High-end picks are a recognition of craftsmanship and achievement

Uh-oh! Are the eighties back? With seven new Starbucks opening daily and Whole Foods all but dominating the high-end grocery business, it’s easy to see how the premium experience has materialized around us. It’s also easy to compare this trend to the credit-card flush days of the ’80s, especially with The Donald gracing our TV screens again.

Where the ’80s were about excess (and mesh sandals), the premium experience is more altruistic. It’s a trend where product knowledge and experience are the driving factors, not consumption. It’s a trend about craftsmanship, achievement and the creation of a unique emotional connection.

Where passion and tradition meet a few thousand grape varieties

As a vino superpower second only to France, Italy produces 20 per cent of the world’s wine. It boasts a winemaking lineage that goes back to the time of Christ and the country is home to an estimated 2,000 grape varieties. Italians are passionate about their wine, grapes, technique and tradition, and even their wine-making regulations are steeped in the sort of controversy only 2,000 years of legacy can create. And, if you’ve ever been caught cheering for the wrong team at a soccer game — you know, Italians love expressing themselves!

The super power from Down Under continues to deliver consumer-friendly wines with good value — and sexy accents!

Most of us remember Australia exploding onto the wine scene sometime between the fall of Knight Rider and the rise of Baywatch. Australia brought us big, bold and boozy wines at pretty reasonable prices. The Aussie invasion empowered us, unlocking Pandora’s box and globally re-igniting a dozy passion for wine. All of a sudden we understood the labels and identified with the reliable flavours. For a while, wherever a little black dress went, a bottle of Wolf Blass Yellow Label was sure to follow.