The Festive Red Wine Guide 2025

Welcome to my round-up of 58 red wines for the 2025 festive season. It's designed to cover all occasions, eventualities and tastes, ranging freely through styles and grape varieties, from classic to contemporary, old to young, and across continents and regions to far-flung corners.

You’ll find inspiration for gifts, wines worthy of celebrations, wines that are perfect for opening just because it’s Tuesday evening or you’ve got a good book to read or film to watch and wines that have heart-warming stories to tell. All are ready for drinking, but some will also repay cellaring, and not all need food, although I am not advocating drinking on an empty stomach.

One of the encouraging things to see this year is lower alcohol levels. None of these wines is underripe or manipulated to be deliberately ‘low alcohol’. It’s just what the weather has delivered and viticulturalists and winemakers are now achieving. There are still a couple of wines at 15%, but they're balanced and balance is what it's all about whatever the alcohol.

Herewith, my usual plea not to serve red wines too warm. They really will taste fresher, more focused and more multi-faceted if they're below 19ºC – 16º is a pretty good average – and the lighter the red the cooler it should be.

The wines are listed in ascending order of price as far as is possible but, as always, special offers will come and go and, if comparing prices, don’t forget that delivery costs vary wildly from retailer to retailer. Over half the wines here are under £20, but I set no upper limit.

For all wines, there are UK stockists, with links, but make use of winesearcher.com to find others in the UK and overseas, or use your search engine of choice.

Toro Loco Superior 2024, Utiel-Requena, Spain

An uncomplicated, juicy, plummy red with a dash of liquorice – a great party and simple supper wine for the festive and any other season. It’s a blend of Spain’s most planted red grape, the celebrated Tempranillo, and one less well known but also very widely grown, Bobal, and what makes it so much more appealing than many cheap reds is that there’s no cloying sweetness. Read more about the community project behind it here, when the previous vintage was Wine of the Week. 13.5%

£5.99, Aldi stores (not currently online)

Les Frères Lumière Rouge, Vin de France

A medium-full Côtes du Rhône-style blend, but with 15% Merlot, which probably lends a bit of softness. Generous, spicy red and black fruit with a complementary touch of bitter herb. 13.5%

£7.25 in any 6-bottle mix, £7.75 singly, Majestic

Bando de Corvos Murder of Crows Tinto 2023, Lisboa, Portugal

Bouncy, young Portuguese red made from indigenous grape varieties (Touriga Nacional, Castelão and Trincadeira) in vineyards close to Lisbon. Plump pepper-spicy, sweet-cherry fruit and a touch of vanilla balanced by soft earthiness. If you didn’t know, crows are a symbol of Lisbon and are on the city’s coat of arms. 13.5%

£7.75, The Wine Society

Grão Vasco Dão Tinto 2023, Dão, Portugal

A velvet cushion of strawberry-blackberry fruit dusted with baking spices and cappuccino. This is another good value Portuguese red made from indigenous varieties – in this case, from the Dão region to the north. 13%

£8.50, Tesco; £12–£13.50, independents

Wave Crest Mount Benson Shiraz 2022, Limestone Coast, Australia

I thought this Aussie Shiraz was good value when I made it a Wine of the Week last year. Now, even cheaper, it’s amazing value. A sleek cool-climate style from the coastal Mount Benson region, it has enticing raspberry and white pepper flavours and soft tannins. It’s no featherweight but it’s very different from the classic, big, rich Barossa style. 14%

£8.50 in any 6-bottle mix, £10.50 singly, Majestic

Morandé One to One Old Vines País 2021, Secano Interior - Pencahue, Maule Valley, Chile 

Majestic’s website has this as Morandé Reserva 1+1 País, but we’re talking about the same wine, a light red with an inviting cherry-berry nose and a rounded, fresh palate with fruity, nutmeg and earthy savoury notes. Serve cool as an interesting alternative to Beaujolais or Pinot Noir and to people who think of themselves as white wine drinkers. A Wine of the Week in the summer. 14%

