Last week, we picked two top wines from Spain and Italy to feature, and this week we’re going slightly further a field with an Australian but still sticking to our European friends with an Italian too. Giving you an option of a red and a white this week both medium in body.

First off we have the Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008, with aromas of fresh pudding mixture and mixed red berries with cedary, seasoned oak. The palate reflects the nose, with deeper plum and red-fruits, the chocolate like finish is Koonunga Hill through and through, finishing with fine grained tannins. Victoria Moore, of the Daily Telegraph said over the weekend that,  “Drinking this feels as good as it does to sink into a deep warm bath at the end of a long day. Australia is written into every sip -- you can almost see the gum trees - but there's old school delineation too: think black pepper, black liquorice and cedary oak. With a bit of age it's also mellowed. Terrifically impressive and so easy.”

Second up we’ve got Greco di Tufo, Lava 2010. Matthew Jukes of the Daily Mail recently said how it’s, “Named 'lava' after the volcanic soils in which the Greco grapes are planted,” and that, “this beautiful white wine has a wistful stone-fruit nose and an enchanting palate. Elegance and complexity are on offer here, rather than bold, bombastic flavours”. Lemon-gold in colour with an intense, aromatic perfume of ripe pears and a honeyed, almond character. On the palate, the clean, mineral and stoned fruit character shines through, unhindered by oak ageing.