Welcome to my roundup of 45 red wines for the festive season. Ranging freely across continents, styles, regions, grape varieties and prices, it's designed to cover all occasions and eventualities.
There’s inspiration for gifts, there are wines for the ‘this deserves something special' moments and there are reds you can pull out for the ‘nothing is happening, so let's open a bottle' evenings. All are ready for drinking, but some will continue to develop.
I haven’t stinted on the southern Rhône and Rioja simply because there is a lot of good value to be had from these regions at under £20 – even down to £5.45, the price of Tesco’s creditable and authentic Palais St Vigni Côtes du Rhône 2023. Waitrose’s Blueprint Côtes du Rhône 2022 (£6.99) is another that does a good job of avoiding the jammy sweetness that often mars cheap wines.
I'm putting in my usual plea not to serve red wines too warm. They really will taste fresher, brighter and more detailed 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, including the one-litre bottle of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and the magnum of Château Pey la Tour, so these two wines are cheaper than they may look at first glance. Look out for special offers in December, including supermarket £10 fine wine offers.
Faustino V Rioja Reserva 2018, Rioja, Spain
There’s nothing subtle about this Rioja with its cladding of traditional vanilla-scented American oak, but it’s well done in its style – a dark-hued, plump cushion of blackberry and black cherry, chocolate, herbs, liquorice and creamy oak. Easy to drink and surprisingly versatile with food, from chorizo and bean casserole, to lamb shanks and pork belly to root vegetables, mushrooms and hard and semi-hard cheeses. 14%
£9 on offer until January 1, Asda (then £12.50)
M Chapoutier Belleruche Côtes du Rhône 2022, Rhône, France
An ever-reliable Côtes du Rhône vinified without oak to give full rein to the juicy raspberry and blackberry and peppery spice. Full, rounded and all-in-all satisfying. 14%
£9.99 (mix six), Majestic
M&S Expressions Xinomavro 2021, Macedonia, Greece
An example of northern Greece’s powerful, grippy Xinomavro grape deftly tamed by oak – but not too much of it – to let the wine’s raspberry and strawberry, herb, sun-dried tomato and black olive flavours shine. And it shines with food, too. Moussaka (lamb or vegetarian) is an obvious call, but empanadas, lamb, beef or lentil stews and imam bayildi are all candidates. 14%
£10, Ocado, M&S stores
Tanners Douro Red 2020, Douro, Portugal
Bouncy red cherry and plum fruit with a dusting of tobacco, sweet spice, cocoa and minerals. An easygoing but grown-up blend of classic Douro grape varieties, Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz, made by Duorum, which is committed to a commendable sustainable rural development policy. 13.5%
£10.95, Tanners
CVNE Rioja Reserva 2019, Rioja, Spain
Cune, as the company is also called, has never let me down, whether Crianza, Reserva, or Gran Reserva. The 2019 is as perfumed and confident as any, with sweet cherry-berry fruit, fruitcake spiciness and cedar, all rounded out with spicy oak. Could be cellared for another four years. Good value.14%
£10.99–£14.99, Majestic, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Ocado
Quinta de Fafide Douro Reserva 2022, Douro, Portugal
This is made from the same three traditional port grape varieties as Tanners Douro (above), but it’s fuller and oakier (both French and American oak) with bright blackberry and plum fruit, a classic fresh graphite-mineral note and smoky, chocolaty, vanilla-edged oak. It’s made by Rui Madeira from vineyards at high elevation. 14%
£12, Ocado, M&S stores
Calmel & Joseph Organic Pinot Noir Prestige 2023, Pays d’Oc, France
A new organic Pinot Noir from micro-negociant Calmel & Joseph’s own domaine in Corbières and from vineyards at 250–300m asl, high enough to produce Pinot of purity and vitality – and, in this case, gentle, crisp, cherry, berry and rosehip fruit, nutmeg spice, resiny herbs and a redcurrant tang all lightly brushed with oak. Very reasonably priced. 12%
£12.99, Waitrose
Guigal Côtes du Rhône 2020, Rhône, France
Guigal can be relied on to produce a generous, velvety Côtes du Rhône, the kind of wine, full of spice and fruit with a dash of black olive and chocolate, that you can take to friends without ceremony and know that it will go down well. Less well known is that it’s a wine you can cellar a few years. I’ve got quite a few bottles of 2019 and I’m happy to keep them longer. 14.5%
£13, Tesco, Ocado, Majestic and independents
Marqués de Zearra Rioja Crianza 2019, Rioja, Spain
Succulent, rounded, raspberry fruit suffused with the cappuccino and soft cedary spice of American oak. I can’t imagine anyone not liking this all-Tempranillo Rioja from a small bodega in Rioja Alta. Cracking value. 14%.
