#red

Apr 30, 2020

WINE OF THE WEEK: Domaine des Tourelles Vieilles Vignes Carignan 2018, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon

£17–£21, Great Grog, WoodWinters, The Wriggly Tin Wine Company, Borough Wines Old vines, old winery – Lebanon's first commercial one in 1868 – but a new wine, Domaine des Tourelles' first Carignan made from vines more than 50 years old. They lie at over 1000m asl in the western Bekaa Valley and they're organic and unirrigated: the Mediterranean climate keeps them happy. Winemaking is oak-free and simple: hand-picked grapes with thorough selection in the vineyards, fermentatio

Apr 23, 2020

WINE OF THE WEEK: Domaine André Colonge et Fils Fleurie 2017, France

£15.20, Tanners Wines It's not just a beguiling name for a pretty wine. Good Fleurie has hidden depth, often ageing well for four or five years, sometimes more. Not exactly an iron fist in a velvet glove, but more to it than you might suppose at first sip. This one, from the Colonge family's 7ha of vineyards at the foot of the village, is perfect at two and a half years old: enticing floral and strawberry perfume, succulent summer-pudding fruit, delicate spice and Gamay's min

Apr 9, 2020

WINE OF THE WEEK: Domaine de Mourchon Séguret Tradition 2017, Séguret Côtes du Rhône, France

£14.99–£16.95, Averys of Bristol , Black Dog Wines (UK) I’m often surprised by the wines I find I haven’t featured here before. This estate-bottled red Séguret is a case in point. I blame Domaine de Mourchon’s Loubié Rosé, the release of which is always one of the early delights of the new rosé season. Judging by the number of the times I have recommended various vintages (here and here for example), the rosé seems to deflect me from the very good Mourchon reds. Not this time

Apr 7, 2020

The New Order at Luce: New Wine, Winemaker and Winery and a Retrospective Tasting

Looking across the Luce vineyards to Frescobaldi's Tenuta di Castelgiocondo in southwest Montalcino in the November sunshine The text of this article was first published in The World of Fine Wine issue 63 There must have been no shortage of potential candidates for Lamberto Frescobaldi to choose from for the newly created post of technical director and oenologist at the new, all-singing, all-dancing, no-expense-spared Tenuta Luce winery in Montalcino. It was surely a red-hot

Mar 26, 2020

WINE OF THE WEEK: Pas d'Histoires Le Rouge Syrah 2018, Pays d'Oc, France

£14, Red Squirrel Wine The name of this wine, "no fuss", may seem oddly inappropriate right now, but it's the kind of mellifluous, carefree red – what the French call a vin de soif – that's so comforting to have to hand at times like this. None of us, after all, is going to be hopping across the channel and speeding off to the south of France to buy our own any time soon. I bought it as part of an excellent-value mixed dozen (the Home School Reds case at £90) but it's availab

Mar 12, 2020

WINE OF THE WEEK: L'Arpenty Chinon 2018, Loire, France

£14.75, Yapp Brothers I've enjoyed a lot of vintages of the Desbourdes family's l'Arpenty Chinon over the years, so I'm surprised that it hasn't featured here before. High time it did – and just the wine to anticipate some slightly more spring-like weather. The summer of 2018 was strikingly hot and sunny in France, so this is darker, riper and more velvet-textured than usual, although still reassuringly fresh and moderate in alcohol. Depending how you like your Chinon Caberne

Feb 27, 2020

WINE OF THE WEEK: De Bortoli Regional Reserve Pinot Noir 2018, Yarra Valley, Australia

£11.95–£12.99, Saxtys Wines, Quantock Abbey Wine, Adnams This is not a wine that's going to stand out on the shelf, but it deserves to. Behind the classically restrained label is an enchanting cool-climate Pinot Noir, with red cherry, cranberry and soft-spoken spice woven together with textbook purity, suppleness, freshness and elegant complexity. Pair it with fish such as tuna or prosciutto-wrapped cod or monkfish, with poultry (e.g. roast chicken or quail), meat such as por

Feb 20, 2020

WINE OF THE WEEK: Altano Organic Douro 2017, Portugal

£10.50–£11.80, Booths, Waitrose, Davy's Wine, Tanners Wine, The Wine Shop (Knaresborough) I'd like to think that my venture into mouthwatering dry Riesling for last week's wine lifted the putative winter gloom. It certainly did nothing to improve the weather, so this week I'm back with a full-on winter red, although that doesn't mean it's not suitable for summer. It's an excellent barbecue red, but it's a bit cruel to mention summer and barbecues in current conditions. Altano

Feb 6, 2020

WINE OF THE WEEK: Finca Constancia Entre Lunas Organic Tempranillo Moon Wine 2017, Castilla, Spain

£8.50 on offer, Sainsbury's The name of this wine is so long I couldn't fit in its designation, Vino de la Tierra, but that's what it is: a Tempranillo from an estate in the Vino de la Tierra (IGP in eurospeak) of Castilla, south of Madrid. As well as being certified organic, the vines are cultivated biodynamically – the various vineyard tasks timed according to the phases of the moon (hence Entre Lunas – 'between the moons'). It's a full-bodied, velvety red that has been age

Jan 30, 2020

WINE OF THE WEEK: Vachnadziani Saperavi, Kakheti, Georgia

£9.59–£11, Fintry Wines, Vineyards Wine Shop, The Solent Cellar, Noble Green Wines What took me so long? Georgia has been making wine for 8,000 years, but this is the first time I've recommended one here. My excuse is that it's new to the UK, or at least new last autumn, together with six other wines being imported by Hallgarten Novum Wines from the Vachnadziani winery in the Kakheti region in eastern Georgia. While I would love to have recommended Vachnadziani's Qvevri red,

