..or to be precise, Moravia, the central southern province. This is where the good wines come from and is one of our big success stories. The first in after the Velvet Revolution, aided by our schoolmaster-agent, Vlad, we signed up the two best cellars in the country and provided a lot of investment to help enable them to make some excellent quality white wines. They are such rich, dry, well-made and 'different' Alsace-like styles. Well worth investigating.

Alsace is an amazing place. France's northernmost wine region, it has an odd little climate shaped by the Vosges mountains and the River Rhine. The vineyards experience a long, dry autumn and less rain than southern Spain - 50cm a year! Harvest begins in the middle of October (up to two months after white Bordeaux).

Geographic isolation also seems to have turned the Alsace into 'the land that time forgot'. If ever you want a weekend in the Middle Ages, go and stay in the fairy-tale villages of Kientzheim, Kaysersberg or Riquewihr, walk in the cascading vineyards and eat in the restaurant of Monsieur Petitdemange's aunt.

The wines are similarly unique - lychee-scented Gewurztraminer may well be the most recognizable style in the white wine world, while Riesling is probably the most noble.

These white wines offer a spectrum of rich styles like nowhere on earth - they are also a safe bet for value on the wine lists of English pubs and restaurants.

The vineyards collectively known as 'Bordeaux' are those of the département of the Gironde. But I've always considered the vineyards of the neighbouring départements - Dordogne and Lot-et-Garonne - to be one and the same. In the Middle Ages, the Haut Pays - High Country - vineyards rather than those of Bordeaux itself - were the source of the most expensive 'clairet' or claret. The département boundaries here are purely political and have no relevance to wine. So, whether it's Bordeaux or Bergerac, Buzet, Duras, even Cahors or Madiran is not really significant. What is important is which cellar and which winemaker made it, precisely where the grapes came from, the degree of ripeness, how healthy and concentrated they were, and so on ... and on, and on. It is complicated but it is our job to simplify it for you.

There are around 13,000 wine cellars in Bordeaux alone, producing a total of about 2.2 million barrels. (The world as a whole make 133 million barrels). All different. And different again every year. What other product is made in such incredible diversity?

Long may it stay that way. But it certainly involves a lot of work to find the best.

Unfortunately (or fortunately for us!), these days much of the red wine made around us here in Bordeaux is rather light and two dimensional, although good and pleasant enough to drink. Fine if you're just drinking and not too fussed, but if you're looking for real enjoyment and interest in the glass, you need wines which are complex enough to really grab you, to be worth keeping and watching develop. Digging around to find wines which are richer and have had more work put into them is our job. Obviously with so many to sift, one has to have a method. We think our system is marvellous, it got us our reputation, but it's secret!

White wines were always pretty poor around Bordeaux and the environs, simply not in the same class as white Burgundy. So we started to make our own in several cellars, because we reckoned it was nothing to do with the soil or grapes ... just low winemaking standards. You get this downward spiral operating in wine production; low prices = lack of motivation = poorer wine = even lower prices ... and so on. A bit of bold winemaking, customers change their minds and the spiral then goes upwards. We gave it a go, have been proved right and now have huge sales of white Bordeaux. Every year since then, the white Bordeaux wines made by our team of winemakers have won medals at some of the world's top competitions. Claudy Gomme (who has run our Bordeaux Office for 25 years), personally 'mothers' all these wines right through to bottling day, when she hovers over the bottling line. Quality of white wines overall in the area has now improved enormously, but with our fanatical attention to detail, we think we stay ahead.

The remoter parts of southwest France, down to the Pyrenees and up into the Massif Central have always been a speciality of ours. The vineyards are very tiny but the producers try so hard and get so excited and enthusiastic when a foreigner arrives. You should try it, if you're a good map reader; Marcillac, (so remote, they would be thrilled) Buzet, Marmandais, Madiran, Jurançon etc etc.

A centre for the wine trade since Roman times, Burgundy has long been spoiled rotten by massive world demand which enabled anything called Pommard, Chambertin or something like that, to virtually name its price. Meanwhile, the Napoleonic Law of Succession and the French Revolution did nothing to help Burgundy's woeful 'economies of scale'.

If you think Bordeaux can be complicated... Burgundy is half the size but has over seven times the number of discreet appellations! Located about a hundred miles south-east of Paris, the A6 motorway passes first by Chablis, largely famed for its minerally Chardonnay. Then comes the jewel in the crown: the Côte d'Or. While the New World might be wholeheartedly challenging Bordeaux's right to claim primacy where Cabernet Sauvignon is concerned, no-one (not even the Australians!) can make a Pinot like the Burgundians. And then there's the Chardonnay...

