Virtually all these red wines are designed to be drunk with food and where obvious I have suggested a few particularly suitable matches. I have concentrated on Pinot Noirs and wines from Burgundy because I think they go particularly well with the roasts and game often served at this time of year. Rhône wines and their like are included for much the same reason – and also because the southern Rhône is a particularly useful source of bargains at the moment. I have picked out a number of brightly shining, keenly-priced needles in the confusing haystack that is red bordeaux. Those looking for even finer claret should consult my recent review of bordeaux vintages. Spain and Southern France are notably rewarding sources of red wine value today. See key to abbreviations at the end.
Bajoz, Cano 2004 Toro
£4.49 Tesco and Morrisons, £5.50 Abbey Wines
Lively, rich, young super-juicy Spanish red, Tempranillo plus 25 per cent Garnacha.
La Chapelle de Pitray 2003 Côtes de Castillon
£4.99/4.49 Maj
Correct claret but so much fruit that it’s very easy to enjoy. Good value.
Dom de la Meynard, Plan de Dieu 2004 Côtes du Rhône Villages
£4.99 M&S
Unoaked southern French fruit – spicy sweet and very accessible. The lower reaches of southern Rhône appellations offers some of the world’s best value at the moment. Two-thirds Grenache with Syrah and Carignan.
Los Cabos 2004 Cariñena
£5.49 Oddb
Easy-going blend of warm, ripe Spanish fruit frin 50 year-old Garnacha vines plus some Merlot and Cabernet from Solar de Urbezo. Very slightly gassy – probably made extra juicy by carbonic maceration.
Conde de Siruela 2004 Ribera del Duero
£5.49 Sains
Very far from the greatest Ribera del Duero you will ever taste but with its impressive charge of acidity, fruit, tannin and colour, it does taste like a Ribera, has had four months in barrique and provides suave tobacco leaf flavours for drinking over the next year. A bargain from Santa Eulalia. Don’t get caught up in the Ribera del Duero hype whereby lots of expensive labels represent little more than four walls and a one-off grape purchase.
Monte Schiavo, Sassaiolo 2003 Rosso Piceno
£5.99/4.99 Maj
Bumptious, fruit-laden Adriatic Italian with bite on the finish.
Ch de Camplazens Syrah 2004 Vin de Pays d’Oc
£5.99/5.49 Maj
Great value even at the single bottle price. Not a complex wine but a beautifully balanced varietal example warmed by the southern French sun which shows every sign of holding up at least until 2007. This wine won a Gold medal in the Decanter magazine awards this year.
Ch Haut d’Allard 2004 Côtes de Bourg
£5.99 Waitrose
Along with Oddbins’ Ch Haut Lignan, one of the best bordeaux buys available. Ripe, rich, mainly Merlot but with sufficient freshness of fruit too. Well done!
Errazuriz Estate Shiraz 2004 Aconcagua
£5.99 Waitrose
Waitrose seem to have cornered the market in good wines at this useful price level. This Chilean is full, brooding and supple. It’s sweeter than a Rhône Syrah would be but delivers a lot of bang per buck.
Minervois 2003 Maurel Vedeau
£5.99 Waitrose
Very smart-looking bottle and unusually fragrant fruit – as though there is a big dollop of Cinsault in the blend (in fact just 20 per cetn apparently, with Grenach, Syrah and Carignan). Very gentle texture
Casa de la Ermita, Joven 2004 Jumilla
£6.20 Marc1Wines of Aldeburgh, £6.50 Noel Young, £6.95 Averys, £7.99 Abbey Wines of Melrose
Full, sweet, round cocktail of Mourvèdre, Tempranillo and Cabernet – one of the simpler bottlings from this very active new wave Spanish producer.
Côtes-du-Rhône 2004 Chapoutier
£6.49 Waitrose
Chapoutier now claim to be the world’s most substantial farmer of biodynamic vineyards. This 60 per cent Grenache wine from the southern Rhône has a whisper of Syrah’s black pepper on the finish and masses of personality. Real wine – warm and appetising and very slightly dangerous. (Guigal’s 2001 is a pound more a bottle at Waitrose and has more punch, and more tannin.)
Côtes-du-Rhône 2003 Ch de St Cosme
£6.95 WotT
Thick, sweet, lots of beef per penny from a fine Gigondas producer.
