Montes is a winery that has mastered the art of delivering flavour and some complexity at affordable prices, as typified by this ripe, deeply-coloured Merlot from the Colchagua Valley. This has some classic Chilean mint, with attractive plum and black cherry flavours, mid-weight tannins and sweet, assertive oak.
Food Match: Cheese
2012 Stoneburn Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough
( £7.25, 13%, The Wine Society )This is a little sweet and commercial, but it’s a lot less so than many Kiwi Sauvignons at the price. It’s bright and well crafted with classic goosberry fool and tropical fruit exuberance and mouthwatering acidity.
2010 Mazzei, Fonterutoli, Chianti Classico, Tuscany
( £16.75, 13.5%, Great Western Wine )When it’s good – and 2010 is a very classy vintage in Tuscany – Chianti Classico can still deliver a lot of flavour and complexity for less than £20. That’s certainly the case here, because I can’t remember a better basic wine from this estate. Its texture is almost Pinot Noir-like, but with a nip of tannin to add some extra backbone. On the palate, it’s silky and sweet with subtle oak and notes of dried tea, raspberry and wild strawberry. Essence of Sangiovese.
2010 Porta Velha, Valle Pradinhos, Trás-os-Montes
( £7.50, 13%, The Wine Society )If you’re looking for a glass of something unusual, yet also uncomplicated, this is for you. It’s a gloriously juicy Portuguese red with bright bramble and raspberry flavours, a smidgeon of tannin and enough acidity to slice its way through lamb or pork. Great value.
2011 Vinoterra Kisi, Kakheti
( €11.90, 12.5%, Geovino )Too young at the moment – winemaker Gogi says wait two years, but there’s a bright future for this complex, structured amber wine. The nose has everything from cooked plums, to toffee and caramel. Generous stone fruit and quite full bodied.
2010 Alaverdi Monastery Kisi, Kakheti
( POA, 13%, Les Caves de Pyrene )Alaverdi’s Kisi spends 6 months in the Qvevri, the skins and stalks lending it its deep amber colour, with fine-grained but persistent tannins. The aromas are intensely herbal, almost medicinal with hints of caramel and musk. Quite full bodied, with peachy, cooked stone fruit dominating the palate. Hugely complex, but needs food to show at its best.
2011 Alaverdi Monastery Saperavi, Kakheti
( POA, 13%, Les Caves de Pyrene )Alaverdi only produce around 20,000 bottles a year, and they had already run out of the 2010 vintage when we visited in November 2012. This 2011 Qvevri sample needs another year for the rather brutal tannins to resolve, but the purity and focus of the dark, berry fruit is evident. There’s some attractive ginger spiciness, terrific freshness and what Charles Metcalfe describes very aptly as a “balsamic hint”.
2010 Alaverdi Monastery Rkatsiteli, Kakheti
( POA, 13%, Les Caves de Pyrene )This is the wine that first won me over to the charms of the qvevri – the most astoundingly complex nose of tea leaves, baked apples, jasmine, herbs and plum compote (and bear in mind my description does not remotely do it justice). Very much an amber/orange style, with chewy but perfectly ripe tannins – and yet the fruit shines through effortlessly. Outstanding.
2009 Vinoterra Saperavi, Kakheti
( €15.90, 13%, Geovino )Trademark Saperavi produced by Gogi Dakishvili at Schuchmann Wines – Saperavi is perhaps the most important indigenous red grape variety in Georgia today. Peppery, raspberry and prune fruit with an attractive balsamic note. Spicy, tannic but well balanced. Feels effortless.
2011 Vinoterra Rkatsiteli, Kakheti
( €11.90, 12.5%, Geovino )A very accessible qvevri wine, with melon, honey and floral aromas giving way to spicy but restrained tannins and apricot kernel. A great introduction to Rkatsiteli and the qvevri style.
2009 Alberto Longo Le Cruste Rosso, Puglia
( £17.95, 13.5%, Lea & Sandeman )Nero di Troia is the least well known of Puglia’s three main red varieties, but to me it’s the one with the most finesse. This is remarkably light and refreshing for a wine from the south of Italy, reminiscent of a Tempranillo, with elegant red fruits, a nip of tannin and impressive length on the palate. It hangs around. And you’re grateful.
2010 Château de Pennautier, Cabardès, Languedoc
( £5.99, 13.5%, Majestic )A lipsmacking blend of five red grapes from one of the cooler, more Atlantic influenced sub-regions of the Languedoc, this is light and refreshing in a Bordeaux meets the Midi sort of way, with some pepper spice, a bit of mint and oak and bags of aroma. Great value, too.