Ever wondered why riesling is not as popular as chardonnay? Or why pinot grigio is as popular as it is? Could it be because a lot of people like character in their wine but not too much. Riesling is an acquired taste because its thrilling bite is more a challenge compared to the crowd-pleasing delights of chardonnay or pinot grigio.

I was propping up the bar at José’s eponymous tapas bar in Bermondsey when before you can say Rozinante, the barman offered me two red wines to taste, a bobal and a mencia. Not rioja please note but two relatively obscure yet delicious Spanish reds each with their own distinctive personality. I couldn’t resist a glass of Gramona, a cava that’s so refreshing it almost single-handedly redefines Spanish sparkling wine.

The turbulent, not to mention taxing, events of the past year seem so obvious with the benefit of a wing mirror. True we’d already seen wine sales starting to spiral downwards, but isolation from Europe coupled with yet another above inflation tax hike brought gloom if not quite doom to what was left of the high street. The new Oddbins and Wine Racks clung on. George Osborne riffled greedily through our pocket but failed to spot the gaping hole in it.

One of the keys to the dramatic expansion of wine in China was the result of Hong Kong’s newfound status as a global wine hub. On 27 February 2008, John Tsang, the Chief Financial Secretary of Hong Kong’s Treasury, announced the scrapping of the tax on wine in Hong Kong. With an estimated 350 importers today, and the proliferation of air-conditioned warehouses, Hong Kong has become a major supplier of fine wine, both legally and illicitly (China’s duty is 48 per cent to Hong Kong’s zero) to China.

Eyebrows were raised heavenwards this autumn when the trophy for a Bordeaux blend over £10 was snatched by a Chinese red from beneath the out-of-joint noses of Argentina, Australia and California. Sneering journalists questioned the integrity of the Decanter World Wine Awards. Then they queried the authenticity of the wine itself. How could China possibly make a wine capable of taking on and beating the world? D Loh commented in the China Daily: ‘If the wine is good, connoisseurs query if it has been secretly imported and then placed in a Chinese bottle’.

Pinot Noir is in the air, and, I’m pleased to say, in the glass. In the last few weeks, I’ve tasted German pinot noir against the rest of the world, fine red Burgundy at a pre-sale tasting by the American auction house, Acker Merrall & Condit, Australian pinot noir against New Zealand, and, most recently, an ‘emerging classics’ tasting of Chilean pinot noir. That’s quite a lot of pinot noir even if you love the thrill of great red Burgundy and its vinous acolytes, which fortunately I do.

On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War, it seems inconceivable that while the Sun was gloating Gotcha!, few souls in Argentina gave the malbec grape so much as a second look. It was known as the uva francesa, the French grape, and mostly used for blending into above average plonk. Robert Mondavi-inspired visionaries like Nicolás Catena had cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay on the brain, while the overseas investors who today populate the Argentinian wine industry only piled in in the late 1980s.

Independent Christmas Food & Drink Special

Best party budget red

2007 Torre del Falco Nero di Troia, Puglia, Italy

This distinctively bright and spicy and rosso made from Puglia’s Nero di Troia grape shows a sweetly juicy dark berry fruit quality with a sinewy feel and vivid freshness. £4.99, down from £7.99, until 6 December, Waitrose.

Best party red

2010 Viñalba Cabernet Malbec Merlot

Bordeaux, Burgundy, Beaujolais. My first editor assumed, and so therefore did I, that this was the holy trinity of Bs at whose altar the Indy wine reader would sip and worship. And so it was until the New World cocked an irreverent Life of Brian snook at the French, using the same grapes but undercutting the frogs on price.

It might make members of the House fidget in their seats, but for all but Tower Hamlets Council, which has banned Guy Fawkes, the idea of blowing up the Houses of Parliament brings a little wistfully anarchic glee into our lives. There’s nothing like a sparkler to get you into the mood for, er, sparklers and the like, and so if you don’t want to push the boat out too far on bonfire night, Marks & Spencer’s Sparkling Burgundy NV, £11.99, will give you a biscuity, weighty and richly mouthfilling fizz at an affordable price.