£9 in any 6-bottle mix, £10 singly, Majestic

Errazuriz Estate Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2024, Aconcagua Valley, Chile

As good a Cabernet Sauvignon as there is from anywhere at this price. Glossy, pure, cassis fruit with a fresh, green, herbal lift and the cedary spice, coffee and chocolate of barrel ageing. 13.5%

£9-10, Tesco, Amazon, Booths, Waitrose, Morrisons

L’Oustalet by Famille Perrin Ventoux 2024, Rhône, France

This Ventoux is the house-pour at the Perrin family’s own restaurant L’Oustalet – and we’re talking about the Perrin family who also own and make the illustrious Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. L’Oustalet, a typical southern Rhône red blend of Carignan, Cinsault, Grenache and Syrah, is comfortingly smooth with a smell of warm raspberries and spice, but, coming from the cooler hillsides around Mont Ventoux, there’s an extra red-berry raciness and herb and black-olive savour. 13%

£8.50/£10 (£8.50 with Clubcard for delivery until 1.12.25), Tesco

Vergelegen Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Fairtrade 2021, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Cabernet signature notes of cassis and cigar box with a touch of leafiness on the nose fleshed out with smoky oak, green herbs and a blade of acidity on the palate. This already has not far off five years under its belt, including 18 months in oak (20% new), but it could be aged for another three years, mellowing as it goes. 14.5%

£10, Co-op

Les Jamelles Syrah 2024, Pays d’Oc, France

Deep coloured Mediterranean Syrah filled with the warmth and smoothness of the southern sun and a subtle touch of oak. Black fruit with a hint of rose, spicy notes of vanilla, nutmeg and black pepper and a refreshing streak of black olive. Deft winemaking by Catherine Delaunay. 13.5%

£10.25, Co-op

Ramón Bilbao Rioja Crianza 2022, Rioja, Spain

Lively deep colour, crunchy dark fruit, light toasty oak and a mineral ping. Sleek, youthful Crianza delivered in Ramón Bilbao’s signature style –accessible, modern, fruit to the fore. 14%

£9/£11.25 (£9 with Clubcard for delivery until 1.12.25), Tesco

Bodegas Juan Gil Comoloco Monastrell 2024, Jumilla, Spain

This is has no added sulphites and a low histamine content, as well as being vegan-friendly and organic, which is going to make it suitable for people for whom many wines are not, but you don’t need to fall into a special category to enjoy it. An attractive, relatively light style of Monastrell (which can come pretty big in this southeast corner of Spain), it has plummy fruit, a black-pepper twist and a crisp, slightly salty tang. 14.5%

£10.59–£15.50, D Byrne, Wine Unlimited @ The Vineyard, Blas ar Fwyd, Cork of the North

Armenia Wine Company Yerevan 782 Winemaker’s Blend Red 2023, Aragatsotn, Armenia

Raspberries, cherries and a pinch of white pepper make for a vibrant, juicy blend of Armenia’s signature grape variety, Areni, and a (less pronounceable) local hybrid, Karmrahyut, grown in vineyards at over 1000m. Serve cool with smoked, cured or fresh sausages, pizza, tagines or Boxing Day leftovers. 13%

£10.75–£12.60, Booths, Tanners Wines

Laurent Delaunay les Grappillages Fleurie 2023, Beaujolais, France

Charming, approachable example of this popular, perfumy Beaujolais Cru. Drifts of supple strawberry and bramble fruit, mineral freshness and a seamless silky texture. A candidate, at a very reasonable price, for Boxing Day cold collations, flavoursome risottos, charcuterie or roast chicken. 13%. (Look out for its white counterpart, Les Grappillages Chablis, £18, Morrisons.)

