8Weekend
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2020 Cidade
Branca Alentejo
Portugal, 14 per cent
Morrisons, £Make this rollicking,
unoaked red your go-to
bottle with all those
scrappy winter meals
when there’s a bit of
everything on the
table. Made from a
hotch-potch of grapes
— alicante bouschet,
touriga nacional and
aragonez — it bursts
with absolutely
delicious, sweet
Victoria plum fruit.2019 Taste the Difference
Maremma Toscana
Italy, 14.5 per cent
Sainsbury’s, £
(down to £8 from
December 15
until January 1)It’s essential to
cherry pick at
Sainsbury’s this season
and this southern
Tuscan seaside special
(on shelf late November)
was the best of its ilk,
softened by lengthy oak
ageing, to yield a dark
bitter chocolate and
curranty cabernet
sauvignon mouthful.2020 Morrisons The Best
Gran Montaña Malbec
Argentina,
14 per cent
Morrisons, £For all of you full-bodied-
beast-loving red wine
drinkers, this one
has your name on it.
Brimming with ripe
black raisin, blueberry
and prune-stashed
fruit, this one is less
oaky than most and
more food-friendly.21 22 23
2018 Château Les
Trois Manoirs
Bordeaux
France, 13 per cent
Aldi, £8.Aged for under a year in
French oak barrels.
Bursting with bold,
beefy cabernet
sauvignon fruit,
softened by a one third
dollop of merlot, plus
a dab each of malbec,
petit verdot and
cabernet franc, this
meaty claret
will have wide
festive appeal.24
2019 Palacio de Primavera
Tinto Rioja
Spain, 13.5 per cent
Waitrose, £8.Crammed with juicy,
curranty, fruits-of-the-
forest oomph, this
new wave, softly oaked
rioja comes from
Bodegas de Familia
Burgo’s own 20 to 30-
year-old vines. It’s the
sort of easy-quaffing
rioja that will make
a crowd-pleasing
addition to any
winter wine rack.25
Under £
»Winter bargains Bottles under £
Under £
ȣ8.
claret!2019 Château Jouanin,
Castillon Côtes
de Bordeaux,
France, 13.5 per cent
Co-op, £Cracking value for money
claret from the best
patch in the Côtes de
Bordeaux: Castillon.
Jouanin has popped
up several times
before in the top 100
and its charming
merlot and cabernet
franc fruit is a sensual
redcurrant hit with a
dash of new French
oak barrel seasoning.2020 Villiera Wines Merlot
Stellenbosch,
South Africa,
14 per cent
majestic.co.uk,
six for £9.99 each,
or £11.99 a bottleMajestic is stocking
some new tasty
wines this winter,
including this lip-
smacking, sustainably
sourced Cape merlot.
It will woo you with
plush, velvety black
fruit, a dab of new
oak and a decent
slug of alcohol.2020 Ventoux Rouge
Passe Colline, Cave
Co-op Rhonea
Rhône,
France, 14 per cent
montrachet
wine.com, £Looking for good value
in the southern Rhône
but don’t want to pay
châteauneuf-du-pape
prices? Check out
Ventoux’s taste-alike
syrah, grenache
and carignan reds,
especially this
unoaked, bright, red
cherry and damson
plum-packed 2020.2017 Primitivo di
Manduria Riserva
Puglia, Italy,
14.5 per cent
Waitrose, £14.99,
(down to £10 from
December 1-15)Waitrose’s
Christmas
present to the
nation is its
“ten for £10”
deal and this is its
starriest red, with
a contemporary
chocolate and vanilla-
pod spin atop lashings
of sweet bramble fruit.
Perfect with game.2019 Quinta de Fafide
Estate Reserva
Portugal, 14 per cent
Marks & Spencer,
£If you’ve only got a
tenner to spend on a
bold festive red, go
to the Douro Valley
in Portugal. Made
from the same
grapes as port,
this reserva is a
dazzling, richly
fruited, herby, sloe-
scented mouthful.
Perfect with red
meat roasts.Good
with
game2019 Cairanne Peyre
Blanche, Famille Perrin
Rhône, France,
14.5 per cent
thewinesociety.com,
£10.Produced from a deftly
oaked mix of grenache
and syrah, this
classy cairanne
is a full-bodied beast
with lashings of juicy
bramble fruit. Good
with turkey and all
the trimmings.2018 Skouras Greek
Agiorghitiko
13.5 per cent
aldi.co.uk,
£10.Aldi’s range this winter is
its most adventurous yet,
so nab this awesome
agiorghitiko grape
red from the brilliant
George Skouras, who
studied oenology in
Burgundy and took
his expertise home.
With unusually spiced
floral fruit and lots of
basil and thyme, this
is the red for jaded
festive palates.
Available online only.2018 Specially Selected
Pinot Noir Early, England
11.5 per cent
Aldi, £10.England’s answer to
beaujolais nouveau is
made from an early
“précoce” mutation of
pinot noir at Sixteen
Ridges in Hereford.
Very much a gamay,
not pinot noir,
taste-alike. With its
pale colour and
delicate red berry
fruit, it’s the
perfect subtle
winter red.
Available
in-store only.2018 Mon Coeur
Côtes du Rhône,
JL Chave Selection
France, 15 per cent
justerinis.com, £11.Top of my list this
year from this
surprisingly
competitively priced
wine merchant is this
gorgeous, syrah-led
southern Rhône red
from the revered
Chave family. With
hearty, voluptuous,
velvety violet-scented
spice and fruit,
this one’s a winner.2020 Taste the Difference
Brouilly, Château
de Pierreux
France, 14.5 per cent
Sainsbury’s, £14 (down
to £12 from December
15 until January 1)Hit the heights with a
superior beaujolais
cru, as its granite soil
— and in this property’s
case, 40-year-old
gamay vines — produce
wines that are the
perfect foil to honey-
baked ham and the like.
A juicy, raspberry,
loganberry and damson
plum-packed star.Top
English
redGreat
with
ham