Many Australians are in Italy and Greece at the moment, enjoying the heat on crowded northern beaches. No doubt they are eating well as they soak up the sun. Here in Australia, we tend to think of Mediterranean food as summer fare, but its influence in local kitchens is felt in the cooler months too. This week, contributing cook Elizabeth Hewson  presents an Italian-inspired slow-cooked beef dish, osso buco. This quintessential winter Italian dish, which she serves alongside a creamy, golden orzo, is absolutely perfect for these chilly southern evenings.

Meanwhile, Georgina Hayden's new cookbook Greekish offers a new spin on Mediterranean cuisine. Her recipes take inspiration from Greek food, but modernise them for contemporary tastes. Try her lamb shanks, her green gigantes - a delicious butter bean dish, given a freshen up - and her clever feta-based spaghetti recipe, which has been much admired on social media in recent years. Happy (Mediterranean) cooking.

This week we have a great deal from our cellar director John Lehmann for three cabernet sauvignon bottles at a “super six” price that will save you $184. Click the link to see the deal. Details here.

Further, this year marks the 60th anniversary of The Australian newspaper. To honour this significant milestone, The Australian Wine Club in partnership with The Australian is releasing a first-of-its-kind 60th Anniversary Issue Barossa Shiraz. Hurry to secure your piece of wine and political history – order now.

In the trend-driven world of wine, fads come and go as quickly as a round of mimosas at a hen's party. But who would have seen the reemergence of the daggiest of the white wines, chardonnay? Figures from Wine Australia this week showed that chardonnay has overtaken shiraz as Australia’s largest wine variety, with a 31 percent rise in the chardonnay crush in this year's vintage, putting it ahead of the second-highest grape crushed domestically, shiraz. Read what's behind the change here.