£12, Morrisons

Tbilvino Saperavi 2023, Kakheti, Georgia

Authentically dark, inky looking Saperavi with deep, briary blackberry and damson fruit, peppery, meaty undertones and a bit of international polish. This is a wine for food – robust roasts, hearty meat, bean, chickpea and vegetable stews, barbecues and Georgian inspired dishes. More about it here: Wine of the Week. 13%

£12, Majestic

Domaine de Laguille Merlot Rouge de Plaisir 2023, Côtes de Gascogne, France

Pleasure by name and by nature: an unoaked, smooth and nicely dry Merlot with juicy black fruit and touches of chocolate and balsam polish. A useful, thoroughly honest wine from southwest France to fill the weekday supper slot. 12.5%

£12.55, Private Cellar

Bodegas San Martin Alma de Unx Garnacha 2023, Navarra, Spain

A seductively fragrant, supple Garnacha (Grenache) with lifted cherry and raspberry fruit accented with pepper and aromatic herbs. The grapes come from old bush vines in tiny, hillside vineyards and the wine is aged in old French and American barrels that soften the texture without intruding on the purity of the grape and terroir. 14%

£13.45, Corney & Barrow

Château de Pizay Régnié 2023, Beaujolais, France

The last of the 10 Beaujolais to be elevated to Cru status, Régnié is probably still the least well known but it can be an absolute gem, as here from vines with an average of 55 years on the historic Château de Pizay estate. Deep ruby red and very expressive with succulent cassis and strawberry fruit and a light mineral undercurrent. Concentrated but light on its feet, with ripeness, energy and textbook Gamay character. 13.5%

£13.50 in any 6-bottle mix, £16 singly, Majestic

Château de Lyde 2022, Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France

A bargain (and even more so by the case) that will make a lot of claret drinkers very happy this Christmas, and I don’t just mean dyed-in-the-wool old-school claret drinkers. This is contemporary Bordeaux – deep in colour and full of charm, plush black fruit and texture, but underpinned by a proper structure that will keep it going well for at least five more years. The blend is 70:30 Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon and it’s from Cadillac on the Right Bank opposite Graves. 14%

£14, or £12.45 when you buy a case of 12, Haynes, Hanson & Clark

Larry Cherubino Ad Hoc Cruel Mistress Pinot Noir 2023, Great Southern, Australia

Fragrant, ripe, softly textured Pinot Noir from Western Australia’s Great Southern region. A scent of sun-warmed strawberries, squishy summer-pudding fruit, gentle spiciness and a minerally graphite inflection all add up to a seductive style at a tempting price. 13.5%

£14.45–£16.50, ND John, Wadebridge Wines, Hay Wines, Hennings Wine, All About Wine, Noble Green Wines, Booths, and many other independents

Piedra Fluida Magec 2023, Tenerife, Spain

For an unusual and delicious red wine with a heart-warming story (pun definitely not intended), you can’t do much better than this. Made following the island’s worst wildfires in 40 years, it’s a blend of the best grapes gathered from each impacted plot mixed with some from unaffected vineyards in the south. The result is a pale, sweet-fruited red with spicy, dusty, minerally earth, garrigue herb, wild berry notes and gentle grip. It’s more or less half and half Listan Negro and Listan Blanco – local varieties from old vines – and 1€ from every bottle sold goes to reforestation in the region. I would drink this with more or less anything, but especially when there are lots of different dishes on the table – a lavish meze spread, for example. 13%

£14.95, The Wine Society

Tenuta Fenice Nero d’Avola 2024, Sicily, Italy

Dark, ripe and spicy with bright acidity, well-buffed tannins and a bitter-sweet flavour of bramble jam, damsons, liquorice and dark chocolate. Good with hearty pasta dishes and sausages of all sorts. And it’s another wine with a story behind it: Dino Taschetta makes it from a Nero d’Avola vineyard he revived around a decade ago after his grandfather had had to abandon it in 1968 when an earthquake hit western Sicily. 13.5%

£14.99, Laithwaites

Morandé Vitis Única Pinot Noir 2023, Casablanca Valley, Chile

As limpid in taste as in jewel-like colour, this pure, fine-textured Pinot Noir has cool red-berry fruit, delicate oak and smokiness and a mouthwatering saline finish that seems to come straight from the nearby Pacific Ocean. Served cool, but not chilled, it could be paired with roast game birds, roast or pan-fried venison (not heavy stews), salmon steaks, monkfish, wild mushroom fricassée or mushroom wellington and even with brie or not too oozy Camembert. Not widely available but well worth tracking down. 13%

£15.32–£16, Strictly Wine, All About Wine, Hic!

