This collection ranges over classics from Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhône and Tuscany but also includes many a representative from the wilder shores of the wine world, including Armenia, the Canary Islands, southern Chile, Corsica, Lebanon, Poland, Turkey and Uruguay as well as table wines from port country.
All of them bear witness to the ever-increasing quality of wine being made today, even though it is supposedly becoming increasingly difficult to sell it. Because of this, bargains abound – and I believe that even the two most expensive wines recommended here offer true value when compared with their peers. And remember that many retailers offer substantial discounts if at least six bottles are bought. As at Majestic and Lea & Sandeman, these may be mixed.
Undurraga Cauquenes Estate Carignan 2022 Maule 14.5%
Gamey nose and a palate that’s surprisingly fresh from southern Chile. Lots of fruity fun with a (very) dry finish. Old-vine charm.
£10.95 The Wine Society
Care, Nativa Garnacha 2022 Cariñena 14.5%
Very charming and polished with sweet fruit but structure too. Proper wine from northern Spain with a beginning, middle and end, though one is aware of the alcohol on the end.
£12 Tesco
Château de Pitray 2022 Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux 13.5%
Nina Mitjavile, daughter of François of Château Tertre Roteboeuf, has added some Malbec to the blend. Round, approachable and satisfying fruit inside a typically Bordeaux structure. Bullseye for The Wine Society members?
£12.50 The Wine Society
Domaine de Laguille, Rouge de Plaisir Merlot 2023 Côtes de Gascogne 12.5%
Armagnac producer has gone into winemaking and worked on the look of the bottle and label. Pale crimson. Fresh and frank on the nose; soft and sweet on the palate. A vin de plaisir with a story. Most unusual!
£12.55 Private Cellar
Bodegas San Martín, Alma de Unx Garnacha 2023 Navarra 14%
Masses of personality from some of this northern Spanish co-op’s oldest bushvines. Rich, sweet but fresh on the finish. Good value considering it had six months in barrel.
£13.45 Corney & Barrow
Xanadu, Point Break Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 Margaret River 14%
Margaret River in Western Australia is famous for its refined Cabernets and this is an exceedingly well-priced example. Racy and refreshing but with no shortage of fruit, and an appetising dry finish. Classic!
£13.50 Tesco
Boutinot, Réserve des Hospitaliers 2024 Cairanne 14.2%
Rich, gamey mouthful of southern Rhône sunshine that needs food and caution in view of the intensity and alcohol.
£13.50 Waitrose
Château Les Gravières de la Brandille 2020 Bordeaux Supérieur 14%
Petit château claret such as this is surely the best-value red available currently. An unoaked, approachable Merlot/Cabernet blend with attractive leafiness. Just the job for classicists seeking a bargain.
£13.75 Stone, Vine & Sun
Château Tanunda, The Oath Shiraz 2023 Barossa 14%
Far from the Barossa Shiraz stereotype, this has good structure and freshness with some real vibrancy.
£14 Majestic
Bideona, Viña Ecay Tempranillo Orgánico Crianza 2021 Rioja 13.5%
Very much a display of fresh Rioja Alavesa Tempranillo fruit rather than mature oakiness. The label is at odds with the seriousness of the wine. Decant for public consumption?
£14 Majestic
Piedra Fluida, Magec 2023 Tenerife 13%
Really pure, rich, gorgeous fruit in this energetic wine, the result of fermenting together local red and white grapes that were rescued from a serious wildfire on this Canary island.
£14.95 The Wine Society
La Compagnie de Burgondie, Les Vignes de la Croix 2023 Bourgogne Côte Chalonnaise 13.5%
Really does recall the ripe fruit of southern Burgundy Pinot Noir. Best served cellar cool.
£15 Tesco
Cave de Tulette, Les Trois Couronnes 2023 Vinsobres 14.5%
Grenache/Syrah southern Rhône blend that’s rich but not too sweet with very smooth tannins and a dry, savoury finish.
£15 Waitrose
Bird in Hand, Two in the Bush Shiraz 2023 Adelaide Hills 13.5%
Polished, refined South Australian Shiraz. Appetising and almost lean on the finish. Time to revise perceptions!
