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.
Food Match: Beef
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 Lacoste Borie, Pauillac
( £23.99 down to £17.99, 13%, Sainsbury's )If you’re looking for a tasty claret to enjoy now, but that will keep for another six or seven years, this is the perfect candidate. Made by the team at Fifth Growth Pauillac estate, Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste, it’s a light, perfumed, refined, Merlot-based blend with notes of graphite and blackcurrant leaf and impressive balance and poise.
2010 M Chapoutier, Les Meysonniers, Crozes-Hermitage, Rhône Valley
( £15.99 down to £11.99, 13%, Sainsbury's )2010 was a great vintage in the Rhône, as it was elsewhere in France, and this is a Crozes that wouldn’t look out of place in more prestigious Hermitage, up river. Smoky, tapenade notes on the nose segue into flavours of black pepper, clove and blackberry, with no oak to interfere with the fruit purity. Deliciously poised and complex.
2007 Roda Reserva, Rioja
( £25.99 down to £18.74, 14%, Sainsbury's )A top Rioja Reserva for less than £20? Sounds very appealing to me. This is very much a modern style Rioja, with the emphasis on Tempranillo (97% of the blend here, with 3% Graciano for added backbone) and the ability to age further in bottle rather than drinkability on release. This is sweetly oaked, with fine tannins, fresh, minerally acidity and a core of red and black fruits. Long, textured and very complex, it’s still a very young wine, so hold off if you can.
2010 The Olive Branch Grenache, McLaren Vale, South Australia
( £10.49 down to £7.86, 14.5%, Sainsbury's )It’s surprisingly hard to find wines made solely from Grenache (such is its predigree as a blending grape), but McLaren Vale in South Australia is often a good bet. This has all the variety’s hallmarks – high alcohol, bags of red fruits and full, but smooth tannins – with well integrated vanilla oak and plenty of perfume and concentration. Very tasty.
2011 Taste the Difference Douro, Douro Valley
( £8.49 down to £6.36, 14.5%, Sainsbury's )Taming the heat of the Douro Valley is the key to making balanced red table wines (as opposed to more fiery, fortified Ports) and Manuel Lobo of Quinta do Crasto has done that with consummate skill here. The wine is rich and flavoursome, all right, with notes of violet, blackberry and spice, supple tannins and youthful vigour, but it has good acidity and freshness, too.
2011 Taste the Difference Primitivo del Salento, Puglia
( £7.49 down to £5.61, 13%, Sainsbury's )Sourced from the flatlands of the Salento peninsula, where Primitivo (aka Zinfandel) is at its best in Puglia, this is a toothsome, barrel-aged red at a very appealing price, showing flavours of plum, blackebrry and spice, with some peppery lift, a touch of tobacco and well-integrated oak. At its best with robust food.
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.
2011 Kanonkop Kadette, Stellenbosch
( £9.99 down to £7.49, 14%, Sainsbury's )So-called Cape red blends are controversial, largely because of the inclusion of Pinotage, which can dominate other varieties to a remarkable degree. But that’s not the case here, despite the presence of 57% Pinotage, offset by Merlot and Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc. This is a classy, nauanced red, with well judged oak, fine tannins and leafy, grassy Cabernet combined with sweeter, raspberry notes from the Pinotage.
2009 Taste the Difference Barolo, Piedmont
( £15.49 down to £11.61, 14.5%, Sainsbury's )Delicious Barolo, like delicious red Burgundy, is hard to find under £20, let alone at closer to £10, but Matteo Ascheri is brilliant at finding parcels of Italy’s most tempertmental grape that deliver flavour as well as value for money. This is a riper style (it was a warm vintage), but combines aromas of rose petal and red fruits with savoury, smoky tannins and a classically firm, even austere finish. A great introduction to the joys of Nebbiolo.