The Times Weekend - UK (2021-11-20)

6Weekend

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Under £6.
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2019 Cimarosa

California Merlot

12.5 per cent

Lidl, £4.

With lashings of soft
blueberry and black
cherry jam fruit, this
bargain basement
merlot is going to be
a popular festive red.
Equally happy in a
mull or served
solo.

2018 Castellore Primitivo

Italy, 13.5 per cent

Aldi, £4.

Everyone loves southern

Italy’s primitivo grape,

one and the same as

zinfandel. My advice

is to stock up now on

one of the cheapest,

sweetest and juiciest,

oak-chipped editions

I have tasted, scented

with cloves and

topped up with

negroamaro.

2020 Tesco Claret

France, 13.5 per cent

Tesco, £

Bordeaux is back, as

anyone tasting this

cheap-as-chips, vegan-

approved charmer

made exclusively from

the merlot grape will

agree. With oodles

of easy-swigging,

Victoria plum fruit,

this is £5 new wave

bordeaux at its best.

2020 Campaneo

Old Vines Garnacha

Campo de Borja,

Spain, 14 per cent

Tesco, £

Campo de Borja’s old

vine garnacha rocks

and this jolly winter

red bursts with the

sort of crowd-pleasing,

fresh, bright, damson

plum fruit that is

a whizz with big

food and makes

handy festive

wine rack fodder.

2020 Old Vine Garnacha

Campo de Borja, Spain,

14 per cent

Co-op, £5.50, two

for £5 each until

December 14

Vegan-approved

and from the same

producer as Tesco’s

version, Bodegas

Aragonesas. You get

a dab more party-

popping spice and

peppery fruit with

the Co-op’s plummy

blend because

there’s 5 per cent

syrah in the mix too.

Only

£4.49!

Party

red

Jane MacQuitty

rounds up the reds

to drink

as the

nights

draw in

50 best red wines for winter

A

t this time of year it’s a
race to fill our wine
racks with delicious,
cockle-warming winter
reds. Distribution is not
all it should be this
winter, so my advice is
to nab the good ’uns as soon as you can.
Top of my list of wintry reds are
under-£6 easy quaffers that will perk
up the simplest of meals. These are the
sort of winter wine rack standbys that
can be sloshed into glasses without
ceremony. Our average spend on
a bottle of wine is a miserly £6.22,
so you can take your pick from a
budget-beating winter windfall of a
dozen bottles for £6 and under on my
list. California and Chile in particular
have come up trumps with good,
inexpensive new world wines and the
Iberian peninsula is doing the same for
the old world.
Francophiles shouldn’t fret though,
there is plenty here. The Wine Society’s
juicy grenache-carignan-merlot mix,
Languedoc’s Domaine Laborie, for just
£6.25 is fantastic value and there are a
few cracking clarets, including highly
regarded cru bourgeois, that won’t break
the bank at under £20.
If it’s a handsome, spicy southern
Rhône red you want, there are some at
around the £10 mark — great to have
with turkey. If goose or duck are on
your menu, you’ll need a tangy red
with bright acidity to cope, and an old
friend of mine, Querciabella’s Chianti
Classico, hits the spot. If it’s a delicate
but Christmassy red you want, plump
for an unusual, red berry and
cherry-stashed, English early “precoce”

mutation of pinot noir from Hereford’s

Sixteen Ridges for £10.99 from Aldi of

all places. The no-frills German

supermarket has its most adventurous

selection yet this year, with everything

from a tasty Italian primitivo to an exotic

Greek agiorghitiko.

With winter basics sorted, you might

want to push the boat out on some reds

for Christmas Day, whether you want to

splurge on a gutsy, cinnamon-scented

rioja reserva from a great name,

La Rioja Alta, or a beautiful Central

Otago pinot noir from an awesome

estate, Mt Difficulty. And as for my

favourite red, give Germany’s gorgeous

spätburgunder, or pinot noir, a whirl

this year with the scrumptious, tobacco

leaf-spiced 2017 from Weingut Jülg.

Lastly, don’t forget to buy a luscious,

lip-smacking port to round off your

festive meals. So settle into your sofa

and let me pour you something lovely.

No, it’s not too early for the celebrations

to begin.

GETTY IMAGES

California and

Chile have

come up

trumps with

inexpensive,

good wines

Expert kit

Alessi Parrot

sommelier

corkscrew, £

johnlewis.com

Multicoloured

goblet set of 6,

£34.

tkmaxx.com

Acacia wood

28-bottle wine

rack, £

made.com

Iron and

marble wine

caddy, £

anthropologie.com

Design House

Stockholm carafe,

£52.

connox.co.uk

Normann

Copenhagen

aerator, £25.

madeindesign.co.uk

Silicone bottle

stopper, £

fortnumand

mason.com

Insulated wine

bottle, £

partnerin

wine.co.uk