£15 Tesco
Château de Pizay 2023 Régnié 13.5%
Proper artisanal Cru Beaujolais Gamay with real integrity and a dry finish. Thoroughly serious and recommendable, with a present and future. Very satisfying.
£16 Majestic
Calçada, Duris Reserva 2021 Douro 13.5%
Real polish and structure to this characterful offering. Firm with a spine of northern Portuguese fruit. Not the most luscious, nor the most characterful but a good introduction to the style of table wine from port country.
£16 Majestic
Château de Francs 2018 Francs Côtes de Bordeaux 14.5%
From a property owned by right-bank wine aristocracy. Unusually mature and already quite soft but offering lots of pleasure.
£16 Majestic
Marqués de Riscal, Reserva 2021 Rioja 14.5%
Another wine with some maturity. Smells of classic vanilla-aged Rioja. The wine to choose in Tesco if you’re looking for a gift. Good stuff and a fair price.
£16 Tesco
Villa Cafaggio 2022 Chianti Classico 13.5%
Fair price for a 100% Sangiovese Chianti Classico from the hills of Tuscany. Classic. Demands food but has a nice persistence. Organic
£16 Waitrose
Tesco Finest Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 Napa Valley 14.5%
Special purchase at an extraordinary price. Infinitely better than Aldi’s non vintage Napa Valley Cabernet at £12.99. By no means top-flight but worth trying for a hint of the luxuriously ripe Napa fruit experience.
£16 Tesco
Château Tayet, Cuvée Prestige 2018 Bordeaux Supérieur 14%
Mature and a little gamey then sweet with some dry tannins on the end. But it’s not a bad price for a seven-year-old wine with character.
£16.96 Private Cellar
Château Fourcas-Borie 2016 Listrac 14%
Sister property of second growth Château Ducru Beaucaillou. Perfumed claret with real concentration. Obviously from an excellent vintage and to be drunk or cellared. Very good value.
£17 The Wine Society
Mascota, Unánime Gran Vino 2021 Mendoza 14.5%
Blend of Cabernet and Malbec with the usual deep colour of a high-elevation red. This rich Argentine offers lots of satisfaction but the tannins suggest serving chewy food with it. Gets the appetite going!
£17 Tesco
Domaine de Montvac, Arabesque 2019 Vacqueyras 14%
Another serious bargain from the southern Rhône. Really pure blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre that is chock full of pleasure and personality.
£17.50 The Wine Society
Pisano, Family Selection Grand Reserve Tannat 2023 Uruguay 14%
The Tannat grape seems even happier, and less aggressively chewy, in Uruguay than in its homeland in south-west France. This is firm but with no rough edges – not too tannic at all. A cool finish. Well done!
£17.50 The Wine Society
Château Bellerive 2016 Médoc 14%
From an excellent vintage, a nicely mature Cru Bourgeois claret. It could be kept until next Christmas, too (though probably not for too many Christmases). Classic, early-maturing left-bank bordeaux with rigour.
£17.95 Stone, Vine & Sun
Famille Guerin, La Vigne de Mon Père 2023 Moulin-à-Vent 13.5%
You would expect a Moulin-à-Vent to be denser than a Fleurie but the pair of Wine Society Beaujolais cru wines featured here belie that. This is clearly made with a much gentler hand than most wines in this appellation.
£18 The Wine Society
Le Moulin Rose de Malescasse 2020 Haut-Médoc 13.5%
From the recently upgraded Château Malescasse with input from consultant Stéphane Derenoncourt. Classic, luscious red bordeaux with real structure but enough fruit to enjoy already. Though only just.
£18 Majestic
Kamil Barczentewicz, Dobre Modre 2022 Poland 11%
Truly varietal Blaufränkisch, more usually associated with Austria, with excellent acidity, structure and ageing potential. But I think you probably need to know the grape before understanding this wine.
£18 The Wine Society
Château Lancyre, Clos des Combes 2023 Pic St-Loup 14%
High-toned ripe fruit, sweet and salt and such pure fruit. These great-value Languedoc Syrah/Grenache blends don’t need oak! Polished tannins, for drinking now or later.