Down South Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc 2004 Frankland River
£6.99/4.66 WR
A steal from Ferngrove of Western Australia at the lower price. Lovely freshness and restraint. A good wine to coNVince claret lovers there is life outside Bordeaux, if any still need coNVincing.
Ch Haut Lignan 2003 Médoc
£6.99 Oddb
A great opportunity to benefit as a wine drinker from the current slump in the fortunes of all but the most famous châteaux in the Médoc. This is beautifully balanced wine – lots of ripe 2003 fruit, quite a bit of Merlot as well as Cabernet, enough acidity and some tannin. Relatively rich and rewarding but indisputably bordeaux. 13 per cent alcohol. Should be hovered up for drinking any time over the next 12 months.
Pizzorno Merlot/Tannat 2004 Uruguay
£6.99 Waitrose
Very smooth and characterful from an improving source. Quite soft but very honest. Bring on the Fray Bentos.
Adnams Selection Tuscan Red La Cappella 2002 Sangiovese di Toscana
£6.99 Adnams
Pretty good value for a really characteristic Subtuscan from Castello di Volpaia, even from a difficult vintage. Fresh, fruity and honest. Just the thing for a cold turkey lunch.
Glen Carlou, Tortoise Hill 2003
£6.99 Oddb
New line from one of South Africa’s more admired wine producers< a great-value blend of 50 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon with 20 per cent Zinfandel, 10 per cent each of Syrah, Touriga Nacional and Merlot. It was aged in old oak for 15 months and is an excellent mouthful – well constructed and balanced for really satisfying drinking over the next two months. The white blend’s pretty nice too. Screwcaps make them even more accessible.
Little Yering Pinot Noir 2003 Yarra Valley
£6.99 Co-op branches
From Yering Station which is really on a roll at present. Lovely upfront fruit for drinking, slightly cool, over the next few months. Good with or without food but leftovers don’t keep well.
Montes Limited Selection Cabernet/Carmenère 2004 Colchagua
£6.99/5.59 Maj
Very good value blend of 70 per cent Cabernet from the highly favoured Apalta vineyard in a smart, broad-shouldered bottle with quite a bit of structure and a hint of milk chocolate. But one does wonder how limited is ‘Limited’?
Sainsbury’s Classic Selection Coonawarra Cabernet 2002
£6.99 Sains
Truly terrible label, like so many of Sainsbury’s, but a great price. This is so obviously Coonawarra Cabernet and was made by the estimable Katnook. It’s almost mature and a great expression of place and grape. A bargain.
St Chinian 2002 Roches Noires
£6.99 Tesco
This is the red I would head for if I had to choose one chez Tesco. It’s pure pleasure from the Roquebrun co-op: 60 per cent Syrah with Mourvèdre and Grenache and is a lovely combination of opulent glossy texture and the leatheriness of Syrah. A very good effort for the vintage and both dense and fresh. Ready to drink any time over the next year.
St Chinian, L’Ivresse des Cimes 2003 Dom des Teres Falmet
£7.35 Vine Trail
Very rich and gamey with masses of punch. Needs substantial food – a daube?
Borie de Maurel, Esprit d’Automne 2004 Minervois
£7.39 Oddb
Full, rich, supple current drink from a very reliable Languedoc producer. Although there’s some chew on the end, this is already a pleasure.
Ch Domi-Cours 2003 Bordeaux
£7.50 SVS
Strange name but awfully good-value mouthful of powerful, peppery fruit for drinking over the next two years.
Cairanne, Côtes-du-Rhône 2003 Dom de l’Ameillaud
£7.60 Jeroboams
Sweet, round, lovely balance. Ready.
Brouilly 2003 Dom Roches Bleues
£7.74 Goedhuis
Good fruity, lightly oaked mouthful of dancing pleasure.
Saumur, Vieilles Vignes 2002 Domaine de la Fuye
£7.77 IFR
Round and lively with lots of refreshing acidity as well as punchy Cabernet Franc fruit. Great lunch wine.
Belles Pierres, Clauzes de Jo 2003 Coteaux du Languedoc
£7.95 SVS
Full, powerful with masses of fruit but notable structure too. Drink over the next three years.
Dom des Chênes, Le Mascarou 2001
£7.95 L&S
Excellent price for a fully developed southern French red with spice and mineral notes.