Continuing south along the A6 - making Burgundy a very convenient region to visit - is the southernmost part of Burgundy: Beaujolais. Really quite different from the northern neighbours, Beaujolais is made from the Gamay grape and tends towards a lighter, fruitier red style that's a summer favourite.

I love the jolly, hedonistic growers of Burgundy. They used to get up to some very dubious tricks but a new generation of winemakers have learnt that, nowadays, honesty pays better. Superb wines, but not cheap at all, if you want a 'real' wine in the bottle. Bog standard merchant Burgundy should be avoided. Much better to buy a good substantial Beaujolais from a top village, Pinot Noirs from the New World or a nice Syrah from the south.

The greatest of all wines? Success came quickly to the world's favourite (although not first) sparkling wine. After Louis XV's 'favourite' mistress began singing the praises of Champagne, people understandably developed a taste for it. Three centuries later, Moët boasts 105 000 bottles in their cellars at any one time - a mere three years worth - not to mention over 100km of cellar under the chalky hills of Epernay.

A tour through the town of Epernay provides testament to the success of the major 'houses'. The splendour of the Avenue de Champagne is enough to make you thirsty. Yes, it's a privileged area, but I guess they've earned it ... and it's just a simple day trip from Britain now the Tunnel's open. I know nowhere more civilised and elegant, yet not too expensive, for lunch.

Madame Lily Bollinger (1899 to 1977): "I drink it when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it ... unless I'm thirsty."

Always seems a bit disorganised and chaotic, but that's its charm really. Places like Sancerre and Pouilly have lost their unique status as providers of the world's only good Sauvignon. Warmer wine areas around the world first stole their grape, then imitated their climate with temperature controlled vats. But they have yet to match the Loire's true individuality and passion. I've actually seen Loire winegrowers weep as they poured their darling bottles.

A cool northern climate ensures deliciously refreshing acidity in Loire wines, while the maritime environment in the western parts has seen the wine styles evolve into perfect accompaniments for almost anything that can live underwater.

While Sancerre and Pouilly may be en vogue, Touraine and Muscadet produce wines of often comparable quality at a fraction of the price, while Vouvray has the potential to produce delicious Chenin Blanc in styles from unctuously sweet to scintillatingly dry.

The biggest wine region in the world and an area where political boundaries needlessly complicate things (just for something different!). Vines grow in Mediterranean conditions from the Italian border to the Spanish with only a slight gap for the Camargue.

Provence and the southern Rhône have been respected for years but Languedoc and Roussillon have only recently become 'recognised' for quality. A few wines receive the same accolades as top clarets and Burgundies ... and the same prices.

But Châteauneuf-du-Pape is still the only name from the south that many people associate with quality. In fact, with some stylistic differences due to soil, the whole vast region is potentially one great Châteauneuf. As prices start to rise, Midi growers will suddenly be motivated to make better and better wines.

Already happening on a small scale, we're pretty sure the Midi can look forward to increasing global recognition. But, as the territory, in a wine sense, is still largely un-mapped, our long experience in the area - longer than any other exporter - leads us to the most tremendous bargains. A very exciting region indeed.

The northern Rhône Valley has delightful wines but in only microscopic amounts (i.e. expensive!). Fortunately we have some good friends there. Now working with the third generation of Fayolles in Crozes-Hermitage, we enjoy good contacts with them and other families, and have privileged access to the very best stuff.

Our activities in the much bigger southern Rhône have for years centered on the village of Chusclan on the west bank of the river near Orange. The winemakers of Chusclan were good enough to trust me with a whole vanload of wine on credit (back in 1971) so I trust them to give me their best wines.

They have supplied us with every vintage since that time. Our other great friend in the region is André Roux, who used to run his multi-award winning Château du Trignon over on the east bank near Gigondas. When André retired I knew he was soon bored, so persuaded him to move in at Chusclan for the harvest.

He's still doing this at 72. And we now have a small barrel cellar in the village where he and his wines can work in tranquility. The result has been some of the best wines on our list and yet more gold medals for André.

More and more producers in the Rhône are abandoning the facile, light easy-drinking style of Rhône, cutting back yields and making serious stuff. We are building up a good list of addresses!

