Talk about charisma. This Chardonnay from the ever-enigmatic Pequod comes complete with a spaghetti alle vongole recipe on the side, and the recipe is as good as the wine is delicious. Crafted from a single tonne of Chardonnay grapes plucked from the Lerida vineyard in Canberra, this creamy, layered, wonderfully evocative white is lush yet crisp and refreshing with textures galore.

Pequod was the whaling ship that featured prominently in the story of Moby Dick. It's also the enigmatic cult wine label of Lerida Estate winemaker Paul Williams. Famously made in tiny quantities (less than 100 dozen per wine), these wines are almost impossible to track down, with no website, back labels that have no information, and nothing but cryptic clues on Paul's Instagram page. Even the wine names often don't make sense, although the artwork (which is typically excellent) is worth grabbing a bottle alone. And the wines? Well, they're special. Paul draws from Canberra, Tumbarumba and other parts of NSW to make wines that are works of a mad genius, whether it's wildly spicy Shiraz or incredibly detailed and involving Chardonnay. These are lightning bolt wines, that sometimes don't make sense, but often are so good that you start immediately searching for another bottle after your first glass (especially because the meagre volume of bottles we have secured are all we can get).