The social drinker

There can hardly be a man, woman or child in Ireland who counts January or February among their favourite months. Christmas is over, the weather is awful, and bank balances look like Cuba’s finances. The next few weeks are a waiting game — a time for sitting in front of the fire with friends and family, and holding out for better times.

With money scarce, it can be tempting to shop at the bottom-end of the market, but now is the time to experiment with really great wines, which are often being sold off cheaply by supermarkets anxious to clear the shelves now the festive madness has subsided.

SuperValu pulled out the stops over Christmas, and the chain had plenty of really excellent reds on its shelves. Some are still available for a short time, including a Chateau Tour Baladoz Saint Emilion Grand Cru from 2005. Even with a €20 reduction, this wine is not cheap at €25, but it is worth trying if you want to spoil somebody, or remind yourself how good Bordeaux can be. The 2005 vintage is one of the greatest from the past two decades, and this particular wine is an almost perfect example of how good a complex French wine can be when that nation’s winemakers put their minds to it.

Another great wine from SuperValu at the moment is a Rioja called Pagos de Labarca. It’s full of rich flavours that mix blackberries with chocolate and Christmas spices. At a discounted €18 a bottle, it is also hardly cheap, but if you want a big wine to sip while nibbling cheese, this is a memorable bottle at a fair price.

Finally, a more affordable but still superb red, this time from Aldi, comes from Cairanne in the Cotes de Rhone. Cairanne was only awarded cru status two years ago, which has kept prices down, but quality high. This complex wine, which costs around €15, has blackberry and liquorice notes, and is very drinkable on its own or with red meat.