La Forge Merlot 2004 Vin de Pays d’Oc
£7.99/5.33 Thresh/WR
When I made the 2001 vintage of this wine of the week in 2003 it retailed at £5.49-5.99 but I hardly begrudge the apparent price rise for it is still quite exceptionally good. I’ve certainly never come across a better Languedoc Merlot. It comes in a heavy bottle and is labelled in a shameless rip off of the Harlan Estate label but what’s inside is also very high quality. The creative Jean-Paul Mas, one of France’s better marketers, has bottled this intense, leafy, full-bodied well-crafted wine unfiltered and there is no hurry whatsoever to drink it.
Cazal Viel, Grande Reserve Syrah 2003 Vin de Pays d’Oc
£7.99/5.33 Thresh/WR
Very rich, full and flattering with a floral nose to keep it light. Gentle texture. Well made at a reliable address with a nice line in Viognier. Alcohol is 13.5 per cent – average in fact.
Ch La Varière 2003 Anjou-Villages Brissac
£7.99 Waitrose
Beautifully flattering yet fragrant Cabernet Franc from the Loire. (When this grape ripens fully here, it is gloriously subtle.) Subtle and gentle – just the thing for the delicate.
De Bortoli Shiraz 2001 Heathcote
£7.99 Oddb
Oddly mature for such a sought-after combination of grape and (fashionable, Victorian) region. Not too sweet, with Heathcote’s attractive and distinctive minerality. Good packaging too. Quite a bargain by Australian standards. Limited quantities.
Icardi, Tabarin 2003 Barbera d’Asti
£7.99 Oddb
Dark and dank like a bank of violets with some old oak suggestion but very gentle and rewarding for the money. Neither sweet nor simple.
Dom du Joncier 2003 Lirac
£8.50 SVS
Complete southern Rhône wine that positively slides down the throat – very fine tannins. Lots of beef.
Morellino di Scansano, Heba 2004 Fattoria di Magliano
£8.95 L&S
Maremma Sangiovese with 15 per cent Syrah makes a beautifully ripe, open taste of Tuscany.
Baltasar Garnacha 2002 Calatayud
£8.99/5.99 WR
Rich yet lively northern Spanish Garnacha (Grenache) – resplendently full and gorgeous just waiting to be enjoyed. From Bodegas San Alejandro.
Katnook Founder’s Block Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 Coonawarra
£8.99 Oddb
The Shiraz at the same price at Majstic is pretty good too but it’s the Cabernet that shows the full majesty of Coonawarra’s firmly backboned fruit even in this cool year. A very complete wine, although see also Sainsbury’s own label at £6.99.
Enira 2004 Pazarjik, Bulgaria
£8.99 top Waitrose stores
Made by a smart St Emilion château owner, very ripe and exuberant. Could this herald more exciting wines to emerge from Bulgaria’s long-neglected vineyards?
Yonder Hill Inanda 2002 Stellenbosch
£8.99 larger Sains
One of the most attractively labelled South African reds, this stern, youthful bordeaux blend has a touch of earthiness and 14 per cent alcohol but should have considerable ageing potential. In fact I wouldn’t drink it until next year although it won’t be available for long.
Chianti Classico 2003 Borgo Salcetino
£8.99 Waitrose
A Chianti that is not trying to be anything else – delightfullly appetising and no heavy handed oak. On no account drink this without food though.j
Marananga Dam Grenache/Syrah/Mourvèdre 2003 Barossa Valley
£8.99 larger M&S
Offcuts blended specially by Dave Powell of internationally celebrated Torbreck whose RunRig sells for closer to £100 a bottle. Clearly already quite mature, strawberry-rich fruit with far more personality (80 year-old, unirrigated vines) than most wines in the multiple retailers. Round and sweet with a dusty suggestion of schist even. A gem for the cognoscenti.
Ch des Tours 2004 Brouilly
About £9 Beaconsfield Wine Cellar (Beaconsfield), D Byrne (Clitheroe), Frank Stainton (Kendal), Dunells (Jersey)
Really crunchy fruit and texture. Refreshing rather than big. Cold meat accompaniment?
Vacqueyras Cuvée Classique 2001 Dom Le Couroulu
£8.99 D Byrne & Co (Clitheroe), about £10.45 Berry Bros, Wimbledon Wine Cellar, R S Wines (Winford)
Great value for a deep-flavoured, spicy, savoury sub-Châteauneuf-du-Pape that is already a pleasure to drink.