£13.75, Yapp Brothers
Domaine Maby Variations Côtes du Rhône 2021, Rhône, France
With garrigue herbs and a pinch of mace, this is a really characterful, good value Côtes-du-Rhône that shows the breadth and sweet fruit of the Grenache grape (75% of the blend), the grip and spice of Syrah, Mourvèdre and Carignan and the concentration of low-yielding 50-plus year old vines. I would happily tuck some away for three or four years. 14%.
£13.95, Yapp Brothers
Miguel Torres Vigno Carignan 2016, Maule, Chile
Juicy damson and cranberry with a herbal inflection and a touch of iodine, together with tannin and acidity softened by gently creamy, toasty oak. A shining example of the potential of Carignan when the vines are old and carefully nurtured. Some of them are more than 60 years old. 13.5%
£13.99, Waitrose Cellar (not in shops)
M&S Creation Pinot Noir 2022, Cape South Coast, South Africa
Fragrant and flowing with pristine, briary, summer-pudding fruit and sensitively used oak, this is made by the team at the much-admired Creation Wines with Pinot Noir grown in the Cape’s ocean-cooled southern vineyards. A smart buy. 14%
£14, Ocado, M&S stores
Boutinot Les Six Cairanne 2022, Cairanne, Rhône, France
Another good value southern Rhône – this one from the Cairanne appellation. Impressively complex and full of evocative sun-warmed herb aromas, meaty, peppery spice, dark fruit and lush texture. You could confidently cellar this for another five years. The Six refers to the number of grape varieties – more than you usually see in the southern Rhône. The bottle is distressingly heavy, but from 2025 it will be significantly lighter. 14.5%
£14.69–£17.75, Rannoch Scott Wines, Wine Poole, Roberts & Speight, Hedley Wright, ND John Wine, NYWines (UK), Kwoff, Palmers Wine Store, Raffles Fine Wine, Blas Ar Fwyd
The Liberator God’s Own Country Part II 2020, Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, South Africa
An exhilarating, peppery, stony, Grenache-led blend with gleaming wild-strawberry fruit. Although it’s a southern Rhône-type blend (Grenache with 37% Syrah and 12% Mourvèdre), it’s more like one of the ethereal old-vine, mountain Garnachas from Spain. Drink cool. 14.5%
£14.95, The Wine Society
Masi Campofiorin Appassimento 2020, Rosso del Veronese, Veneto, Italy
An old favourite from the Valpolicella region. The appassimento method, in which a proportion of semi-dried grapes is used, adds weight, richness and softness, resulting in a velvet-textured, medium-full wine with spicy, dried-cherry fruit set against spicy oak, cedar and dark chocolate. Keep your eyes open for special offers. 13%.
£14.99, Waitrose; £36.95–£39.90 for 150cl, Vinvm and Tannico UK
Fasolino Gino Abbondanza Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2022, Abruzzo, Italy
Juicy, spicy, cherryish fruit with soft, dry pepper and graphite notes and little bit of refreshing crunch on the finish. Could be served lightly chilled – either way, it slips down enjoyably easily. It comes in a litre, screw-capped bottle with a colourful contemporary label. 13.5%.
£14.99, litre (equivalent to £11.24 for 75cl), Adnams
Domaine du Petit Pérou Morgon Tradition 2022, Beaujolais, France
Fragrant, silky and succulent with plums, violets, black fruit and a classic, granite, mineral tang. This is great value and comes with a pedigree. It’s made by Hugo Thévenet, nephew of Jean-Paul Thévenet, one of the Beaujolais 'Gang of Four' who stirred up the region with their quality-oriented, more natural winemaking approach to Gamay in the 1980s (more about them here). 13.5%.
£14.99, Adnams
Montecillo Rioja Reserva 2017, Rioja, Spain
Two years' ageing in oak (two thirds French, a third American) makes its spicy, nutty presence felt but – hey! – this is Rioja and the oak wraps itself around a solid core of plummy red fruit like a favourite winter coat. Vines aged at least 30 years. 13.5%.
£15.99, Waitrose
Doña Paula Single Vineyard El Alto Malbec 2022, Mendoza, Argentina
Who doesn’t love a Malbec at Christmas? Especially a stylish Malbec like this. Fresh and mineral with a whiff of violets, spicy blackberry fruit, well-honed tannins and good length. Eyes peeled for offers. 14%.
