A dozen cracking reds to enjoy this Christmas
Under £20 Sicily, Italy: Purato Siccari Appassimento 2018
A very successful Sicilian sundried grape wine. Delicious modern fruit-driven style with sweet ripe damsons, Morello cherries and dark chocolate with a spicy finish – tasting like a mini-amarone. The vineyard is carbon neutral too with grapes grown organically.
£8.99/£9.99, Majestic Wine; Ocado
Central Otago, New Zealand: Outlook Bay Pinot Noir 2017
Great price for a pinot noir from Central Otago. Ideal for those looking for a Boxing Day bargain to serve slightly chilled with cold turkey and cranberry sauce. With its light, bright fruits, sweet ripe cherry and cassis nose, it is not very typical – but it is attractively fragrant and savoury.
£9.99, Lidl
Uco Valley, Argentina: Exquisite Malbec 2018
Malbec in Argentina is so much more lush and succulent than in France – and this is as good as it gets at a modest price point. High altitude plantings in Uco Valley ripen well by day, but acidity is retained at night. The result is a sweet, upfront, plummy malbec with a supersmooth palate.
£5.99, Aldi
Rioja, Spain: Muga Rioja Reserva 2015
Tasted alongside The Wine Society’s own label Exhibition Rioja Reserva 2013 from La Rioja Alta, this fabulous Reserva 2015 from Muga knocked it out of the park. Muga might be one of the traditional Rioja bodegas, but winemaker Jorge Muga makes brilliant rioja using oak from their in-house cooperage.
£16, The Wine Society
Over £20 Tuscany, Italy: Insoglio del Cinghiale 2017 Campo di Sasso
A new Tuscan find from Bibbona – just north of Bolgheri on Tuscany’s coast.
Lodovico Antinori creates a clever blend of syrah, merlot, cabernet franc and petit verdot. Loved its soft, easygoing charm, raspberry and liquorice hints.
£22.95, Corney & Barrow
Bordeaux, France: Chateau Les Cruzelles 2015
Fabulously smooth merlot and cabernet francblend from Lalande de Pomerol, neighbouring region of the famous Pomerol; luscious ripe red fruits, good tannin ripeness and smooth succulent finish. Made by Denis Durantou (who also makes the wine at L’eglise Clinet in Pomerol a few kilometres to the south).
£26, Justerini & Brooks; The Vinorium
Cachapoal Valley, Chile: Vik Milla Cala 2012
Clear favourite in our recent Chile tasting, this voluptuous plummy blackfruited roasted pepper-infused blend of five grapes: cabernet sauvignon, carmenere, cabernet franc, syrah and merlot is like a fusion of Rhône and Bordeaux alongside Chile’s bright sweet polished fruit character. Vik is a new winery (and hotel) created by billionaire Alexander Vik.
£35, Corney & Barrow; Hic-winermerchants; Slurp
Constantia, South Africa: Constantia Glen Five 2014
One of the Cape’s most elegant Bordeaux-style blends – the ‘five’ refers to its cepage of grapes: cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, malbec and petit verdot which are vinified separately before final blending. Powerful intense cassis and blueberry fruits, rich dark chocolate, full complex and layered.
£30, Berry Bros & Rudd; £29.95, Oxford Wine
Burgundy, France: Pommard Les Vignots 2013 Domaine Nicolas Rossignol
One of the only Pommard plots not damaged by hail that year, this has an elegant, perfumed, black cherry bouquet with fresh vibrant acidity, minerally undertones, sappy crunchy red fruit flavours, spicy hints and soft, delicate finish.
£50, Lea & Sandeman
Ribera del Duero, Spain: Bohorquez Reserva 2009
From a young estate set up by entrepreneur Javier Bohorquez 20 years ago. Spicy, peppery, richly plummy with black, cherry and liquorice notes – from a good vintage too. Unlike most Ribera del Duero estates, they mature it in a mix of both French and American oak for 14 months. £20, The Wine Society
Bordeaux, France: Chateau Villegeorge 2010
Mature example from this once famous Haut Medoc Cru Bourgeois chateau which is based on the border with Margaux and shares some of its attributes. Predominantly cabernet sauvignon (79 per cent) with remainder merlot, it has an enchanting cedary tobacco developed bouquet, soft, succulent, smooth tannins with toasty oak notes. £26.99, Raeburn Wines; £26.50, Great Western Wine
Veneto, Italy: Amarone Della Valpolicella Classico 2015 Brigaldara
One of the most refined Amarones I have tasted recently. Brigaldara pick the ripest grapes: corvina, corvinone and rondinella for their Amarone. Grapes are dried in crates in special temperature and humiditycontrolled rooms for 120 days, followed by one year in barrique, two years in Slavonian oak. ■
£35-£44, Valvona & Crolla; Exel Wines; St Andrews Wine
Join Rose’s Fine Tuscan Reds wine tasting on 12 February at The Royal Scots Club in Edinburgh, £55, www.rose murraybrown. com