£9 (or £8 on offer), Sainsbury's
This is the new vintage of a generous, warm-hearted red blend that's one of the best wines in Sainsbury's range in terms of quality-price ratio (especially on offer at £8 online and in most stores). Syrah and Grenache provide the blackberry and blackcurrant fruit, peppery spice and aromatic herbal notes of the garrigue, while partial ageing in French oak barrels rounds it out with subtle toasty notes. It's a winner with lamb – braised shanks, slow-baked shoulder, chops – but it's also a match for vegetable stews such as ratatouille and caponata, and with duck confit and cassoulet. It's made by Laurent Miquel who has been one of the leading lights of the Languedoc wine renaissance since he returned to the region in 1996, from among other places Leeds, to follow family tradition and become a vigneron – his family have been making wine on their home estate since the end of the eighteenth century. 13.5%.
Taste the Difference Saint-Chinian Syrah Grenache 2016, Saint-Chinian, Languedoc, France
£9, Sainsbury's