Best drops under $40

Tony Love’s top 20 wines for winter — all under $40

Can a red wine beat off the chills and ills of winter? Sure. It can comfort you in the coldest corner and encourage companionships.

IT’S luxuriously coloured, rich with ripe summer essences, warming with exotic spice and fills you with hope, cheer and adventurous dreams.

Can a red wine beat off the chills and ills of winter? Sure it can. It can comfort you in the coldest corner.

Encourage fruitful companionships.

And simply provide delicious pleasure when all around you is dark and stormy.

You choose your weapon for winter: shiraz or cabernet sauvignon for the traditionalists, pinot or grenache for any fanciers, or take a world cruise into Spanish and Italian varieties that transport you to another hemisphere in the pour of a glass. Wine can do all that.

We grow the fruit here, we can forge any style we wish, and blend any variety we want — all in the name of great flavour and joyous social lubrication.

Usually you might think it the season to drink in the heavyweight divisions — and that’s exactly where some shiraz and cabernet will put you.

But think too about when and where you’ll open your next bottle.

Over a slow-cooked dinner. Beside a fondue. Cosied-up to a chargrilled steak.

They’re hearty and filling meals — and a lighter gamay or pinot noir will be just the contrast you need for a perfectly balanced gastroexperience.

And don’t get too caught up in the solo varietal tunnel Australians often get trapped in.

Blends of grenache, shiraz and mourvedre (aka mataro) are devilish in their depth-findings. And often top value as well.

Look also for regional clues, like our first-in-line shiraz-durif blend from Rutherglen, trademark reds in their happy place. Same with Yarra and cabernet, Great Western and shiraz.

The combos work because the proof is in the ground and in the bottle.

So here you go, 20 great reds, many under $20 and all under $40.

Pour yourself a glass and toast the hell out of a wild and woolly winter.