If you’re only going to buy one red from this offer, this one delivers the best value for money at its 25% off price. It’s the kind of southern Rhône red that reminds me of my student days in Avignon. It’s a ripe, but not over-ripe Grenache-based blend, made from old vines on the Plan de Dieu plateau, showing serious tannins, backed up by flavours of wild herbs, plum and tapenade. Vibrantly delicious.
Food Match: Barbecue
2010 Catapult Shiraz, McLaren Vale
( £13.99 down to £10.50, 14.5%, Marks & Spencer )Wirra Wirra makes some of my favourite South Australian reds, wines that are ripe and full of fruit, but not ponderous or over-oaked. This is an Aussie take on a Côte Rôtie with 2% Viognier adding extra fragrance to the Shiraz. Dense and sweet, with plush tannins, good texture, well-judged oak and a savoury note. Ripe and well balanced with sweet bramble and blackberry fruit.
2012 Waitrose Reserva Carmenère, Rapel Valley
( £7.99 down to £5.99, 14%, Waitrose )USP or liability? Depending on your view of Carmenère, you will either love or loathe this wine because it’s very true to its grape variety. Plush and sweetly oaked, it’s a ripe, malty, vanilla-scented red with flavours of green pepper and chocolate and plenty of texture. Impressive winemaking from Chile-based Kiwi, Brett Jackson.
2011 The Curator, The Swartland
( £6.95, 13.5%, The Wine Society )By the hot house standards of the Swartland, this is a light and comparatively elegant red blend of mostly Shiraz with some Mourvèdre, Cinsaut and Viognier. It’s a scented, unoaked style with some pepper spice, raspberry and red cherry fruit and refreshing acidity.
2010 Spice Route Chakalaka, The Swartland
( £12.95, 14.5%, The Wine Society )This isn’t the most expensive brands in the full-flavoured Spice Route range, but it’s often one of my favourite reds from this innovative winery. It’s an appealing combo of no fewer than six grapes, with lots of sweet vanilla oak, spicy clove and nutmeg and a mixture of bramble, red berry and blackberry fruit intensity. Needs a barbecue to show at its best.
2012 Fairtrade Argentine Malbec, Famatina Valley, La Rioja
( £6.99, 13%, The Co-operative )Stop press! This is the best Fairtrade wine I’ve had yet from Argentina and one of the best I’ve had from anywhere, too. Sourced from La Rioja (nothing to do with the Spanish region of the same name), it’s very, very aromatic, with wafts of liquourice and violets, a hint of spice and deeply coloured, textured bramble and blackberry fruit. The tannins are plush and sweet, with subtle use of oak. Bravo!
2011 João Portugal Ramos F'Oz, Alentejo
( £9.99, 14%, Waitrose )The Alentejo is becoming more and more impressive with each vintage as a source of southern Portugal’s best red wines. This great value, under-a-tenner blend of Aragonez (aka Tempranillo), Trincadeira and Castelão is a case in point. It’s aromatic and refreshing, with no sign of sun-baked, raisiny flavours, fine tannins, notes of chocolate, black cherry and plum and a firm, but well balanced finish.
2011 Tanners Douro Red, Douro Valley
( £7.95, 13%, Tanners )Produced for Tanners by the impressive winemaking duo of João Portugal Ramos and José-Maria Soares Franco (who used to make Portugal’s most famous red, Barca Velha) this is an impressively well balanced Douro red at an attractive price, with subtle, spicy oak, good minerality and acidity and tarry, brambly fruit. Half bottles at £4.45.
2012 Finest* Côtes Catalanes Carignan, Languedoc-Roussillon
( £6.99 down to £5.24, 13.5%, Tesco )This unoaked, old vine Carignan comes from one of my favourite parts of the world – the Roussillon in southern France. It’s a wild, appealingly unruly red with firmish, sun-kissed tannins, ripe, plum and blackberry fruit and a rich, concentrated finish. You get a lot of wine for your money here.
2009 Finest* Chianti Riserva, Tuscany
( £7.99 down to £5.99, 13%, Tesco )An unoaked, modern meets traditional style Chianti Riserva from Piccini which blends a dash of Merlot with 95% Sangiovese. This is a medium weight, savoury red with good focus and acidity, some sweetness from the Merlot and fine, filigree tannins. A superior red to go with your bowl of pasta tonight.
2009 Tim Adam's Shiraz, Clare Valley
( 14.5%, £12.99 , Tesco )Tim “bonecrusher” Adams is equally adept at making whites and reds, but it’s the latter that really stand out for me. This is a big wine, but it’s not ponderous or over done: minty and aromatic with rich, bramble and blackberry fruit, subtle oak and soft, palate-caressing tannins. A wine that, on past form, ages well, too.
2009 Taste the Difference Aglianico del Vulture, Basilicata
( £9.99 down to £7.49, 14%, Sainsbury's )Aglianico is arguably southern Italy’s outstanding red grape (Nerello Mascalese and Nero d’Avola are the other contenders) and it makes some of its best wines on the volcanic slopes of the Vulture DOC. This is a rich and robust wine, with firmish tannins offset by plenty of spicy, peppery black fruits and minerally, refreshing acidity.