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Champagne opens this list, and it leans towards growers — Ulysse Colin, Jacques Lassaigne and Jérôme Prévost, with Charles Heidsieck for the house style. What follows refuses a Piedmont-and-Tuscany spine and spreads instead: Miani in Friuli, Emidio Pepe in Abruzzo, Poderi Aldo Conterno and Fontodi anchoring the famous ends without taking over. Prices stop well short of collecting, so this is a list for an ordinary Tuesday. Begin with a grower Champagne, then take whichever Italian region you know least — that is how it is built to be read.

Three hundred and eight bins anchored by Burgundy (61 references) and Loire (34), with white and red equally weighted at 38 and 46 per cent. Entry wines start at £20, the median sits at £104, and a 1966 Haut-Brion reaches £665. Benoit Moreau, Envínate, and Tardieu-Laurent each appear four times. Baden, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Kamptal, Liguria, and Lombardy appear only once each. Approach this list for its classical French depth, returning to the by-the-glass selection (£7–£19) for a focused evening.

Six hundred and fifty-nine bins spanning Burgundy (25 references), Swartland, and California, with entry wines at £26 and a median of £74. Savage appears seven times; Domaine Dureuil-Janthial, Mullineux, and Saldanha each anchor four selections. Orange represents a distinct thread through the list. Champagne appears only once. Reds dominate at 57%, whites at 25%, with rosé and sparkling in supporting roles. Approach this as a collector's list: the 1955 Jean Bourdy Chardonnay at £420 signals serious depth.