What began life as a weekly email sent out to friends and workmates in a vain attempt to help them drink better has now become a regular distillation of our drinking year. As with previous editions, The Juice 2008 combines 100 wine recommendations, together with a few handy tips and little bits of wisdom.

So here's the drill. I thought that, rather than ranking the wines one to 100, it would be far more useful if I grouped them by occasion into five easy groups and prices ranges of 20 wines each. Here, we've printed the Splurge section of wines to really splash out on.

Wherever possible I've tried to review the most current vintage; in some cases this means wines that are only just hitting the streets now. And while some might not be gracing the shelves of your local just yet (frustrating as that may be), be patient: they will come!

Over the coming year, step outside your comfort zone wherever possible. Once a week, spend a little bit more on your wine, bearing in mind that trading up doesn't have to mean shelling out. Try something new: new varieties, new styles, new producers, and new frontiers. Often that's where you'll find some of the most exciting wines, not to mention the best value.

Pay more attention to what you eat - it's a great way to learn about food-and-wine matching. Visit a vineyard, ask questions, do a wine course - but most importantly, resolve to finish the coming year knowing a little bit more about wine than you did 12 months earlier.

RED Peter Lehmann Stonewall Shiraz 2001 £32.99, Oddbins, 0800 9174093.
Having done a near about-face on the oak front, as well as toning down the overall intensity of the fruit, what this wine sacrifices in power, it gains in finesse. Although still incredibly concentrated, it has terrific purity of fruit and perfectly intergrated cedary oak. Special-occasion stuff.

WHITE F E Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste Hune 2001 £75, The Wine Society, 01438 737700.
Trimbach is one of the finest exponents of this grape variety anywhere, and this, its single-vineyard flagship, is a knockout. This is a pure, dry, mineral-edged Riesling that has incredible depth of purity.

RED Brokenwood Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz 2004 £40.95, The Secret Cellar, 01892 537981.
This single-vineyard Shiraz ticks all the right boxes: great colour, a nose of blackcurrant, plum, cedar, pepper and spice and a voluptuous, sweet and long mouthful of fruit.

RED Bell Hill Pinot Noir 2005 £34.95, Lay & Wheeler 0845 3301855.
Pinot Noir lovers - if it means walking over hot coals in order to get your hands on this incredible wine - do it.

ROSE Domaine Tempier Bandol Rosé 2006 £12.25, A & B Vintners, 01892 724977.
Tempier produces perhaps the world's greatest rosé. Produced from a mixture of Mourvèdre, Grenache and Cinsault, and with only tiny amount of time in contact with the skins, the result is a clean, fruit-fresh, dry, and grippy rosé that you definitely need to try.

RED Château Léoville-Las-Cases 2000 £160, Fine & Rare Wines, 020 8960 1995.
With Cabernet Sauvignon the soul and backbone of the Left Bank, expect wave after wave of pure blackcurrant fruit and tight-knit cedary oak. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot round out the equation.

WHITE Kistler Dutton Ranch Chardonnay 2002 approx £100, kistlerwine.com
Californian Chardonnay doesn't come much better. Amazing aromas like crème brûlée, cashew, grapefruit, nectarine. With its tiny production, the lucky few who manage to get their hands on it won't be disappointed, but you'll really only find it in top restaurants.

RED Vasse Felix Heytesbury Red 2002 £30.09, Australian Wines Online, 01772 422996.
A full-throttle Cabernet-Sauvignon-based wine incorporating vast amounts of Shiraz, Malbec and Merlot into the mix. The nose is flooded with blackcurrant, juicy plums, dark chocolate, and sweet, cedary oak. In your mouth Heytesbury is full, inky and perfectly formed.

WHITE Kracher 'Nouvelle Vague' Grande Cuvée Trockenbeerenauslese No 7 2002 £27.99, Harvey Nichols.
From the not-so-traditional camp, this wine is full and rich with concentrated apricot, orange rind, quince, and honey on the nose. The palate is sweet and tropical, but knockout acidity adds balance to an otherwise super-charged mouthful of wine.

