Take a whiff of the Beringer first. Aside from apple and stone-fruit characteristics, you’ll catch a bit of that vanilla or coconut from the oak, hopefully.

Then move to Bin 311 from Penfolds: it’s got much more lime and citrus, not to mention smoke. We can glean that the wine was also aged in oak barrels, but it wasn't new oak; used toasted barrels impart that kind of smokiness.

What also affects aroma is soil. Bin 311’s grapes were grown in a rockier or flintier environment, which is why we get more mineral characteristics, whereas the Beringer Chardonnay is rounder with accents of fruit and vanilla.

Samantha Lim: Flinty is a good word for Australian wines.

Sam Stephens: Yes, and that’s very much what the winemakers wanted — to make sure that their white grapes really had that finesse, elegance and zest.

Samantha Lim: The Beringer packs quite a punch!

Sam Stephens: When we try the second, you'll find more crispness in the Penfolds, thanks to the cooler climate of Tumbarumba in New South Wales.

Chardonnay really is a chameleon of a grape variety.

With it, you can produce some of the biggest, richest and most powerful styles, but you can also get some incredibly elegant styles. I'm not saying one is better than the other; it’s purely comes down to personal taste. A lot of decision-making comes down to food pairings. Penfolds is going to need something a bit leaner, say some lovely steamed fish with a bit of lime and chillies; that way, the wine's purity will come through. If you’ve got laksa or something with a coconut cream base, you can bring a bottle of Beringer, because it’s going to complement the richness of the dish.

Sam Stephens: Moving on to the reds now!

Start with the Beringer and smell just that — dry black fruits and a warmth of ripeness associated with the Napa Valley. The oak also gives you the same toast and vanilla that you picked up in the Beringer Chardonnay earlier.

Before we taste either, nose the Penfolds. While both Cabernets contain 14.5% of alcohol and have spent some time in new oak, you should be able to pick up mint or eucalyptus in the Australian wine.

This is why I love sharing wine side-by-side — if I pick up both glasses and keep going back and forth, I detect different things each time.

Samantha Lim: Now that I’ve gotten acquainted with both Beringers, I can see how they’re ‘siblings.’

Sam Stephens: Yes, they share that viscosity that coats the palette.

Samantha Lim: 'Cordial' is the descriptor that comes to mind.

Sam Stephens: It’s certainly concentrated. That’s another thing about premium quality vineyards with low yielding grapes: if you were to pick one of these Cabernet grapes off the vine in the Napa Valley and bite into it, you'd get a sense of the wine's potential, whereas in a younger, more commercial style, the grapes would be more watery — similar to table grapes.

So if you try the Penfolds 407 now, you’ll find it doesn’t coat the mouth as much as the Beringer, but there are definitely more of those chewy tannins. There was skin contact in the winemaking process, but what also increases the tannins is the use of 30% new French and American oak; for the Beringer, it was only around 20%.

This goes to show that you can be gentle and extract lots of flavour but fewer tannins, which is the Beringer style, or you can go a bit harder, which works more colour and tannins out of the skins, which is what is happened with the 407. There is more overall structure in the 407 versus the Beringer's softer style.

Again, quality wise, they pretty much sit side by side, but Mark Beringer has actively chosen to make a more fruit-driven style.

Samantha Lim: The Chardonnays were more dissimilar, but the Cabernets are incredibly distinct. I really should execute more vertical and horizontal tastings at home. That was fun. I’m grateful you didn’t use too much jargon.

Sam Stephens: In my role, which revolves around educating people and getting the public excited about wine, I have to speak a language that everyone can understand. It really is all about sharing your experience with the widest audience possible.

Samantha Lim: Well done you. You’re quite good at it.

Sam Stephens: Oh, thank you! 21 years in and I’m just starting to get the hang of it. But I get paid to drink so it’s not too bad.

Samantha Lim: I know, I mean, me too. Yeah, cheers to that!