Modern Merlot blends from Bordeaux can be chunky things, but this takes a more savoury route. It's still packed with bold blackcurrant flavour, but with leather, lead pencils and a bit of smoky meat complexity, with serious tannins to finish it all off. Serious, but very lively, modern Merlot.

Bordeaux is a giant French wine region that produces only a little bit less wine than the whole of New Zealand combined. So, for a small producer like Château Peybonhomme-les-Tours to stand out in such a mega region, it needs to be special. And this small, artisan estate feels like an ocean apart from the big business world. Set on a hill overlooking the Gironde estuary, the vines here are farmed biodynamically, the wines made with wild yeasts, no filtration or fining, very little new oak and minimal sulphur additions. The resulting wines are some of the most lively reds that Bordeaux can produce (and at very fair prices).