Viñalba Patagonia Reserve Malbec 2023, Patagonia, Argentina

If you like Malbec but want a change from Mendoza, try this dark, almost opaque purple Malbec from the cooler vineyards of Patagonia way to the south between the Andes Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. It’s marked by the intensity and brightness of its plum and blackberry fruit, its pepper-spice concentration, bitter chocolate and herb notes and smoky vanilla oak. Especially good with lamb and steak. 14%

£16–£17, Tesco, Waitrose

Tanners Super Claret 2019, Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux, France

Tanners have cleverly shipped a mature vintage of the second wine of Château Cissac, Reflets de Cissac, to put under their own label. At six years old, the tannins are soothingly mellow and velvety, but this is a bone-dry, classic, Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated style with currant-leafy fruit and acidity, gravelly graphite and soft oak that opens up given time and space in the glass or decanter. Roast lamb or beef would be spot on with it. Turkey and the multiple traditional trimmings would be an assault course. 12.5%

£16.50, Tanners Wines

Undurraga TH Leyda Syrah 2022, Leyda Valley, Chile

Very good value, cool-climate Syrah showing the influence of the nearby Pacific Ocean. Full-bodied with fine, savoury tannins, crunchy, pure black fruit, sophisticated smoky sweet oak and meaty spice. TH stands for Terroir Hunter – all set for the Boxing Day quiz.

£16.50–£20.49, The Wine Society

Château Tayet Cuvée Prestige Bordeaux Supérieur 2018, Bordeaux, France

Really ‘claretty’ mature claret with ripeness, cedary depths, velvet tannins and gravelly graphite notes. Merlot-led, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot, this is aged in oak for a year and is the sort of wine that gives affordable Bordeaux a good name. 14%

£16.96, Private Cellar

Château Fourcas-Borie 2016, Listrac, Bordeaux, France

Owned by the Borie family of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou and from one of the best Left Bank Bordeaux vintages of the century so far, this is a terrific claret for the price, with an enticing nose, intense, pretty black fruit, graphite and cedar notes and pliant tannins. 14%

£17, The Wine Society

Château Lancyre Clos des Combes Pic Saint-Loup 2023, Languedoc, France

A fragrant, spicy and flowing blend of Syrah and Grenache, with black fruit and earthy sweetness and the sort of refined silk texture, energy and lift you don’t often find in Languedoc reds, but which Pic Saint-Loup owes to its northerly location and craggy, hilly limestone terrain. 14%

£18.40, Haynes, Hanson & Clark

Zulal Areni Red Classic 2021, Vayots Dzor, Armenia

It goes without saying that an Armenian red made from indigenous, ungrafted Areni vines growing in volcanic soils is something a bit different. It’s unoaked and relatively pale in colour, has a sweet-fruited perfume, an appealing fresh, sappy, resiny note and polished, lightly grippy tannins. 14%

£19–£23.50, The Wine Society, Amathus Drinks

Wine & Soul Manoella Douro Tinto 2023, Douro, Portugal

This was a recent Wine of the Week, so I’ll just say that it’s made from traditionally foot-trodden grapes from old vineyards of port grape varieties and all the tlc has paid off in glorious black fruit, a whiff of violets, mineral freshness, spicy length and sleek tannins. 13.5%

£19.30, Tanners Wines (half-bottles £10.30)

