Drinkable Pinot Noir, let alone very drinkable Pinot Noir, under £8 is one of wine’s holier grails. This Chilean example from increasingly fashionable Leyda offers even better value than that. From 22nd of November it will be down to £6.99 each for two months. The wine tastes as good as it looks, with sweet raspberry and red cherry flavours, a touch of oak and refreshing, cool climate acidity. There’s some leafy complexity here, too.
Price Range: £5-£10
2009 Domaine Les Yeuses "Les Epices" Syrah, Pays d'Oc
( £7.49, 13.5%, Majestic )This won the best red wine prize at this year’s IGP Top 100 (not the first time Les Yeuses has been on the podium) and it’s a stunner. Even though it hails from the Languedoc, it tastes as good as many more expensive wines from the nothern Rhône. Perfumed and spicy, with notes of black olive, thyme and blackberry, it’s smoky and subtly oaked. Close you eyes and you could be drinking Côte Rôtie.
2008 Ramon Bilbao Single Vineyard Rioja
( £7.49 each for two, 13.5%, Majestic )A high altitude blend of Tempranillo and Garnacha from the cooler Rioja Alta sub-zone, this modern blend typifies what’s happening in Spain’s most famous wine region at the moment. It’s juicy and flavoursome with sweet, spicy raspberry fruit, medium alcohol, understated oak and a tangy, refreshing finish.
2009 Domaine Lagneau, Régnié
( £9.95, 13%, Stone, Vine & Sun )These 2009 Beaujolais crus really are delicious, so if you are looking for a gluggable summer red to chill out with, this Régnié is the perfect candidate. It’s wonderfully bright and aromatic, with notes of raspberry and red cherry, good texture, lightweight tannins and old vine concentration, with sappy acidity and a refreshing finish. It should keep for a year or two, too.
2010 Domäne Wachau Terraces Grüner Veltliner, Wachau
( £8.49, down to £6.36 from June 29 to July 19, 12%, Waitrose )You might want to wait until this excellent, entry point Grüner goes on special offer at the end of the month, but it’s a really good wine with which to celebrate the arrival of summer. It’s taut, minerally and complex, with pure fruit flavours, no oak, and lovely aromas of white flowers, white pepepr and wet stones. The kind of thing that makes you want to sing in the (Viennese) woods.
2009 Crasto Douro Red
( £8.49 each for two, 13.5%, Majestic )Make sure you buy the 2009 vintage of this brilliant Douro red, rather than the 2008, because it’s a step up in terms of perfume and elegance. This is a harmonious blend of Touriga Nacional. Tinta Francesa and Tinta Roriz (aka Tempranillo), showing exotic blackberry and bluberry fruit, a touch of sweet oak, plush tannins and real vibrancy. Significantly, it’s got none of that Douro bake character, just masses of gluggable fruit.
2008 Cave de Beblenheim Grafenreben Riesling d'Alsace
( £8.82, 12%, Waitrose )It’s easy to forget about Alsace Riesling in the rush to buy examples of the grape from Germany and Australia, but they can be some of France’s best whites, especially if they are made in a dry style, like this one. The wine is fresh and delicate, with lovely lime-like flavours, some stony minerality, a hint of the complex bitterness that is so typical of the region and a fine, lingering finish.