Jan 2, 2020

WINE OF THE WEEK: Les Nivières Saumur 2017, Saumur, France

£7.49 on offer, Waitrose A red wine that's all about blackcurrant and currant-leaf fruit and freshness and soft-textured graphitey mineral flavours – textbook Loire Cabernet Franc, in fact, and an alternative to all the heavyweight reds that get trotted out in winter. It goes well with grilled/pan-fried lamb, especially flavoured with rosemary or thyme, with cold meats, tuna steaks and goats' cheeses and is best served on the cool side, but not chilled right down except in ho

Dec 23, 2019

WINE OF THE WEEK: Cap Royal Bordeaux Supérieur 2016, France

£8 (on offer), Tesco I'm posting this week's wine three days ahead of schedule because it seems a lot more useful to highlight it when there's still time to buy it for Christmas, rather than leave it until Boxing Day (when some people will be more focused on Alka Seltzer than wine anyway). It's made with some input from the technical director of Château Pichon Baron and is the kind of red that gives everyday Bordeaux (aka claret) a good name. The fruit is nicely rounded and f

Dec 19, 2019

WINE OF WEEK: Le Volte dell'Ornellaia 2016, Toscana, Italy

£19.99, Majestic; £20.99–£22.95, Hard to Find Wines, Armit, Caviste, Davy's This would be a wonderful bottle for the festive table if you're having a bird, meat, game or vegetarian (if fish is on the menu, find something in my Festive White Wine Guide or one of the lighter reds in the Festive Reds Guide). The 2016 vintage in Tuscany's coastal Bolgheri region was excellent, giving this dry red its opulent fruit, silky texture and waves of cassis, blackberry, dried cherry, frui

Dec 4, 2019

WINE OF THE WEEK: Purato Siccari Appassimento 2018, Terre Siciliane, Italy

£7.99–£8.99, Ocado and Majestic Organic, vegan-friendly and sustainable (vegetable ink, recycled paper, glass and cardboard), but there’s so much more to this Sicilian red than ticking boxes. It has Christmas written all over it. Dark, rich, spicy, warming and velvety, with layers of ripe red cherry, candied orange, toast, coffee, Christmas cake and Persian spice flavours, and it’s not too dry, giving it the wherewithal to stand up to cranberry sauce, spicy stuffings, herby s

Dec 2, 2019

The Festive Red Wine Guide 2019

My round up of red wines to take you through all kinds of festivities - major, minor and in some cases festivities for years to come. As always, wines are listed in ascending order of price, give or take differences in retailers’ prices and special offers (note that offers in stores and online are not always the same). If you're in the money, you'll know to scroll down and start at the end. One big retailer worth a mention is the Co-op: several wines I would like to have reco

Nov 28, 2019

WINE OF THE WEEK: Château Puygueraud 2011, Francs Côtes de Bordeaux, France

£20.95 / £19.25, Lea & Sandeman The 2011 vintage in Bordeaux tends to be dismissed with faint praise – if that. Certainly, it was uneven and not a patch on 2009 or 2010, but some good wines were produced by the right people in the right place. Some very good. Step forward Château Puygueraud, made by Nicolas Thienpont in the tiny (by Bordeaux standards) northeastern appellation of Francs Côtes de Bordeaux (previously Côtes de Franc). The 2011 – Merlot with 20% Cabernet Franc a

Nov 14, 2019

WINE OF THE WEEK: Dominique Piron Morgon La Chanaise 2017, France

Waitrose, £14.99 Good Beaujolais can be so enjoyable on its own that even lifelong devotees don't always realise just how versatile the wines of the ten Crus are with food. These are the individual appellations clustered in the north of the region and made, like all Beaujolais, from Gamay but each with its own character and name – Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent, Fleurie, Brouilly, Régnié among them. The wines of Morgon, more or less at the centre of the ten, are some of the most power

Nov 7, 2019

WINE OF THE WEEK: Taste the Difference Western Australia Shiraz 2018, Australia

£6.75, Sainsbury's I thought the price must be an error when I saw it in the tasting booklet. Whoever heard of a red from Western Australia at this price, not least a blend with a Margaret River component? When I tasted it and saw who the winemaker was, I did double-take mark two. It’s bright and pure with spicy red berry fruit, earthy sweetness and a touch of chocolate – easy to drink, unforced and wearing its alcohol lightly. The man behind it is David Hohnen, who in a form

Oct 24, 2019

WINE OF THE WEEK: Castello Collemassari Montecucco Rosso Riserva 2015, Tuscany, Italy

£14.99, Waitrose This is the perfect wine for people who like the thought of Chianti but sometimes find the reality too lean and tangy. It has Sangiovese's earth-sweet tobacco and autumn-forest flavours, but it's plump and fleshy with a velvet texture and perfumed cherry fruit. It's polished and structured but slips down effortlessly – in other words, the flavour of Sangiovese but none of the potential pain. The Montecucco wine region is in warmer southern Tuscany, sandwiched

Oct 3, 2019

WINE OF THE WEEK: Along Came Jones Lledoner Pelut Hairy Grenache 2018, Vin de France

£13.50–£16.99, The Wine Society, Flagship Wines, Fareham Wine Cellar, The Oxford Wine Company Domaine Jones is no stranger to my wine blogposts, so I'll concentrate on the wine, rather than tell Katie Jones's story again (which you can read here and here), but I will just say that she is an inspired, sensitive and meticulous winemaker specialising in wines made from plots of old vines around Tuchan in Languedoc-Roussillon. This wine is from a parcel of 70–80 year old vines an