Wine of the week: a delicious red to serve with the barbecue

£10.50, thewinesociety.com

A handful of wineries in southern Italy make wines from the ultrarare gaglioppo grape. I remember first encountering this variety when it joined cabernet sauvignon in a wine called Gravello from the famous Librandi winery. The flavour of the 1999 vintage is stuck in my taste memory forever. Duca Sanfelice, from the same estate, is solely made from this grape, and it is another stunner. Mainly found in the Cirò DOC, this grape makes very juicy, black-fruited reds with liquorice and spice details, and Santa Venere is the most impressive, inexpensive version I have ever tasted.

Whenever I taste this grape, I write a note about barbecues after I have written “spices” and “plums” a fair few times. Smooth, pliable, seamless and generous, this is a fascinating grape, and Santa Venere does not use any oak in this wine. It doesn’t need it – there is plenty of spice and earthiness here, bringing traction to the experience, but this also has the dual benefit of keeping the price down. While I appreciate that you may never have tasted this grape before, this is a stunningly worthy wine in your wine rack. So, take the plunge, and if you are not barbecuing, it will come as no surprise that this delicious red adores all southern Italian classic dishes, especially those using nduja, the most famous Calabrian salumi. Spicy and densely meaty nduja pops up in many recipes these days, and gaglioppo is its very best vinous friend.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year (MatthewJukes.com).