Something for the Weekend 13 July

Night In

2012 La Vieille Ferme, Côtes du Ventoux

Bright and plummy, this ultra-ripe, grenache-based Rhône blend from the Perrins of Beaucastel renown delivers masses of juicy, pepper-infused black cherry fruit and rustic barbecue-friendly grip. £5.99 - £6.99, Waitrose, Asda, Majestic (when you buy two).

Dinner Party

2011 Undurraga T.H. Riesling, Lo Abarca

Chile’s much-improved Undurraga has come up with a delightfully perfumed dry riesling from the cool Pacific-influenced vineyards of San Antonio with undertones of lime and a mouthwateringly citrus-zesty zing. £9.59 if you buy 2 bottles, until 2 September, Majestic.

Splash out

2011 Earth's End Pinot Noir

Mount Edward’s stylish Central Otago pinot noir combines the cherry-sweet fragrance of red fruits and vanilla oak with a seductively silky cherry and strawberry fruit opulence complemented by subtle toasty oak and a vibrant, balanced finish. £15.99, Marks & Spencer