3 Best wines from the High Street

2020 Puglia Rosso £6 – instead of £7 until January 31 – at M&S

Wines 1 and 2 today are from Southern Italy. However, rather than use Puglia’s customary red wine grapes, this first one is sangiovese based. Ripe and rounded, it provides smooth red currant and cherry flavours accompanied by traces of cinnamon and oregano, lively acidity and a slightly sweet finish.

2020 Best Falanghina £6 – instead of £7.25 until January 25 – at Morrisons

Moving beyond the fashionable fixation with international grapes, Italian wine producers have successfully revived several ancient, flavoursome but difficult to grow varieties that hardline accountancy thinking almost made extinct. Such resurrections include fiano, pecorino and today’s focus, falanghina. Floral but with nutty depth, this version brings us restrained red apple, melon and fresh pineapple flavours supported by gentle acidity and a savoury finish that also contains orange peel elements.

2020 Austrian Gruner Veltliner £5.99 at Lidl

A great price here for a skilfully crafted version of Austria’s signature white wine that now forms part of Lidl’s core range. Restrained yet textured, it exhibits aromatic apple and ripe pear flavours partnered by coriander leaf components, a mineral backdrop, firm lime acidity and evolving tropical fruit sweetness.

ON-WINE SHOPPING 2020 Santa Magdalena Balduzzi From £9.89 at www. laithwaites.co.uk

Maule, in the south of Chile’s Central Valley, has a long history of cabernet sauvignon production. Unsurprisingly, then, this red blend – made by an originally Italian family – is very largely cabernet sauvignon. The remaining 30% is merlot. Medium bodied with herbal and heather aromas, the result has plum, loganberry and mulberry flavours enlivened by good acidity (but gentle tannin) and suggestions of baking spice, mint and thyme.