£18.40 Haynes, Hanson & Clark
Distant Noises Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 Yarra Valley 13%
Tom Carson of the famed Yabby Lake’s personal label offers both unusual maturity and value. Lovely, fresh mouth-filling fruit! Beautifully grown and made. I’d like to see this alongside one of the many Bordeaux bargains at this price.
£18.95 Swig
Braunewell Spätburgunder 2020 Rheinhessen 12.5%
South-western German Pinot Noir. Really sappy, pure fruit. Correct and dry on the end with not too much obvious winemaking.
£18.95 Lea & Sandeman
Zulal Areni 2021 Vayots Dzor, Armenia 14%
Delicious example of Armenia’s flagship grape grown at 1,500 m on the border with Azerbaijan. Great freshness and no oak intermediary between this pure high-elevation fruit and us! Charming red-cherry fruit for immediate pleasure.
£19 The Wine Society
Manoella 2023 Douro 13.5%
Polished, spicy and refined from a great producer, Wine & Soul, and an ancient field blend in port country. Excellent price for such a sophisticated wine.
£19.30 Tanners
Domaine Torraccia 2021 Corse Porto-Vecchio 13%
Very rich, flavour-filled Corsican blend based on the island’s own version of Sangiovese with dusty, sunny fruit and real structure.
£21 Yapp
Domaine de Perdiguier, Cuvée en Auger 2016 IGP Coteaux d’Ensérune 13.5%
Not cheap for a Languedoc wine but very well made and quite a find – especially for those entertaining large numbers. More mature than the bordeaux 2016s. From just west of Béziers, this shows just what the Languedoc can do!
£43 per magnum The Wine Society
Catena, DV Catena Malbec 2022 La Consulta 13.5%
From a historic Argentine wine region high in the Andes, and hugely reputable producer, this is gorgeous wine that simply tastes like the right grape in the right place. Not too potent.
£22 Tesco
Château La Croix de Marbuzet 2022 St Estèphe 13%
A petit château made with a majority of Merlot. Interesting, quite evolved nose with the freshness of St-Estèphe underneath. Correct and already approachable.
£22 Waitrose
Camins2Dreams, Yilá 2023 Santa Barbara County 13%
Yilá means ‘all’ in Chumash (see California’s coolest county). Lively blend of seven varieties, of which two are white-wine grapes. It tastes like a blend and would make a lovely sweetish red for sipping in a wine bar.
£22 The Wine Society
Kelly Washington, La Monella Pinot Noir 2024 Marlborough 14%
Really pure Pinot Noir with drive. Lots of life ahead of it but you could enjoy this with food – turkey? – now.
£22 The Wine Society
Tenuta Casenuove 2020 Chianti Classico 14.5%
From the same stable as Château Malescasse in Bordeaux and a treat of a mature wine. Pure, ripe Sangiovese on the nose. Very satisfying drink at this point that would sit happily on any table.
£22.50 Majestic
Hoddles Creek Pinot Noir 2023 Yarra Valley 13.2%
Very pale garnet, as is the fashion in Australia today. Rich, appealing, forest-floor nose followed by an ethereal palate. Another wine that could be enjoyed without food – and is delicate enough to need careful pairing. This would be great with leftover turkey.
£23.50 Stone, Vine & Sun
Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard 2023 Bourgogne Passetoutgrains 12.5%
Racy, well-balanced, zesty Pinot/Gamay blend from vineyards below Chassagne-Montrachet. Lightweight and refreshing. Good value for a burgundy, unfortunately.
£23.60 Private Cellar
Michelini i Mufatto, GY Gualtallary Malbec/Cabernet Franc 2022 Uco Valley 13.5%
From Gualtallary, one of Argentina’s highest wine regions. Co-fermented grapes grown at 1,200–1,600 m. Powerfully perfumed and the Cabernet Franc nicely lightens the Malbec. A really arresting, very successful drink with cellaring potential, too.
£23.95 Corney & Barrow
I Fabbri, Lamole 2022 Chianti Classico 13.5%
High-elevation in Chianti Classico means 630 m, as here in Lamole. Heady, pure Sangiovese that certainly ripened fully but the result is delightfully delicate. For Tuscan purists who would much prefer this rendition of Sangiovese to a full-on Brunello.
