£9–£10.95, House of Townend, Lush Wines, The Grape & The Good, The Whalley Wine Shop, South Downs Cellars, Richardsons of Whitehaven
I'll come to the name and the label in a moment but, in case you're jumping to conclusions, this isn't a big belter of a wine. It's medium-full and pulsing with Cabernet Sauvignon energy and rich, sunny fruit. Think plum and cassis lightly brushed with aromatic, woody herbs, supple tannins discreetly wrapped in oak, and a flourish of bay-leaf spicy freshness. Altogether very appealing.
So, to the name: a Beltie is a Belted Galloway, which is a rather magisterial breed of cattle, as is obvious from the label. The wine had neither a name nor a label when Cachet Wine sales director David Archibald found it on a visit to one of his suppliers in Languedoc last December. A couple of months later, on an early morning jog, he stopped for a breather by a field of Belted Galloways. By the time he got home he had the name. Wendy in the design office did the rest.
It's an accommodating Cabernet that you could drink with lamb in almost any form, from roast to moussaka to chops with chimichurri, or with beef, duck, slow-roast, herby, garlicky pork, sausage and mash, or roast squash and root vegetables or vegetarian lasagne. 13.5%. Empty bottle weight: 599g.
Big Beltie Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, Pays d'Oc, France
£8.99 on offer, down from £10.49, House of Townend; £9.95, Lush Wines; £9.95 or 2 for £18, introductory offer, then £10.95, The Grape & The Good; £9.99 on offer, then £10.99, The Whalley Wine Shop; £10.50, Richardsons of Whitehaven; £10.95, South Downs Cellars