White wines from regions typically known for their reds, sparkling wines from non-traditional regions and quality wines from smaller regions will be big this year, according to sommeliers The Sunday Times spoke to.

Mr Mauro Serrajotto, 36, general manager and sommelier of Basilico, an Italian restaurant at The Regent Singapore in Cuscaden Road, says that European wine countries, be they France, Italy or Spain, are "all going through the same thing", where the main wine-producing regions are facing high demand. Hence these wines are becoming more expensive.

"But it's the time for the smaller or forgotten regions to rise," he says.

Hot regions include Valpolicella, a wine district in north-eastern Italy's Veneto wine region, as well as France's Loire valley, whose wines are under-represented in Singapore.

A spokesman for the Les Amis restaurant group's wine team says that such wines are "often overshadowed by the better known regions or are not the main highlight of that particular region".

While the usual suspects like Bordeaux from France or Barolo from Italy dominate the market here, some sommeliers such as Britt Ng, 29, from Gordon Ramsay's Bread Street Kitchen restaurant at Marina Bay Sands, feels that it is time to give newer, unexpected wine producing countries a chance.

The restaurant stocks wines from Lebanon, Uruguay and Slovenia.

The winner of the title of 2016 Asia Best Sommelier in French Wines, an award given out by international food and wine marketing and communication agency Sopexa, adds: "Singaporeans are quite receptive to new wines, they just need to be convinced."