PERFECT BOXING DAY REDS
2016 Taste the Difference Languedoc Red, France (£7, reduced to £6.25 until December 12, Sainsbury’s)
USING a blend of 35 per cent grenache, 35 per cent syrah, 20 per cent carignan and 10 per cent mourvèdre, normally this style of red would be a blockbuster, but this is smooth and polished. Made by mercurial winemaker Jean-Claude Mas, it has a tiddly price for its calibre.
2015 Casa Santos Lima, Monte Das Promessas, Alentejo, Portugal (£8.50, Oddbins)
PORTUGUESE reds are coming of age in the sophisticated UK market and this hugely flavoursome wine is made from touriga nacional, syrah, petit verdot and alicante bouschet. It is bold, dense, powerful and great fun — and at this price you are privy to excellent value for money.
2015 Château Brassac, Bordeaux Supérieur, France (£9.99, Co-op)
I AM finding it harder and harder to find worthy examples of red Bordeaux under a tenner these days, but this merlotdominant wine is classically shaped, unoaked and very rewarding indeed. Decant it and allow the subtle flavours to grow in the glass.
2016 Saumur Champigny, Domaine Filliatreau, Loire, France
(£13.75, Yapp Brothers, 01747 860 423, yapp.co.uk) THIS cabernet franc comes from one of my favourite estates in the whole of France and it is a very sleek, blackberry-scented wine. Not a heavy style, you could drink this with chicken or even main-course fish dishes and satiate every taste bud with its unrivalled class.
2015 Les Voiles de Paulilles, Collioure, Languedoc-Roussillon, France (£13, Marks & Spencer)
COMING from the exceptional 2015 vintage, this wine is made in the Pyrenean foothills from grenache, syrah and mourvèdre. No oak is needed to build its flavour this time because the massive blackberry flavours and spicy bonfire notes come directly from the high-quality grapes.
2015 Taste the Difference Château les Bouysses Cahors, France (£12, reduced to £10.50, from December 13 to January 1, Sainsbury’s)
THIS is a monster, made from 90 per cent malbec and 10 per cent merlot. The vines are over 40 years old and it even spends a year in smart French oak barrels. A big, powerful red, you will also find Turkish delight and dark chocolate notes in the fascinating perfume here.