Warm to hot climate/Elevation 400-500m Clare is essentially continental with hot summers and cool/cold winters. However, the vineyards are mostly located at higher elevations. During the growing season moderating cool breezes funnel up the Clare’s corrugation of hills and gullies from the south. The soils are red brown chocolatey loams over shale allowing excellent drainage. Although snow is rare, the chill factor is something to behold. Some of the older vines are planted in the valley floor as rainfall is relatively low. Polish Hill and Watervale are important sub-regions. The Clare Valley has become particularly famous for its fruit-pure Rieslings and tight-knit Shirazes. Cabernet Sauvignon also performs quite well. Andrew Caillard MW, Langton's

<p><span>Givry is the jewel of the Burgundy subregion, the C&ocirc;te Chalonnaise. It is responsible for structured wines of a density that at their best, boast an uncanny resemblance to far more expensive expressions from Gevrey-Chambertin, located farther south on the C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Or. This is because both communes are marked by a prevalence of ferrous red clay, punctuated by varying degrees of limestone and its many permutations.</span></p> <p><span>The Givry AOC was created in 1946. It is embellished with 38 Premier Cru sites, albeit, no Grand Cru vineyards. There are 270 hectares under vine from which approximately 1.7 million bottles of wine are produced. Red wine production constitutes 80 per-cent of the total, or slightly less than 1.4 million bottles. Fruit for wines labelled as Givry may come from the communes of Givry, D

<p>Volnay is renowned for producing delicate, elegant and graceful wines. The appellation spans 242ha of vineyards, of which 115ha is divided among 26 Premier Crus. Some of the most notable of these are Bousse d'Or, Champans, Clos des Ducs, Les Caillerets and Santenots. Red wine from the Santenots vineyard is labelled as Volnay Santenots.</p>

<p><strong>Pomerol</strong>, on the Right Bank of Bordeaux&rsquo;s Gironde River, produces some of the world&rsquo;s most sought-after wines, including those from such storied properties as Chateau Petrus. Yet Pomerol, the smallest of the fine-wine-producing districts of Bordeaux, offers no Grand Cru or Premier Cru wines: It&rsquo;s the most significant Bordeaux appellation not included in any quality ranking. At the time of the historic 1855 Classification of Bordeaux, Right Bank chateaux were considered remote and difficult to travel to, and so were ignored by the merchants who created the classification. (St. &Eacute;milion, a notable neighbour on the Right Bank, created its own classification system in 1954.)</p> <p>Pomerol has managed to do quite well without this form of validation. Pomerol&rsquo;s predominantly clay soil is ideally suited for Merlot, the primary grape used in the

Cool maritime climate/Elevation 10-100m Geelong is located about 80km southwest of Melbourne and was established in 1842. By the late 1870s phylloxera was discovered. The area was re-established in the late 1960s. It is Bannockburn Vineyards, however, that put this region on the quality map in the mid-1980s. The region is very cool and the chill factor over winter is bone crunching. In spring, blustery cool winds are quite prevalent and can affect flowering and fruit set. Soils are diverse: mostly volcanic over limestone with some lesser quality black soils. Rainfall is moderate and even throughout the calendar year. Geelong is a disparate wine region with too few stand-out wines to define its style. The best wines seem to be made from Pinot Noir, Shiraz and Chardonnay. Andrew Caillard MW, Langton's