Contado Aglianico 2002 Di Majo Norante
£9.50 L&S
The great grape of southern Italy in fine, fresh, rich form.
Alkoomi Shiraz/Viognier 2003 Frankland River
£9.95 Jeroboams
Rich, smooth and perfumed. Interesting.
Clos de Charmes, Ch Rieutort 2001 Coteaux du Languedoc
£9.99/6.66 WR
Definitively not the sort of wine you expect to find on the high street: gentle, mellow, distinctively folksy blend of southern French grapes grown at impressively low yields resulting in an obviously terroir-driven wine. Great vintage and great value at the lower price.
Newton Johnson Pinot Noir 2004 Elgin/Walker Bay
£9.99 Morrisons
Fine, true burgundian flavours from this suitably dry, cool-climate South African.
Ch d’Arcins 2002 Haut Médoc
£9.99 Oddb
If the Oddbins chain, owned by one of the most prominent wine trade families in Bordeaux, cannot source the odd bargain claret, who can? This cru bourgeois is in the ‘gap’ between Margaux and St-Julien, already shows some development but is very refreshing and should provide good drinking over the next three years.
Ch Haut Carmaillet 2001 Haut Médoc
£9.99 M&S
Made by AXA magician Daniel Llose at Ch Paloumey this blend of equal parts Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon is attractively fleshy for current drinking. The 2001 vintage is overall much better than the 2002 in Bordeaux.
Ch des Lumières 2003 Morgon
£9.99 Waitrose
This top quality Beaujolais from Louis Jadot is wonderfully ambitious. Drink it any time over the next three years, preferably lightly chilled. Great with cold turkey.
Nero d’Avola 2003 Sicily
£9.99 M&S
A bit too expensive this but it’s delicious wine in which the quality of the grapes, Sicily’s current bright star, shines out. It comes from the south east of the island, home to the best Nero d’Avola.
Yering Station Shiraz/Viognier 2003 Yarra Valley
£9.99 larger Sains
Talk about fashion victims. Can you find a straight Shiraz in Australia any more? Seems as though they are all products of co-fermentation with Viognier nowadays. But this wine is lovely – real wine, so obviously not the product of some collaboration with a supermarket or marketeer. Very restrained, obviously cool climate, not yet ready. Drink it 2006-09.
Doña Dominga Gran Reserva Carmenère 2003 Colchagua
£9.99 Oddb
Extremely rich, charming, dense and eloquent version of Chile’s own grape, with a distinct hint of bergamot. If you don’t like Earl Grey, you won’t like this.
Fortnum’s Canon Fronsac 2000 Ch du Gaby
£10.50 F&M
Quite a coup to underprice Sainsbury’s Vieille Cure (see below) so decisively. Slightly gamey nose on top of a really luscious palate even if not quite as voluptuous as the Vieille Cure. No hurry to drink this.
Bandol 2001 Dom de la Suffrène
£10.75 Vine Trail
Very big (15 per cent alcohol), but tamed by now. A rich velvety wine for those who seek power.
Saintsbury, Garnet Pinot Noir 2004 Carneros
£10.99/8.49
Lovely gentle, pure, Pinot fruit at a bargain price for one of California’s proven success. Drink this over the next three years. It nudges rather than assaults you.
Vacqueyras 2001 Dom Le Clos de Caveau
£10.99 Adnams
Full, rich and extremely smooth, this biodynamic wine – very satisfying, at the peak of its maturity. Very pure blend of Grenache and Syrah from the southern Rhône.
Laurent Brusset, Vendange Chabrille 2001 CDRV Cairanne
£11 BRW
Very serious Syrah savour on the nose. Very impressive for the money. Quite long.
Home Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 Napa Valley
£11 larger M&S
Another ridiculously low price from M&S. Far too cheap for a Napa Cabernet, even if it doesn’t carry a famous name. This wine was sourced for M&S by Fetzer, hardly a big name in Napa Valley, but clearly well able to find a bargain and a delicious-tasting wine that is opulently, spicily, obviously Napa Cab. If Bordeaux could do this for £11….! M&S find it difficult to sell – and no wonder. The key expression, Napa Valley, is in tiny letters on the label, although there are plans to change this.