£23.95 Stone, Vine & Sun
Château Musar, Aana 2020 Bekaa Valley 14%
A Lebanese novelty! Clean, fresh, distinctive sweet-and-salty palate with fruit clearly raised somewhere warm and exotic. There’s a real beginning, middle and end to this wine. Great stuff!
£24.50 Waitrose
Col di Lamo 2022 Rosso di Montalcino 14%
Both rich and tangy - with a powerful Sangiovese perfume and sufficient tannin to suggest this should be served with quite assertive food. It would certainly withstand roast beef. Lovely persistence. Think of it as baby Brunello.
£24.95 Stone, Vine & Sun
Bannockburn Shiraz 2022 Geelong 13.5%
For northern Rhône fans. Salty sweet. Extremely unAustralian in terms of its delicacy. And very admirably persistent. Not a bad price.
£25 The Wine Society
The Chocolate Block 2023 Swartland 14%
This popular blend has traced the history of recent red-wine fashion. Pure, fresh, beautifully balanced and now 100% from fashionable Swartland, though it’s no longer the bargain it once was. It’s now a luxury, and a misnamed one at that!
£25 Tesco
Contino, Reserva 2020 Rioja 14%
Interesting variation in price compared with the Marqués de Riscal… Though admittedly this is single-estate. Very rich and rewarding on the nose, even if much less like classic rioja than the Riscal. Fine wine with real freshness, drive and character. Sour plum flavour.
£27 Tesco
Coste del Vivo, Rosso No 1 NV IGT Toscana 14%
Blend of 2017/20/21 and of five grape varieties in addition to the local Sangiovese grown on the slopes of Monte Amiata. High-toned essence of Tuscany (prunes and chestnuts) with masses of tang on the savoury dry finish. Needs food but it’s a lovely drink.
£27.50 Swig
Domaine Pierre Gaillard, Clos de Cuminaille 2020 St-Joseph 14%
From the 3-ha slope on which this domaine was founded. Salty, polished and very northern Rhône Syrah! Really very smooth and satisfying.
£32.60 Private Cellar
Yaban Kolektif, Erciş Karası 1770 2023 Eastern Anatolia 11.8%
At 1,770 m near Lake Van in the far south-east of Turkey. Masses of vibrant, beautifully balanced fruit. Lots of freshness and the purest fruit – like cherries but not sweet.
£33 The Wine Society
Albert Bichot 2022 Fixin 13.5%
From the far north of the Côte d’Or and one of better-priced appellations. Real fruit and structure – and a future. Fine wine from a try-harder Burgundy négociant.
£33 Waitrose Cellar
Domaine René Bouvier, Le Finage 2022 Marsannay 13%
50-year-old vines have yielded another northern Côte d’Or relative bargain. So supple, it tastes as though it has been deliberately smoothed.
£37 Waitrose Cellar
Fogwell Syrah 2023 Western Cape 13%
The Alheits of Cartology fame apparently said they would never produce red wine but this wine proves them wrong. Very unmistakably Syrah with both sweetness and savour, and length, too. Not cheap but cheaper than Sadie Family reds, so maybe worth exploring?
£42 The Wine Society
Turley Old Vines Zinfandel 2022 Lodi 15.2%
This California region with its plethora of old vines desperately needs support at a time when so many grape contracts are being cancelled. Sweet and seductive – a fine showcase of the subtle flavours old vines have to offer.
£44 Tanners
Domaine de Bellene, Teurons Premier Cru 2019 Beaune 14%
Fresh and vibrant. Drink this Christmas or next! Perfectly formed and a fine legacy of one of Burgundy’s much-missed gentlemen, Nicolas Potel.
£49 The Wine Society
Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2009 Pauillac 13.5%
A perennial favourite, never overpriced, from a luscious vintage drinking well now. Wine Trove sells single bottles of mature wine online.
£100 Wine Trove, £120 Hedonism
Domaine Jamet 2011 Côte Rôtie 13%
The bullseye vintage of one of France’s classic wines, ethereal northern Rhône Syrah at its finest.
£230 Hedonism
For detailed tasting notes, scores and suggested drinking dates, see our tasting notes database. For international stockists, see Wine-Searcher.com.
