There is so much to love about South Africa’s De Toren winery. For those of you reading this column while simultaneously hugging a tree or using your laptop to shield a baby seal, you will be happy to know that De Toren is environmentally friendly: it was one of the first wineries to get the South African Wine and Spirit Board’s certification for sustainable winemaking.

But I love De Toren because they are a little crazy. For instance, their flagship red, “Fusion V” (presumably pronounced Fusion Five, not Fusion Vee) is made up of all five of the classic Bordeaux varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. This is normal enough. However, the final assemblage is determined not solely by their winemaker, but by a large panel that includes various sommeliers and local enthusiasts. This is like directing a film by committee. It should be a disaster — but instead, it creates a stunning success.

More on De Toren's wines, including its five-wines-in-one fusion, after the jump.

Everyone has their own price limit for wine, the number above which they will not pay. For instance, my father observes a $15 rule with all the formality that an Orthodox Jew would employ in keeping his kitchen free of bacon bits.

My limit customarily hovers around $20-30. This is fairly low for a wine enthusiast, but I’ve settled there because that’s where you can find the best bargains. To put it another way, I have sampled many bottles north of $50, and I often find them disappointing. They don’t taste two times better than one of my $25 wines (if I’ve selected the $25 wine well).

But every once in a while, I am dead wrong. There are wines that ooze a luxurious quality that you simply can’t get cheaply.

My latest favourites in this category are the wines of Springfield, Meerlust and De Toren from South Africa. This surprised me; South Africa produces excellent values, but isn’t well known for premium brands. But at a recent tasting I attended held by Lifford Wine Agency, these three top wineries wiped the floor with some comparably priced Bordeaux reds.

After the jump: Matthew's notes on some of the highlights from the Springfield winery.

Last week, the Short Cellar took you to Sicily, an island with a 2,500-year-old history of winemaking which (paradoxically) can now claim to be an up-and-coming and increasingly trendy. I then received a message from Old Prof, one of the frequent commentators on this website. The aged academic asked “How are the wines of Sicilia different than those of Puglia (or not)?”

Puglia (also known as Apulia in English) is the region that forms the stiletto heel of Italy’s boot. Although Puglia is only separated from Sicily by a few hundred miles, their wine making styles are night and day. In fact, understanding these differences will teach you the one great secret of wine: people don’t make wine — geography does.

After the jump: the difference a few mountains make, and Matthew's tips for some great wines from Puglia.

Loyal readers and attentive barflies may have noticed the Short Cellar’s absence over the last month. My day job (the thing that editors persistently advise me to keep) got a little out of hand as I entered into a three-week trial. The stress of it was sufficiently great that I gave up wine.

Oddly enough, when I am most stressed, all I want to do in my spare time is read about ancient Greece and Rome. An odd foible, I suppose, but it's better than the cocaine habit that made the Eighties a banner decade for so many lawyers. My anxiety was so profound that I even began trying to teach myself Latin. Mentally declining irregular verbs is a surprisingly comforting pastime while your witness is being cross-examined. It's a good thing the trial has concluded, because now I can say goodbye to all that and resume frittering my life away on trivialities.

I was a little nervous about getting back into the swing of the wine business. Fortunately, I had just the sort of soft landing I needed. Yesterday, I attended a seminar on Sicilian wines, led by Prof. Attilio Scienza, a professor with more learning about his subject than understanding of his audience’s attention span. When asked to give some background on recent improvements to Sicily’s wine industry, he began in the Bronze Age.

After the jump: Matthew demonstrates his passion and brevity as he leads a binary wine tour of Sicily.