Buil & Giné Giné, Giné Priorat 2021, Priorat, Catalonia, Spain

Textbook Priorat – and a lot of wine for your money – from the arid, slate-rich Licorella soils that give the tantalising wet-stone freshness to this powerful, richly fruity, spicy blend of Carignan and Grenache. Serve with stews, braises, slow-roast meats, roast squash and other vegetables, hearty pies and tagines. To clear up any confusion about the name, Buil & Giné is the producer, now into its sixth generation, and Giné, Giné is the name of the wine. 15%

£19.50–£21.75, The Wine Society, The Oxford Wine Company

Domaine des Escaravailles Les Coteaux Rasteau, Rhône, France

An unoaked blend of Grenache (80%) and Syrah from the southern Rhône’s slightly-under-the-radar Rasteau appellation. Ripe, generous, supple and immensely drinkable with lively peppery grip, juicy, sweet raspberry fruit and a savoury, meaty undertow. Think caramelised roast vegetables, casseroles, cassoulets, pork belly, lamb shanks and slow-cooked shoulder. 14%

£19.95, Lea & Sandeman

Southern Right Pinotage 2022, Cape Coast, South Africa

Two kilometres from the cooling Atlantic Ocean, Southern Right, in the beautiful Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, has reimagined South Africa’s Pinotage grape to produce strikingly fragrant, unusually graceful wines. The 2022 is heady with raspberries sprinkled with vanilla, nutmeg and smoky liquorice and elegantly framed by suave tannins and fine acidity. It pairs well with pork, duck, smoked duck, stuffed peppers and lightly spicy dishes. 13%

£20.50–£25, Fareham Wine Cellar, Cockburns of Leith, Hedonism; £114.99 for 6, North & South Wines

Bodegas Riojanas Monte Real Rioja Gran Reserva 2018, Rioja, Spain

I was planning to feature the Monte Real Gran Reserva Edición Limitada 2009, but Adnams has the 1998 (£45.99), which I haven’t tasted, and won’t be moving on to the 2009 until January. The Gran Reserva 2018 isn’t a limited edition late release, but it’s a single-vineyard all-Tempranillo Rioja from high up in the heart of the estate, aged for three years in French and American oak and a further two in bottle. On paper, 2018 isn’t as good a vintage as 2017, but this is very good. Quite deep in colour and expressive and authoritative on the nose, with sandalwood, cedar, black cherry and raspberry. On the palate, it’s full, rich, velvety and smooth with spice notes that include vanilla, ripe fruit (black cherry), fresh orange and balsamic base notes, as well as cocoa and a hint of star anise, all easing through the creamy oak. 14%

£20.99–£28, Adnams, Harrods

Maison Arnaud Boué Coteaux Bourguignons Gamay 2021, Burgundy, France

A tiny-production Gamay not from Beaujolais but from a typical thin Burgundy soil on hard Jurassic limestone and from an up-and-coming Burgundian winemaker, Arnaud Boué, who everyone has their eyes on. Delicate rose petal and sweet earth scents and a silky, supple palate with red berry and redcurrant fruit and orange zest acidity. Medium-bodied, light in alcohol, complete and satisfying. 11.5%

£21.95, Shelved Wine

Domaine des Hauts Châssis Crozes-Hermitage Rouge Esquisse 2024, Rhône, France

Northern Rhône Syrah of pristine purity and transparency from the Faugier family’s old terraced vineyards. Raspberry perfume, blueberries, white pepper and herbs woven together in a willowy frame. Organic with some biodynamic practices applied, too. 12%

£22.50, Corney & Barrow

Cune Imperial Rioja Reserva 2019, Rioja, Spain

You can see from the – not exhaustive – list of stockists that Imperial Reserva isn’t a small-scale production, but it tastes like it. Made from Cune’s (or CVNE’s) own estate grapes from vineyards over 40 years old, its balance and concentration of succulent, glossy fruit, oaky cedar and mocha notes and satin texture are flawless. It can be enjoyed now, but will reward cellaring – it’s a wine that always ages well. I should add that Cune’s standard Reserva is always good too (£12–£15 for 2019/2020, widely available). 14%