Ch Villa Bel-Air 2001 Graves
£11 BBR
This wine was always outstanding right from the start. It says something unpalatable about the Bordeaux market that it can still be bought for £55 a dozen (plus VAT and duty, so approximately £6.70 a bottle) from Farr Vintners at the time of writing. Berry Bros have decided to put it out of its misery by selling it as Berrys Extra Ordinary Claret – and it is certainly streets ahead of their Ordinary Claret at £5.50 a bottle. Very fresh vigorous fruit for current drinking. See purple prose.
Fleurie Vieilles Vignes 2004 Dom de la Madone
£10-12 Wimbledon Wine Cellar, Noel Young (Cambridgeshire), DeFine Food & Wine (Cheshire), Bin Two (Padstow)
Real depth of flavour on this classic cru Beaujolais.
Hewitson, Miss Harry 2003 Barossa Valley
£11.95 BBR
Very full, rich, easy blend of very old, unirrigated Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvèdre vines from one of Barossa’s gentler winemakers and wine-pricers. Screwcap.
St Paul de Dominique 2001 St Emilion Grand Cru
£11.99/9.99 Maj
The second wine of Ch La Dominique is very full and opulent and already drinking well. No need to cellar this.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Les Closiers 2003
£11.99 M&S
Thick, sweet, dense and not marred by dried raisin flavours. Very very sweet and gentle.
Côte de Nuits Villages, Les Chaillots 2002 Gachet-Monot
£11.99 IFR
Lovely fresh fruit plus notes of spice and liquorice. A good buy. for drinking over the next two or three years.
Chorey-lès-Beaune 2003 Dom Pascal Maillard
£11.99 top Waitrose stores
Stunning value – great concentration and pleasure for the price. I wouldn’t keep this but it should provide bright, ripe fruit over the next few months. Lovely with game.
Pinot Noir, Las Brisas, Viña Leyda 2004 Chile
£11.99 Adnams
Leyda is right on the Pacific which transforms this new wine region into a cool one. Lots of fruit, sufficient zip. You might take it for Central Otago blind.
D’Arenberg The Galvo 2002 McLaren Vale
£11.99 Waitrose Inner Cellar
Very fair price for so much ripe fruit. Shame there’s not more of it.
Dom des Espiers 2004 Gigondas
£12.25 SVS
Enjoy a sneak preview of this lauded southern Rhône vintage with this already-gulpable mouthful of round, exuberant Grenache.
Bourgogne Rouge, Les Bons Batons 2003 Patrice Rion
£12.95 BBR
Very pure, miraculously fresh expression of Pinot Noir with 2003 opulence on the palate – in a screwcap!
Casa Lapostolle, Cuvée Alexandre Merlot 2004 Colchagua
£12.99/10.39 Maj
Thick, sweet, typically Rolland but sufficiently lively to coNVince me it will still be dirnking well in 2009. Sleek, satiny but with good grip.
Givry Premier Cru Vieilles Vignes 2003 Dom Michel Sarrazin
£12.99/11.99 Maj
Nose combines opulence with classicism. Very sweet and fruity on the palate. Drink soonish, but with pleasure.
Mercurey, Les Ormeaux 2003 Dom Maréchal
£12.99 Adnams
Red burgundy from the Côte Chalonnaise can all too often be too countrified to be delicious but the extra ripeness of 2003 seems to have woven a spell here. This wine is a great honest mouthful of Pinot Noir fruit with more subtlety than many. Drink over the next year or two though.
Wither Hills Pinot Noir 2003 Marlborough
£12.74 – £14.99 Booths, Maj, Oddb
This wine certainly talks the talk now – lots of Pinot fruit and good balance, from New Zealand.
Ch de la Negly, La Falaise 2003 Coteaux du Languedoc
About £12.99 Wimbledon Wine Cellar, Define Food & Wine (Cheshire), Bowland Forest Vintners (Lancashire),
Dunells (Jersey)
Meaty Syrah-dominated blend with masses of rich, spicy, satisfying flavour. Not overpriced.
Clonakilla Shiraz 2004 Hilltops
£13.49 Waitrose Inner Cellar
Very gentle and well made from high ground in New South Wales.
Dom Bressy-Masson, A la Gloire de Mon Père 2001 CDRV Rasteau
£13.50 BRW
Great value for a beautifully textured southern Rhône for drinking over the next nine years.
