A taste of wine is worth 100 ads. So it proved with the wine walks which are consistently one of the most popular features of the Wine Gang’s Christmas tastings in London, Edinburgh and Bath. Groups of 10 wine consumers go walkabout with a member of the Wine Gang, stopping at different exhibitors to taste and talk about a wine. The interaction gives everyone the chance to taste wines normally outside their comfort or shopping zones and it gives the five members of the Wine Gang invaluable feedback as to consumer preferences.

Australia put its best new wave white foot forward with a richly-flavoured, satisfyingly restrained 2011 Tempus Two Copper Plate Wilde Chardonnay, £8.39, drinkfinder.co.uk, and Shaw and Smith’s subtly oaked and complex, Burgundy premier cru level 2010 M3 Adelaide Hills Chardonnay, around £24.99, Majestic, and independents. There was exceptional riesling too in Pike’s 2011 Clare Valley Riesling, £14.99, Red & White (01548854473), Great Grog (01315550222), all zesty lemon and lime-like minerality, with a superb Austrian counterpart in a zingy, stonefruity, dry 2009 Riesling Steinhaus, Hiedler, £18.95, Berry Bros & Rudd (08002402440).

Among many other excellent whites, there was the best of modern Spain in the deliciously floral and peachy 2011 Ailala Ribeiero Treixadura, £9.95, Great Western Wines (01225322810), from northern Italy an opulent, nutty Italian dry white , the 2010 Biscardo Lugana, Veneto, £11.92, Exel Wines (10738493535) and from Provence, a succulently sweet and sour apple and pear-like 2011 Côtes du Lubéron Château la Canorgue, £13.50, Yapp Bros (01747860423).

From a plethora of magnificent reds, the 2011 Bodegas y Viñedos Monfil, Cariñena, £7.50, Lea & Sandeman (02072440522), was a model of fragrantly strawberryish spiciness, and the 2010 Route du Van Dolcetto Shiraz, £10.99, Strictly Wine (08451283838), a distinctively spicy and mulberryish blend from Australia’s Victoria. Big red wine guns included Finca Allende’s modern, seamlessly cherryish, lightly smoky 2006 Rioja Tinto, £17.95, Berry Bros, Trizanne Barnard’s sleek and opulently dark berryisy, savoury 2009 Trizanne Signature Wines Swartland Syrah, £17.59, Newark Wines (01556 690544) and the majestically spicy, peppery Rhône classic: 2011 Alain Graillot Crozes Hermitage, £19.25, Yapp Bros.

The best way to finish a wine walk is on a sweet note and while there wasn’t a poor one in the house, among those singled out by the wine walkers, the peachy ripe and grapefruity zesty 2010 Jurançon Cuvée Julie Domaine Clos Thou, 50 cl, £12.50, Tasting Room (01225483070) stood out, along with the luscious 2008 De Bortoli Noble One Botrytis Semillon, half-bottle, around £15, Hailsham Cellars ((01323441212), Four Walls Wine (0124 353 5353) and the Domaine des Demoiselles Rivesaltes Ambré, Solera, £17, Aubert & Mascoli (020 7252 3460), whose unctuous liquid toffee apple richness was one of the greatest pudding wines any of us, wine walkers and I, had experienced.

Something For The Weekend

Something for the Weekend 8 December

Night In

2008 Asda Extra Special Chianti Classico Riserva

It’s well worth taking advantage of the current £2-off special offer on this succulent pasta basher from Castellani Spa, whose pure sangiovese fruit is lightly smoky and tinged with savoury cherry fruit and herby undertones. £6.98, Asda.

Dinnerr Party

2010 Château La Fleur de Haute-Serre

A malbec-based chip off the Vigouroux family’s Château de Haute Serre block, this is an intensly fragrant, violety, blackberry-hearted blend with a twist of liquorice spice, firm grip softened by merlot and enlivened by appetizingly savoury freshness. £10.49, Waitrose.

Splash Out

2010 Pernand-Vergelesses Les Combottes Blanc.

From Vincent Rapet of Domaine Rapet, there’s all the complex nuttiness you’re looking for in a Côte de Beaune white Burgundy with a seductive quality of fruit richness that’s transformed into a chalky dry, mineral freshness. £26.00, Marks & Spencer.

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