Aussie red wines under £7.50 can be something of a lottery, but this is a brilliant value find from the Co-op, sourced from top Shiraz region, Mount Benson. Richly coloured, spicy and very lightly oaked, it has classic blackberry and wild herb flavours, supple tannins and enough acidity to keep the wine perky, fresh and long on the palate.
2019 Morrisons The Best Verdicchio, Marche
( £6, down from £6.50, 12%, Morrisons )This is an outstanding bargain at £6.50. At the cheaper offer price, it’s close to a steal. Sourced from Monte Schiavo, it’s a wine that looks as good as it tastes. Perfect for seafood or white fish, it’s crisp, tangy and dry, with citrus and pine needle notes and the faintest hint of the salty seashore.
2016 Tesco Viña del Cura Rioja Crianza, Rioja
( £6.75, 13.5% )Is there a better value Rioja Crianza in the UK right now? If there is, I haven’t tasted it. Sourced from Bodegas Muriel, this is a wonderfully traditional style, made entirely from Tempranillo and aged in American oak. Supple, fragrant and sweet, with notes of coconut, fresh tobacco and wild strawberry underpinned by fresh acidity. Delicious.
2015 As Furnias, Juan González Arjones, Galicia
( £18.50, 12.5% )Sold as a table wine (vino de mesa), despite the fact that it comes from the sub-zone of Crecente in the Rías Baixas DO, this is an intriguing and quite possibly unique cuvée of Brancellao, Caiño, Sousão and Espadeiro. (The Portuguese names are appropriate, given that the vineyards are close to the River Minho, which separates Spain from northern Portugal). Juicy, tangy and savoury, with an appealingly wild, funky note, bracing acidity, crunchy bramble and pomegranate fruit and the sort of freshness and bite you find in red Vinho Verde. One of a number of impressive wines from this dynamic Galician importer.
2017 Truly Irresistible Carmenère, Maipo Costa
( £7, 13.6% )I’m a big fan of the wines that supermarket buyer Joe Turner has blended with Indómita for the UK’s Co-operative chain. This is rich, weighty and plush with a touch of oak, some blueberry and black fig flavours and a hint of green pepper.
Magpie Estate SF2, Barossa Valley
( £13.99, 14.5, Noel Young Wines )If you want to drink a Barossa red with very little oak but bags of flavour, this unfiltered, co-fermented cuvée of Mataro (Mourvèdre) and 35% Grenache is well worth tracking down. Spicy and peppery, with some stemmy whole bunch flavours, floral top notes, mint, raspberry and bramble fruit and fine-grained tannins.
2015 Domaine de la Toupie Fine Fleur, Roussillon
( £15.95, 14.5, Joie de Vin )The Roussillon region, which forms part of France’s border with Spain, is best known for its reds and fortified wines, but can make surprisingly impressive whites, too. Jérôme Collas makes small amounts of this deliciously characterful white blend from a combination of old-vine Grenache Gris, Grenache Blanc and Macabeu, grown at a cool 350 metres. The result is a taut, herbal, savoury white with refreshing acidity, a nutty, salty tang and hints of white flowers and fresh pears. One of number of great Roussillon selections from Joie de Vin.
2004 Urbina Gran Reserva Rioja, Rioja
( £19, 14%, The Wine Society )The Urbina family’s appealingly traditional Riojas age brilliantly thanks to the acidity that comes with growing Tempranillo in the cool, limestone-dominated Cuzcurrita zone. This isn’t a blockbuster wine, but it’s remarkably complex, savoury and scented with notes of wild strawberries, forest floor and pouch tobacco, filigree tannins and haunting balsamic sweetness.
2017 Riccittelli Wines Hey! Malbec, Mendoza
( £12.99, 14%, Majestic )Hey! is a wine that grabs your attention with its super hero label as it caresses your palate with the supple tannins of a delicious Argentinean Malbec. Made with old vine fruit from Mendoza’s Luján de Cuyo sub-region, it’s a plush, perfumed juicy red with violet perfume, a kiss of oak and lashings of bramble and blackberry fruit. Wonderfully gluggable.
2017 Dog Point Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough
( £14.50, 12.5% )Classic modern, dry Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc from two of the masters of the region, James Healy and Ivan Sutherland, showing notes of lemon grass, passion fruit and fresh sweat (more appealing than it sounds, honest). Nettley, zingy acidity, plenty of focus and a long, refreshing finish. My kind of Kiwi white.
2015 Dog Point Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc Section 94, Marlborough
( £17-22, 13.5% )A wine that’s consistently a match for all but the very best (and much more expensive) wines of Pessac-Léognan, this deftly oaked Marlborough Sauvignon ages brilliantly too. Leesy, rich yet beautifully balanced, it combines flavours of vanilla spice, gooseberry fool, lanolin and vivid acidity. One of the region’s very best expressions of the grape.
2015 Dog Point Vineyard Chardonnay, Marlborough
( £21, 13.5%, The Wine Society )Not as well known as the Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc releases, but every bit as good in my opinion, this is frequently among my favourite South Island Chardonnays. Toasty, savoury and enticing, it has citrus and beeswax notes supported by fresh, palate cleasning acidity and a nutty finish. Just starting to develop bottle-aged complexity.