Loyalty is noble, but it can also be terribly limiting. It’s the domain of labradors and long-suffering football fans. When it comes to wine, clinging doggedly to the classics – the barolos, burgundies and bordeaux – is a bit like holidaying in Tuscany every year because you once had a reviving chianti. Pleasant, familiar, but ultimately you’re missing the point.

The great regions, those deified by critics and collectors, have been commodified. Burgundy, once the thinking drinker’s red, is now a status symbol for oligarchs and speculators. Champagne is still champagne, but unless you have a small oil well to hand, the price of admission to the top cuvées is increasingly steep. And let’s not even start on bordeaux’s penchant for pricing itself into the stratosphere.

But the world is wider than a Sotheby’s auction list, and curiosity rewards the intrepid. The vinous map teems with adventure, studded with territories where familiar grape varieties have taken root, adapted and (whisper it) sometimes even improved. Drinking outside the canon isn’t betrayal, it’s enlightenment. Here’s where to start:

Like blanc de blancs champagne? Try Cuvée Clive 2017 from South Africa 

Graham Beck’s tribute to his late son is made only in the best years and from the best blend of that vintage – in this case, a pure chardonnay which marries Robertson’s limestone backbone with Darling’s steely acidity. Whole-bunch pressed, aged 50 months on lees and cut from the same cloth as fine champagne – all lemon curd, toasted brioche and hazelnut, finishing with a flick of saline minerality.

£59.99, northandsouthwines.co.uk

Like Spanish albariño? Try Balfour 1503 Kentish albariño 2023 

Albariño, that breezy, sea-sprayed staple of Galician tapas bars, has found an unlikely home near Staplehurst in Kent. Balfour’s take on the grape is all citrus tang and oyster-shell scents, a reminder that English wine isn’t just about fizz.

£18.99, majestic.co.uk

Love Italian pinot grigio? Try Channing Daughters’ ramato pinot grigio from the Finger Lakes 

Long Island is sound if you avoid dubious cocktails. Channing Daughters’ ramato is pinot grigio reimagined – skin-fermented for 19 days, aged in old oak, it glows copper with layers of apricot, pear skin and dark spice. It’s a natural ally for charcuterie, curries or even a Sunday roast – its gentle grip slicing through crisped-up chicken skin.

£25, wanderlustwine.co.uk

Like burgundy? Try Martin Pomfy Special Selection pinot noir, Juznoslovenská 2018 

If burgundy had a rebellious sibling, this would be it. Pomfy, a winemaker who revived his family’s vineyards post-communism, coaxes wild cherries, cranberries and forest-floor depth from his Slovensko terroir. Silky, structured and distinctly Côte d’Or in its ambitions – minus the ruinous pricing.

£29.95, tanners-wines.co.uk

Like bordeaux? Try Ao Yun 2017 from Shangri-La 

Cabernet sauvignon has scaled the Himalayas, and the result is bordeaux with altitude. Ao Yun, from the misty slopes of Yunnan, is structured, complex and poised, proving China isn’t just emerging in the wine world – it’s here, and it’s serious.

£224, thefinestbubble.com

Like barolo? Try L A Cetto Private Reserve nebbiolo 2017 from Baja California 

Nebbiolo is an obstinate grape, traditionally wedded to Piedmont’s fog-shrouded hills. And yet, in Baja California’s high-altitude vineyards, cooled by the Pacific, it takes on a different guise – valiant, sun-baked, with dark cherry, leather and a whisp of tar. Less austere than barolo, but every bit as compelling.

£18.20, tanners-wines.co.uk

Blur the boundaries: The Wine Society’s Generation Series Hemispheres 

Hemispheres is an audacious clash of continents. The 2022 Red melds Heathcote shiraz with Roussillon syrah – a transglobal fusion of Aussie muscle and Gallic poise – while the White, a marsanne-viognier blend, flits between Rhône richness and Victoria’s floral lift. Michel Chapoutier, a winemaker who put braille on his labels to make wine more accessible, has passed the reins to his son Maxime, who seems intent on rewriting the rules altogether.

From £16.50, thewinesociety.com

The best wines, like the best people, don’t just nod politely at tradition – they argue with it, throw a punch and nick its taxi home. We’re in the most exciting age of wine there’s ever been, so go on, take a gamble, pour something that might just change your mind.