£23.75–£28, Co-op, de Burgh Wine Merchants, The Wine Society, Booths, Majestic, WaitroseCellar, Ocado

Michelini i Mufatto GY Malbec Cabernet Franc 2022, Uco Valley, Argentina

A very polished blend of co-fermented Malbec and Cabernet Franc, the latter a variety giving increasingly impressive results in Argentina – in the right location. In this case, the place is the very high Gualtallary subregion of Uco Valley, hence the wine’s name GY. Deep purple with fragrant black fruit, a cool, fresh, mineral core and a smoky-earthy base note. Could be cellared through to the end of the decade. 13.5%

£23.95, Corney & Barrow

Tinhof Blaufränkisch Eisenstadt 2022, Leithaberg, Burgenland, Austria

Benchmark Blaufränkisch – vivid and fresh with dry, appetite-whetting intensity, blueberry fruit, peppery herb and rocky mineral notes. It’s from 20–40-year-old vines on limestone-rich slopes and is made by Erwin Tinhof, the 11th generation to be growing vines and making wine in Eisenstadt. A good wine for fresh, cured and smoked sausages, red meat, venison, duck and root vegetables. 13%

£24.75, Haynes, Hanson & Clark

Senderos de Ukan Rioja 2021, Rioja, Spain

Small-batch, terroir-focused, new-wave Rioja from a boutique bodega in the Rioja Alavesa subregion. Vibrant colour, fragrant, dark mulberry and strawberry fruit, silky smooth and concentrated, with the lightest touch of oak. Long and beautifully balanced. 14.5%

£25, Tanners Wines

Domaine de la Rectorie Collioure Montagne, 2022, Collioure, Roussillon, France

Even allowing for the fact that I have a longstanding soft spot for Collioure, this Mourvèdre-dominant blend is a treat – a powerhouse of pepper, raspberry, Mediterranean scrub and sun-baked earth with finer tannins than many Collioures (not that there are many – it's a small appellation producing rosé and white as well as red). A wine for hearty winter food or summer barbecues. 15%

£25, The Wine Society

Famille Perrin Méridion Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2022, Rhône, France

Considering that some of the grapes for Méridion come from the Perrin family’s famous Château Beaucastel (from young vineyards – under 20 years old), and that 2022 is a very good year for Châteauneuf-du-Pape, this is very well-priced, with a warm raspberry embrace, mouthfilling smoothness and stony freshness. 14.5%

£27, Booths

JL Chave Sélection Offerus Saint-Joseph 2023, Rhône, France

Darkly fruity, savoury, mineral and peppery, this beautifully tailored Saint-Joseph Syrah fans out and lingers on the palate to give effortless, extended pleasure. It still goes under Jean-Louis’ négociant label (Sélection) but three quarters of the fruit now comes from his own domaine. 13.5%

£27.50, Yapp Brothers (magnum £57.50)

Vergelegen Estate Red 2022, Stellenbosch, South Africa

The flagship red of the historic Vergelegen is an oak-matured Bordeaux-style blend, the grapes chosen from the estate’s warmer vineyards to give plush fruit and ripe tannins (two thirds Cabernet Sauvignon, one fifth Merlot and the remainder Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot in the 2022). It’s a young wine, certainly, with the structure and balance to sail through to its 12th birthday, but it’s already eloquent and eminently drinkable, with violets, oak spice and a leafy, herbal freshness introducing the black cherry and dark chocolate, the graphite and black olive notes. 14%

£27–£37.99, Majestic, Vinvm, Frontier Fine Wines, Vino Gusto, The Wine Reserve

Tenuta Campo di Sasso Insoglio del Cinghiale 2022, Toscana, Italy

A generously fruity, suave blend of Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Insoglio del Cinghiale (the place where the cinghiale – wild boar – roots and rolls about) is always disarmingly easy to drink, but behind the bonhomie is a sophisticated, serious Tuscan red. Ripe cherries, baking spices, cedar and aromatic herbs in the 2022 are underscored by svelte tannins. I have drunk earlier vintages at Tenuta di Biserno in Bolgheri with wild boar stew and can’t fault the pairing, but there are many alternatives, from game birds to duck to steak and rich pasta dishes. 14%