It isn't easy to make wine in Germany, being so northerly, but the Germans make it look easy. Unfortunately, they don't always make it taste quite right. Most German wine has lots of added sugar (in the form of concentrated grape juice), which gives it a distinct aftertaste tackiness. That sort of German wine we no longer sell. We restrict ourselves to wines from the Grand Estates, Germany's equivalent of Cru Classé, which are currently the world's greatest wine bargains.

Riesling is a wonderful grape, adored by wine trade professionals everywhere, but distrusted by the public on account of all the cheap imitations.

However, pure unadulterated Riesling is exquisite and quite the most suitable wine for the more delicate forms of modern cuisine. But the Germans have blown their chance by saturating the market with so much cheap, fake, sugar-water Liebfraumilch/ Niersteiner/Piesporter that many people now refuse to try anything German.

Things called Laski Riesling or similar, that are not Riesling at all, don't help either. But we'll keep on bringing in good, genuine German wine and will continue to reverse the trend.

With Portugal, Hungary is Europe's great source of unusual grape varieties. Before the First World War, partition, communism and all that, Austro-Hungary was the France of the east. Great food and wine traditions, diversity, and a strong international reputation.

Hungary lost bits of its wine heritage with the Treaty of Trianon, when it had to cede to Austria, Romania and Yugoslavia. But it hung onto the best. Then the communists came and forced the production of plonk for the masses . . . made with total avoidance of quality. All the great pre-war estates went (read Patrick Leigh-Fermor for an exquisite glimpse of this once magic land).

But the commissars never managed to shut down the little cellars. Hungary still has thousands and thousands of little private cellars . . . entire 'villages' of nothing but winecellars with an acre of vines out the back - just like British vegetable allotments ... only more fun.

Traditions buried deep underground are now fast emerging into the light, and we are just starting to be dazzled.

Italy has been making wine since forever; on the other hand, she really only started seriously in the 1960's. Prior to that it was Chianti in wicker flasks, Valpolly, Soave and Frascati ... for export it was all from 'factories'.

Vast amounts of wine were made but mostly consumed locally in unlabelled 'fiascos'. Then they observed how well the French did things, and suddenly every rich Italian industrialist had to have his wine estate and, if possible, his own DOC.

The French fumed furiously as Italians suddenly planted huge acreages and grabbed vast EEC cash handouts.

Suddenly there was this vast range of fine Italian wines, all, of course, bearing beautiful, beooootiful designer labels.

Every estate owner wanted vast prices, and got them - for a while. Now, reason is prevailing and we are in the process of buying more wine from the now slightly anxious, and more realistic estate owners. But we pay only for the wine; the trappings of the Grand Estate life they'll just have to pay for themselves.

Italy's an Aladdin's cave - little jewels of wines of all hues and styles all over, from Sicily to the Alps. Only problem is, the map is useless. Throw it away and just travel, taste, travel ... Italy can absorb as much wine prospection time as the rest of the world put together.

Portugal has a very feudal tradition, making their wine industry difficult to penetrate. There is nothing that moves slower on this earth than the port trade. You do need patience.

Then there are all those outlandish sounding grape varieties ... but there is so much to discover and if you're tired of endless Chardonnay and Cabernet, this is the place for you.

Lately we've come across a number of bright new styles, more modern, less focussed on the domestic market. Hopefully there will be more where these came from - Portugal certainly has great potential!

Spain had no international wine industry to speak of until the 1970s. Yes, it had the largest acreage under vines in the world (and was, until recently, the largest wine producer) and a winemaking tradition going back to the Phoenicians, but virtually all sold totally anonymously. Read Graham Greene's 'Monsignor Quixote' for delightful words on the old Spaniard's total aversion to having any labels on his wine.

He only trusted his local cellar, the wine fetched by himself: labelled, fancy bottles were just trickery. He was not totally wrong. There were huge scandals. Rioja was the only known 'name', but not a lot of Rioja got grown in Rioja.

Slowly and cautiously, with a whole heap of controls, the ancient wine areas of Spain are now being labelled. Comparatively only a fraction of Italy's DOC epidemic, and all pretty good, if a touch samey.

We first established our own winemaking set up in Navarra with the intention of injecting a bit more variety. The Spanish wine press said our cellar was the most exciting in the area - more exciting than the state's official experimental station! We are now doing the same in other areas.

Wonderful grapes: the Garnacha and Tempranillo are just perfect for today's tastes.

The winemaking needs a lot of work but the potential is undeniable.