Wine Box: Brave new worlds

Just when you think you're getting the better of the wine world - grapes, countries, producers, that kind of thing - someone comes along and mucks it up. Confusion reigns when some obscure, forgotten grape variety reappears as the 'new thing', or a country you once believed specialised in snow-capped mountains and the odd polar bear starts producing more than acceptable wines.

Further twist the bewilderment with names like Blue Mountain, Cave Spring and Henry of Pelham and you might think you were buying sainted mineral water. But the world of wine has unlikely outposts - I'm hinting here at Canada, although countries like Turkey, India, Uruguay and Austria all make some good wines and each has its role in blotting the wine anorak's notebook. If you enjoy expanding your experience, try some of these...

Mission Hill Pinot Noir 1999 (Waitrose, £7.99). Sound, lively and balanced rather than exceptional, this Canadian red, made in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, has some good spicy aromatics and bright, satisfying cherry fruit. This is a winery to watch out for - it has already been acclaimed for its Mission Hill Vidal Icewine 1998 (Waitrose and Majestic, £20.99 for 37.5cl bottle), an intensely sweet pudding wine that picked up a gold medal at the International Wine Challenge 2001. The wine benefited from an arctic cold front that brought temperatures down to -18C for picking. The grapes were so concentrated by the cold that the juice registered a record 43 per cent sugar. Not sure I'd have enjoyed picking them, though.

If you like sweet wines, Trockenbeerenauslese Freie Weing?rtner Wachau 1998 (Mayfair Cellars, 020 7329 8899, £17 for a half bottle) is a must-try. This is the best of Austria's sweet-wine classification and has all the sugariness you need, yet it also has good citrus balance and complexity, with lots of honey and lemon flower flavours. Perfect for those of us with a sweet tooth.

Valencia Oak-aged Bobal/Monastrell/Tempranillo (Sainsbury's, £3.79). Spain has many well-trodden wine paths, but this isn't one of them. The Valencia region, best known for its Moscatel, is now making some cracking modern reds using vast plantations of new, native grape varieties. This one has explosive toffee and spice flavours mingled with lots of plum fruit. A real star buy, don't miss it.