’Tis the season to reach for a warming bottle of red wine. Whites are refreshing on summer days, but in winter a bottle of vin rouge is best with a hearty meal.
Better still, this is the best time of year to buy wine. Supermarkets and large retailers are competing to get market share from the lucrative Christmas period.
Approximately 30% of total annual wine sales happen in the last six weeks of the year, which means prices are competitive. Offers either come as single bottle price reductions, or as per case discount (usually six bottles).
The real trick in selecting the right bottle depends on the food, the mood or occasion.
But if you don’t know a delicate Pinot Noir from an Australian Shiraz, where should you start? Right here. We’ve come up with a range of wine styles and prices, from everyday drinking to dinner party specials.
Stack your wine rack up with this lot and impress your wine connoisseur mates.
This light fruity Pinot Noir from Romania is a great glass of red for every day. This wine offers fantastic value for money, punches well above its weight at this price.
This Kiwi wine from the Majestic’s own label range serves up a ripe juicy style of Pinot Noir fit to accompany roast lamb or game. It is also a great one to drink in front of the telly with salted cashews.
From the house of Louis Jadot, this light fruity red produced from 80% Gamay and 20% Pinot Noir is a great wine to drink while eating chicken - or turkey!
This Rioja Reserva crafted by Baron De Ley for Tesco is a winner. Aged for two years in oak barrels, allowed to rest and develop in bottle for a further year before we get to taste it, this wine is a bargain. Great with food, especially cheese for me.
This vibrant Sicilian Red can be found in Oddbins. You won’t find an Oddbins in every town as in years gone by, but they’re still here and they do deliver. The Zensa produced from Sicily’s most widely planted and well known grape variety, Nero D’Avola, will give you spicy black cherry on the palette. Great with shepherd’s pie.
This wine is an absolute favourite of mine and lives in my wine rack all year round. It is produced from Bordeaux grape varieties which is why it delivers such finesse. Lebanon has a history of wine production dating back 6000 years. Currently Chateau Musar is top of the Lebanese tree.
This is a big bold soft velvety Cab Sauv from California. If you feel you need to reward yourself, this could do it. Currently on a great offer at Waitrose, this could be the time to stock up.
This fine wine is crafted by the Catena family in Mendoza, Argentina — a family business spanning four generations. The Malbec grapes come from four different vineyards all at high altitude in the lower slopes of the Andes, and boasts overtones of plum and cherry.
Mayu Carménère Appassimento, Chile 2016, Majestic, £12.99 (£9.99 each for mixed case of six)
The Carménère grape originated in France but has become the signature grape of Chile. To produce this Appassimento, the grapes have been dried for two months to concentrate the sugars, producing a deep, concentrated wine. This is a lot of wine for the money. Drink it now or stick it in the rack. It could be worth planning a dinner party around this wine.
Gnarly Dudes Shiraz 2016 Two Hands, Barossa Valley, Majestic, £21.99 (£18.99 each for mixed case of six)
This wine is a powerhouse of an Aussie Shiraz! Produced using grapes from mature vines and from a number of small parcels, aged in oak for 12 months, this is a wine to get your teeth into. Serving suggestion? It sits nicely with beef, lamb, or cheese.