£28.50–£32, Hic!, James Nicholson Wine, Highbury Vintners

Fontodi Chianti Classico 2020, Tuscany, Italy

If you want to impress, The Wine Society has this in magnums, but it will make an impression whatever the size. The 2020 vintage in Chianti Classico was excellent and Fontodi is always one of the best, with succulent red plum, dried herb and spicy hay notes, textbook Chianti tang and soft-suede tannins. 14%

£28.96–£31.99, Uncorked Ltd, Ceci Paolo, £32.50; £59 magnum, The Wine Society

Domaine Richeaume Columelle 2020, Vin de France

Maturing impeccably but with years to go, the 2020 Columelle is a blend of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (52:38:10) from 35-year-old biodynamically cultivated grapes on an estate that has led the way in Provence with its red wines for half a century. Cassis and cherry intensity with spicy depth and glossy tannins and freshness. 14.5%

£33, Yapp Brothers

Chateau Musar 2018, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon

The latest vintage to be released of the long aged, long lived, one-of-a-kind Musar is buoyant and rich in fruit, smoky sweet spices and mocha flavours, all underlain by chalk dust-fine tannins. It’s a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan and Cinsault, as usual, from vines that are now around 40 years old, but the 2018 is more open and approachable than many vintages at this stage. Even so, it could be cellared for up to a decade. 14%

£35.95–£42, many independents; £37.50 in any 6-bottle mix, Majestic, £38, Booths

Fogwell Syrah 2023, Western Cape, South Africa

Renowned producer of Chenin Blanc, Chris Alheit once said he would never make a red wine. Thank goodness he changed his mind. This is superb Syrah – long and complex with wonderful minerality, silky texture and freshness, lifted sweet fruit and subtle earthy richness. 70% of the blend is from Karbib in the Poldraai Hills, and is initially foot trodden, and the rest is from Swartland. Fermentation is spontaneous and no new oak is used. 13%

£42, The Wine Society

Barale Fratelli Barolo di Barolo 2021, Piedmont, Italy

From the Fratelli family – Luigi and daughters Eleonora and Gloria – perfumed, finely layered, classically elegant Barolo with strawberry and rose-hip perfume and taffeta tannins. It can be drunk with pleasure now but it’s not a Nebbiolo that’s going to make an early exit. On the menu? Braised beef, tagliata, bresaola, game, quail, risotto al Barolo, porcini risotto, pasta with truffles or wild mushrooms, aged Parmigiano Reggiano, and more. 14.5%

£44.95, Lea & Sandeman

Marimar Estate Mas Cavalls Pinot Noir Doña Margarita Vineyard 2018, Sonoma Coast, US

If you’re a Pinot Noir nut or are treating one, this Sonoma Coast wine and the Yarra Valley wine below would provide a fascinating contrast. This is a fuller, fleshier wine that wears its oak more boldly, with toast, nutmeg and cappuccino layering rich cherry, pomegranate and cranberry fruit and evolved savoury notes balanced by freshness. It could be served with Thanksgiving/Christmas turkey and all the accompaniments or could equally well be paired with a Moorish feast of cinnamon-spiced lamb, pastirma-spiced chicken, aubergine borani and garlicky bean dip. 14%

£45.95–£48.15, Fareham Wine Cellar, London End Wines, Vinvm

Giant Steps Primavera Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022, Yarra Valley, Australia

