The Rhône Valley still offers great value for money if you know where to look. This is the kind of wine that belies the line that Crozes is the “poor man’s Hermitage”. It’s an intensely scented cool climate Syrah from an impressive recent vintage, with classic liquorice and white pepper aromas, textured, glossy tannins, subtle wood spices and a layers of blackberry and fennel.
Retailer: Berry Brothers & Rudd
2021 Domaine du Bel Air Jour de Soif, Bourgueil, Loire Valley
( £22, 13%, Berry Brothers & Rudd )Loire Valley Cabernet Francs are some of my favourite reds in the world, with just the right combination of freshness, perfume and acidity. This unwooded example from Bourgueil, an appellation which can often be among the earthier expressions of the variety, is wonderfully sappy and thirst-quenching, with aromas of violets and cut grass, bags of crunchy acidity and a palate of black cherry and raspberry framed by graceful tannins.
2018 Faraone Collepietro Pecorino del Colli Aprutini, Abruzzo
( £18.50, 13.5%, Berry Brothers & Rudd )It’s amazing how much flavour good winemakers can extract from white grapes without recourse to oak if the site is special and yields are kept low. This wonderful Pecorino (nothing to do with the cheese of the same name) from Federico Faraone’s Collepietro vineyard has lovely pear and apple flavours, racy acidity, some skin tannins from cryo-maceration and appealing texture from ageing on fermentation lees. Fresh, intense and full of character.