Lammershoek Syrah 2003 Swartland
£13.50 SVS
Smoky, flattering. Gentle mouthful from one of South Africa’s most promising wine regions.
Givry Premier Cru Clos de Choué 2003 Chofflet-Valdenaire
£13.75 SVS
The heatwave vintage seems to have worked well in the Côte Chalonnaise – great-value, peppery fruit.
Gigondas 2000 Ch Les Pallières
£13.89 D Byrne & Co (Clitheroe). About £16.50 Philglas & Swiggot, Centurion Vintners (Stroud), SH Jones (Banbury), Wimbledon Wine Cellar.
Drinking very well now, like a number of southern Rhône 2000s – very sweet and rewarding.
Gevrey Chambertin 2002 Alain Voegli
£13.95 IFR
Silly price for proper red burgundy.
Crozes Hermitage. Tête de Cuvée 2003 Yann Chave
£13.95 SVS
Smooth, rich and lively – a much more complete, opulent wine than most Crozes. (Yann is not related to Gérard Chave.)
Picardy Shiraz 2002 Pemberton
£13.95 Jeroboams
This is a very reliable producer in an exciting corner of Western Australia. This wine is leathery and rather old-fashioned but also round and rewarding. See too their very fine Pinot Noir 2003 at the same price.
Ch Beaumont 2001 Haut-Médoc
£13.99/9.33 WR
Not the greatest claret bargain of all time but the best bet if you can reach only a Wine Rack. Drink this cru bourgeois 2007-11 ideally.
De Bortoli Pinot Noir 2003 Yarra Valley
£13.99 Oddb
Deceptively gentle but with hidden depths, although I wouldn’t keep it. Good with turkey and the trimmings.
Lone Range Syrah 2002 Hawkes Bay
£14.99 larger M&S
Syrah from Craggy Range where this was made is black market stuff at double the price in its native New Zealand, but here M&S can hardly persuade its customers to give this a second look. Crazy! Amazingly intense with flavours of black olive, tar, black anything. No hurry to drink this.
La Croix de Beaucaillou 1997 St Julien
£14.99 Maj
Fully mature second wine of Ch Ducru Beaucaillou that is great at expressed the softness of the vintage and the gravely nature of the appellation. Lovely, easy, long.
Ch La Vieille Cure 2000 Fronsac
£14.99 bigger Sains
This is a very fair price for a deliciously velvety claret that can already be enjoyed although it should drink well over the next five years. Very slightly earthy but is good honest right bank pleasure.
Dom de Font-Sane 2001 Gigondas
£15 HN
Relatively light and floral scented for a Gigondas, more transparent than some of the chewy soups sold as Gigondas. For any time over the next five years/
La Réserve de Léoville Barton 1999 St Julien
£15.18 Goedhuis
The ever-reliable second wine of Ch LB and very toothsome it is at present. Good label too.
Quinta do Alqueve Touriga Nacional/Syrah 2001 Pinhal da Torre
£15.95 J&B
Very promising blend (also to be found from Finca Sandoval in Spain) that puts a nice savoury leathery note on port grape Touriga’s flesh/ For drinking over the next five years.
Etna Rosso, Guardiola 2002 Tenuta delle Terre Nere
£16 J&B
Black earth indeed, this wine grown on the slopes of Mount Etna (did the vineyard survive the latest eruptions, I wonder?). It’s almost like licking lava but there is certainly no shortage of interest. Eastern Sicily is a hotbed in at least two senses.
Finca Valpiedra Reserva 1997 Rioja
£16.49 Oddb
Perfect – apart from the 21st century price – for those with fond memories of truly mature, oaky Rioja with velvety strawberry fruit. Not a vintage with a great repution but Martinez Bujanda seem to have spun gold from their super dooper single vineyard.
Ch Teyssier 2001 St-Emilion
£16.50 WotT
Dynamic, British-run château from am excellent right bank vintage. Also available in festive magnums and double magnums at £32 and £90 respectively. I’d go for two magnums myself.
Gaia Estate Aghiorghitiko 2001 Nemea
£16.99 Oddb
Indubitably superior wine with real substance, chew and potential. A modern Greek classic.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape, La Crau de Ma Mère 2001 Dom du Père Pape
£17.14 Goedhuis
The 2001 southern Rhônes are just coming into their own. This one is both sweet and exciting to drink – any time over the next four years.