RED Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas 2004 £33, Yapp Brothers, 01747 860423.
This is one of the finest expressions of Syrah anywhere in the world. Pure, dark and tightly wound Syrah, with leather, earth, vibrant acidity and a very strong will to live! Stash a few bottles in the cellar and forget about them for the better part of a decade.

RED Domaine de la Romanée - Conti La Tâche Grand Cru 2005 £323, Corney & Barrow, 020 7265 2400.
This is Pinot Noir's Holy Grail within its Holy Grail. La Tâche produces wines which at best are multi-layered, insanely pure, slightly animal, incredibly textural, seductive, slinky, fine and, most of all, magic.

WHITE Château Coutet Premier Cru 2001 £29, Fine & Rare Wines.
A racy mix of Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc, while remaining pure and well-balanced. Citrus fruit, marmalade, quince and spice hum away on the nose, while you get an amazing concentration of flavour that's lifted beautifully by fresh and vibrant acidity. Check it out.

RED Gaja Barbaresco 2003 £720 (12-bottle case), John Armit Wines, 020 7908 0600.
This is the vinous equivalent of the Bugatti Veyron 16.4. It's a powerful, slick, and hand-crafted wine. A multi-dimensional expression of Nebbiolo that can swallow up vast amounts of new oak, while still managing to retain elegance and charm by the bagful.

RED Craggy Range Le Sol Syrah 2004 £29.99, Waitrose, 08456 049 050.
A muscular, meaty style of Syrah with huge presence and personality. Deep purple, the nose overflows with sweet dark plums, violets, ground coffee, roasted meat and sweet spice, while in the mouth it's full and firm with cedary oak and some chewy tannin to finish.

WHITE Domaine René and Vincent Dauvissat Chablis Grand Cru Le Clos 2004 £26.40, Tanners Wine Merchant, 01743 234500.
This is Chablis of monumental proportions. It's all here - the river rock, the lemon and green apple, the honey and hay. This is what I long for every time I pull the cork on a bottle of Chablis.

RED Vega-Sicilia Unico 1991 £146, Harrods 020 7225 6633.
Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec join forces to form not just one of Spain's, but one of the world's truly great wines. Dense, dark fruit, leather and sweet spice dominate, while oak plays less of a role in the final product than you might imagine - a testament to the skill of this amazing estate.

RED Diamond Creek Volcanic Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 £88, The Vineyard Cellars, 01488 681 313.
This 8-acre dry-farmed Volcanic Hill vineyard produces some of the most powerful and long-lived, deeply concentrated wines with blackberry, cassis and mineral aromas. In the mouth, it's inky and full, with bright acidity, cedary oak and dry, chewy tannins.

RED Domaine Ramonet Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru Morgeot 2005 £300 (12-bottle case) laithwaites.co.uk
This is iron fist/ silk glove Chardonnay that blazes with grapefruit-citrus intensity, pork rind, gun-smoke, mineral, cashew and spice from the moment it hits your lips.

The Juice 2008
These wines are taken from the Splurge section, which tells you the 20 great wines worth blowing the rent on, or to try before you die. The Juice 2008: 100 wines you should be drinking is published by Mitchell Beazley at £7.99. To order a copy with free UK p&p go to observer.co.uk/bookshop or call 0870 836 0875.

RED Agricola Punica Barrua 2004 £30, Swig, 020 8995 7060.
Made from old-vine Carignan and Merlot to fill in the blanks, Barrua is immediate. Masses of dark, sun-drenched fruit and spice, while a mouthful reveals a lush, inky wave of ripe, dark fruit, spicy new oak and a wash of dry, grippy tannins.

RED Torbreck Cuvée Juveniles 2006 £15.99, Longford Wines, 020 8676 5608.
An unwooded blend of Shiraz and Mourvèdre, this wine has heaps of bright raspberry and cherry fruit and is designed to drink young, but will hold for a few years yet, should you have the self-discipline to wait.