The cool heights of Tumbarumba have delivered a wonderfully pristine style of Australian sparkling that couldn't be any more fresh. There's a wonderfully defined nose of just-ripe white fruit, citrus and lemon with a racy, chalky edge. This is sparkling wine to out-Champagne Champagne, although it's drier and so much classier than most mass-market French fizz. A real delicacy.

While the story of Hungerford Hill goes all the way back to 1967, when the Hungerford family first started planting vines in the Hunter Valley, it's the modern history of this winery that is the important bit. Now once again a family-owned business, and with a portfolio of famous old Hunter Valley vineyards and more wines from the cooler, wilder parts of NSW, Hungerford Hill is back (with a vengeance). You can blame Chief Winemaker Bryan 'BC' Currie for the newness. Bryan famously studied paleontology at university before becoming a winemaker, but there are no dinos here - instead, he produces a clever range that covers everything from the country's best Fiano, superb Tumbarumba Chardonnay & Pinot, a whole array of spicy Hilltops reds, and some of the best preservative-free reds in the Hunter.