WINEMAKING is easy right? Get some grapes, crush them, add a bit of yeast and maybe some sugar, let it ferment for a bit, stick it in a bottle. Bingo, an award-winning tipple.

If only.

We're never quite sure whether to be intrigued or patronised by certain descriptions of winemaking methods, which, while explaining the processes and flavours therein, can irritate the average man on the street with apparent pretentiousness and self-importance.

However, the description of the effort the Villa Maria winemakers in New Zealand use in making their Private Bin Gewurztraminer sheds a little light on how meticulous producers must be to create a cracker.

For a start, they don't just "get some grapes". Instead, according to the winemaker notes, their vineyards are "meticulously managed with emphasis on ensuring optimum crop levels per vine", making sure there's "sufficient bunch exposure to achieve full flavour ripeness".

They also use "various canopy management techniques" to "produce flavoursome, ripe and clean fruit at harvest time", with each vineyard being "harvested separately".

As you'd expect, the grapes are then de-stemmed and crushed into the press. However, to "add flavour extraction, the skins and free-run juice are held for a skin contact period of two to four hours prior to being gently pressed".

Adding a bit of yeast isn't that simple either.

The juice is first "cold settled then racked clean" and then "inoculated with aromatic yeast strains".

As for letting it ferment for a bit, "cool fermentation techniques are employed to promote fruit aromatics and intensity", with ferments tasted daily and "stopped to retain some natural residual sugar, enhancing mouthfeel and richness".

Not so simple after all. Still, sticking it in a bottle can't be that hard, can it?

Well, we're not quite there just yet. The wine is instead "blended, lightly fined, cold stabilised and filtered"... and then finally bottled. Hurrah, job done.

The result in this instance - from a 2016 vintage which saw fruit harvested in "excellent condition" - is a noticeably rosy wine.

We were already fans of Gewurztraminer, a generally off-dry white which goes well with spicy Oriental and Asian food given its touch of sweetness can offset the spice.

It's hard not to prefer the original Alsace versions but this Kiwi effort (generally priced about £9-£11 from various stores) brings suitably pronounced rose petal and lychee flavours and a touch of spice.

Another white wine to maybe try with Asian cuisine, meanwhile, is a Fiano from down under.

Fiano hails from southern Italy - where you'd tend to drink it with typical Italian seafood, pesto chicken or salty salami dishes, or chilled on its own on a hot day - but vines have been shown to grow well in certain parts of Australia these days too.

We've tried a Hancock & Hancock Fiano (generally priced £12-£15) from the coastal McLaren Vale region, and, while its flavours aren't as outgoing as the tipple above, it is more gluggable. There are lifted nectarine and lemon scents, a bit of cashew nuttiness (which will likely develop the longer the wine is left) and lots of texture on a dry, savoury palate, which the producers reckon all lends the wine to spicy foods.