Pinot Noir from a vineyard planted in 2001, this is a very different style from the California Pinot above. It’s diaphanous yet intense, with radiant strawberry fruit and rose fragrance, the silkiest of textures, barely-there tannins and a background murmur of pomegranate, orange and forest floor. It seems to be all about purity and precision at first but gradually unfurls with gentle fleshiness. The oak – 10 months in French barrels, 20% of them new – is subtle with both a savoury, slightly peppery quality and delicate vanilla sweetness. A fine spine of acidity, together with the effortless tannins and quiet concentration, make this is a Pinot Noir that, delicious as it is now, could be enjoyed early into the next decade. 13.5%

£47.50– £57.50, Vinvm, London End Wines, Parched Wine

Domaine de Bellene Beaune Premier Cru Teurons 2019, Burgundy, France

Elegant yet mouth-filling, old-vine Pinot Noir with a heavenly scent of roses, raspberries and cherries and great purity and length. It’s from a half hectare planted in 1961 and from a cracking vintage. All in all, a fitting tribute to its winemaker, the much admired Nicolas Potel, who died in a tragic accident earlier this year. 14%

£49, The Wine Society

Château Lafon-Rochet 2016, Saint-Estèphe, Bordeaux, France

I’ve just tasted the 2016, 2018 and 2022 vintages of this high-flying Saint-Estèphe fourth-growth with the new director-general and winemaker Vincent Bache-Gabrielsen. All three are extremely good, with 2016 and 2022 just having the edge over 2018, but I’ve chosen the 2016 because it can be enjoyed now, although I must stress that it has the structure and balance to cellar until at least 2040. It has a lovely perfume – floral with violets and a touch of incense – and a palate that is concentrated, long, full of energy, and firm yet velvet-smooth, with flavours of blackcurrants straight off the bush, cedar, bitter chocolate and graphite-mineral acidity. (An interesting aside: Lafon-Rochet's vines sit next to the plot that Château Lafite-Rothschild has in Saint-Estèphe, which Lafite is allowed to include in its wine, which is, of course, a first growth Pauillac.) 14%

£49.50–£66, The Huntsworth Wine Company, Wine Dancer, Sandhams Wine, Fareham Wine Cellar, de Burgh Wine, The Suffolk Cellar; £35 half bottle, Vintage Cellars

Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2018, Rhône, France

Rich and intense with lustrous tannins and youthfully peppery fruit, this Châteauneuf from one of my favourite estates is already hugely satisfying but can only get better. I am still drinking my 1998s with immense pleasure – not least with roast, stuffed goose. It would also pair with game and red meat roasts and casseroles or vegetarian cassoulets. 14.5%

£56–£78, The Wine Society, Vintage Cellars, House Of Townend, Hic!, Fortnum & Mason

2022 Tenuta Luce Luce 2022, Toscana, Italy

This, the 30th vintage of Luce, the Montalcino estate Tenuta Luce’s iconic super-Tuscan, is already very drinkable, but it really deserves to be laid down. The seamless blend of Sangiovese, with its upright structure and acidity, and the lusher, more velvety Merlot was aged in 80% new oak barriques for 24 months and bottled a year ago. The fruit – both red and black – has lovely precision and sheen, there’s a seductive floral note of peony and a suggestion of sandalwood, while the tannins that shape and propel the wine to a long finish are pebble-smooth. Resist it if you can: it’s harmonious now but will gain in stature and complexity. 15%

£125.10, Millesima UK (magnums £250)

Giodo Brunello di Montalcino 2020, Tuscany, Italy

I have chosen the youngest of the four vintages Lea & Sandeman has of Carlo Ferrini’s Brunello because it’s already beautifully drinkable but has decades to go. It’s fresh, ripe and lithe and at the same time seamlessly multi-layered, with aromas of violets, plums and black fruit, spicy sandalwood and balsam notes, supremely polished tannins and great length. If you're an Etna Rosso fan (like me), look out also for Alberelli di Giodo Nerello Mascalese. 14.5%

£133.95, Lea & Sandeman

Phototographs by Joanna Simon

#wine #red #festive #Christmas2025 #giftguide #wineandfood #winepairing