Made from 55-year-old vines at the historic Château de Pizay estate in an outstanding vintage for Beaujolais, this 2023 Régnié is beautifully expressive, with a lustrous deep ruby-red colour and succulent cassis and strawberry fruit. It could be on the table on Christmas day and would make a great red wine for Boxing Day.

Jurançon Sec is a wine that can smell sweet but taste bone dry and be rich in texture but mouthwateringly tangy. Clos de la Vierge Le Carré de Peés 2023 is all these. It smells of honeyed quinces and zingy lime juice

Red Burgundy is never going to be cheap but, if you know where to look, it can be good value, especially from less famous appellations. Domaine Machard de Gramont Hautes-Côtes de Beaune 2023 makes the case eloquently.

The first wine I ever took to my mythical desert island was a Jurançon Sec and I can confidently say that this one-of-a-kind dry white from the far southwest of France will always have a place. It’s a wine that combines riveting juiciness and tanginess with a waxy rich texture

Rébus is a deep coloured, medium-bodied red Gaillac with crunchy hedgerow berry fruit, herbal and black pepper notes and appetising freshness. If you like Loire Cabernet Franc, you’ll like this wine – and it can be paired with seared salmon as well as meat

This Crozes-Hermitage Syrah is a beauty: deep ruby, with floral, spicy, sweet earth and red berry aromas and a palate with the characteristic peppery, iron-oxide Crozes tang complementing succulent, pure, cherry, raspberry and wild strawberry fruit and a fine-boned structure

Gewurztraminer is a difficult wine to get right, especially at a moderate price, but Le Chant des Roses Gewurztraminer gets it exactly right with classic aromas of lychee rose and lokum

If you like Picpoul de Pinet, that zingy, springy dry white from vineyards just inland from the Mediterranean, you’ll love Les Filets Côtes de Thau. And if you like a wine bargain – who doesn’t? – you’ll like it even moreat £8, instead of £10.

In a nod to Bastille Day, I’m giving this slot over to a classic French red wine this week, but the real reason is that this is such a good and good value red Bordeaux, with lovely mature flavours as well as ripe reducrrant and bramble fruit

It wouldn’t be summer if I didn’t fall in love with Loire Valley Cabernet Franc all over again and Château de Fesles La Chapelle Anjou is one of this year’s favourites, with cassis and raspberry flavors mingling currant-leaf, herb and graphite coolness and freshness

£14.95, Yapp Brothers To celebrate settling into my usual haunt north of Cahors in southwest France, I'm dedicating this week's slot to...

This cheerful, deep crimson Bergerac is all about fruit and smoothness and is a French wine bargain

This is a new and delicious Côtes de Provence rosé in groundbreaking eco-friendly packaging

This quality of this rich, silky Languedoc wine soars above many more famous Southern French reds

I’ve had a soft spot for Minervois since my student days and its main attraction was that it was cheap. I'm happy that it's moved on and up

It’s rare to see a Saint-Péray wine outside independent merchants and restaurants. There's just not enough of it for mass exposure

The joy of good Gigondas is that the characteristic power and generosity are leavened by sappy freshness, so the wines never feel too brawny

This full-bodied, generous, velvet-smooth Côtes du Rhône is a red wine that cellars well for several years

This white wine is a delight – breezy, bright, light and rounded with a plume of grass, gooseberry, floral, citrus and white peach.

One of the things I love about Gamay wines in general, and the Beaujolais Crus above all, is how well they go with food