Chassagne Montrachet Rouge, Premier Cru Morgeot 2002 Dom Fernand & Laurent Pillot
£17.95 L&S
Super-fruity yet delicate red burgundy for current drinking.
Nuits St Georges 2001 Dom Robert Arnoux
£17.99 Maj
Beautifully classic Côtes de Nuits burgundy at a great price from a distinctly superior domaine. It cries out for food but could be enjoyed already.
Clos des Quatre Vents 2002 Margaux
£18.60 J&B
Tiny plot near second growth Ch Durfort-Vivens made by Luc Thienpont. Very Margaux – scented and gentle and ready to be drunk any time over the next four years.
Dom de la Charbonnière 2001 CdP
£22 HN
Herby notes of the garrique and beautifully round warmth and harmony. Pure hedonism – but beware its 15.5 per cent alcohol.
Beaune Premier Cru, Teurons 2000 Ch de Chorey
£22.03 Goedhuis
Rich and as easy on the palate as on the wallet.
Herzog Pinot Noir 2003 Marlborough
£22.99 Noel Young
The finest Marlborough 2003 Pinot to have come my way. Real depth of flavour.
Morey St Denis Premier Cru Millandes 1999 Arlaud
£25 SVS
Great value for such a rich, meaty red burgundy for current drinking.
Quintarelli, Primo Fiore 2002 Veneto
£25.50 BBR
Very unusual to come across a Quintarelli wine that is as relatively inexpensive and approachable as this. It does indeed smell floral and, like all Quintarelli wines, is incredibly intense with a slightly dusty overlay – but one mouthful would last for several minutes. Seriously interesting with notes of alpine flowers. Mainly the Valpolicella grape Corvina with some Cabernet Sauvignon.
Nuits St Georges Premier Cru Meurgers 2000 Sylvain Cathiard
£28.75 SVS
Cathiard’s wines are winning no matter which vintage but this coffee and toast number is ready to gulp this minute.
Henschke, Mount Edelstone Shiraz 2001 Eden Valley
£30 Majestic in London NW8, The House of Menzies of Perthshire, Wine in Cornwall
Here’s a wine to prove that Australia certainly does have terroir. The vineyard communicated not too much alcohol or oak but lots of warmth, a little aromatic decongestant. An old school wine.
Pommard 2001 Dom Comte Armand
£32 BBR
Rich, lively with jewel-bright fruit – very clean and fresh. Biodynamic and no hurry to drink this from an impeccably-run domaine.
Henschke Mount Edelstone Shiraz 2002 Eden Valley
£33.50 top Waitrose stores
The pricefor this fine South Australian classic rises to £39 on Monday. Warm liquorice notes and a lovely gentle texture. Much subtler than most Oz Shiraz.
Nuits St Georges, Les Corvées Pagets 2003 Dom de la Vougeraie
£36 Waitrose Inner Cellar
No bargain but lots of big bold fruit. This bold red burgundy stood up well even when tasted straight after the Mount Edelstone.
How to find the wines
This is by no means an exhaustive list of all retailers mentioned here, merely those for whom an abbreviation was useful. Most retailers offer discounts on bigger orders; many sell online; some of the smaller ones sell a minimum of 12 assorted bottles. For details of more stockists, in the UK and internationally, see www.winesearcher.com
BBR – Berry Bros & Rudd
BRW – Big Red Wine Company, Barton Mills, Suffolk
F&M – Fortnum & Mason, London
HN – Harvey Nichols, London
IFR – Irma Fingal Rock, Monmouth
J&B – Justerini & Brooks, London SW1 and Edinburgh
L&S – Lea & Sandeman around London
M&S – Marks & Spencer
Maj – Majestic (second price denotes a multiple bottle purchase)
Oddb – Oddbins
Sains – Sainsbury’s
SVS – Stone, Vine & Sun, Twyford SO21 1QA
Thresh – Thresher (second per bottle price applies if three bottles are bought)
WotT – Wine of the Times, London
WR – Wine Rack (second per bottle price applies if three bottles are bought)
CdP – Châteauneuf-du-Pape
CDRV – Côtes-du-Rhône Villages
Ch – Château
Dom – Domaine
NV – non vintage
VDP – Vin de Pays
VOSR – very old sherry