£15.99, Waitrose
Knipser Blauer Spätburgunder 2019, Pfalz, Germany
For any Pinot Noir fans who have yet to discover Spätburgunder, Germany’s contribution to the world of red Pinot, this would be an ideal introduction. Think of it as a halfway house between Burgundy and Central Otago Pinot Noir – charmingly floral and sweet-fruited, crunch-fresh and filled out by ageing in used oak. 13%
£16.50, The Wine Society
Cum Vineis Sclavis Schiava 2022, Trentino, Italy
This is a delight – a pale, fresh, perfumed, cherry and strawberry-fruity, yet savoury, light-bodied red. It's made from an old Trentino grape variety, Schiava (meaning slave in Italian, but that’s a story for another time) and it's the kind of red wine you can drink on its own or pair with cured and air-dried meats, aubergine, tuna steak, prosciutto-wrapped monkfish or chicken breast, or roast poussin. 12%
£16.65 in any 6-bottle mix (£18.50, single), Wickhams Wine
Samartzis M Merlot & Mouhtaro 2022, Central Greece, Greece
A fascinating red from vineyards lying at 400m asl in the Valley of the Muses about 90 minutes northwest of Athens. Although the blend is weighted to Merlot (70%), the local Mouhtaro makes itself felt in the deliciously different flavour – red cherry and pomegranate with tomato, tomato-leaf, a hint of black pepper and gentle, fine-sand tannins. Be aware: the 100% Mouhtaro has already sold out at Tanners. 13.5%.
£16.90, Tanners
Cascina Alberta Barbera d’Alba 2022, Piedmont, Italy
Perfumed, fruity and spicy with a touch of black pepper and the intensity, energy and acid tang to cut through slow-roast belly of pork or to accompany a meaty, tomatoey bolognese. Organic Barbera of impressive purity. 14.5%.
£17.50, Haynes, Hanson & Clark
Springfontein Terroir Selection Pinotage 2018, Springfontein Rim, South Africa
Opulent and distinctive, but not the sort of distinctiveness that can put people off Pinotage. Plush, dark chocolate, red and black cherry fruit, spice and minerals with soft-suede tannins and a polished feel. Just right for a winter stew. 14.5%.
£17.85, Private Cellar
Zuccardi Apelación Cabernet Franc 2020, Valle de Uco, Mendoza, Argentina
Argentina doesn’t only do Malbec. This is a lovely, intense Cabernet Franc with a green herbal streak, taffeta tannins and fresh acidity running through raspberry, red cherry, bitter chocolate and smooth coffee notes. 14%
£17.80–£20.46, Vinvm, Noble Grape Wines, The Oxford Wine Co, DBM Wines, Bon Coeur Fine Wines
Ventisquero Grey Carmenère 2020, Maipo Valley, Chile
A mouthwatering combination of velvet smoothness, vibrant black fruit, green herb, cocoa, spicy oak and sappy acidity. Textbook Carmenère, Chile’s signature variety, from a single block in coastal Maipo planted back in 1998. Try it with lamb, venison or stuffed peppers and try the Grey Sauvignon Blanc, a recent Wine of the Week. 13.5%
£17.99–£18.95, ND John Wines, Vino Fandango, Mr Wheeler Wine
Meerlust Red 2020, Stellenbosch, South Africa
A medium-bodied blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot aged in barrel to give a flattering sheen of oak and spice to the rose petal, red berry and cherry fruit and the redcurrant freshness. A relaxed and versatile Bordeaux blend from a historic Cape estate. 14%
£17.99 (mix six), Majestic
Monte Real Rioja Gran Reserva 2017, Rioja, Spain
An arresting all-Tempranillo single-vineyard Gran Reserva from the heart of the Rioja Alta region. Aged for three years in French and American oak barrels (new for the first year), then a further two in bottle, resulting in a complex tapestry of smoky, gamey notes, rich dried-cherry and cassis, nutmeg, vanilla and pepper spiciness, creamy toasty oak, dark chocolate and a resiny fresh finish. It’s ready now but you could easily keep it another six years, enjoying Monte Real Crianza 2021 and Reserva 2019 in the meantime. 14%
£19.99–£21.50, Adnams, Sandhams Wine
Feudi di San Gregorio Taurasi 2019, Taurasi, Campania, Italy
A classic Taurasi, southern Italy’s slightly more muscular answer to Barolo, made from the Aglianico grape grown in volcanic soils. Meaty, smoky, mineral aromas around briary black fruit, bitter chocolate, grippy tannins and acid bite. Best decanted and needs food, such as venison, beef or lamb stews and braises, meaty, tomatoey ragùs and aged pecorino. 14%
£21, The Wine Society
Domaine Paul Janin et Fils Empreinte Moulin-à-Vent 2022, Beaujolais, France
Pristine black plum and floral aromas and a gentle mineral accent in a velvety, rounded, enticingly approachable style. It comes from a patchwork of plots with different soils and Gamay vines aged up to 100 years. 13%.
£23.95, Lea & Sandeman
Domaine Font Sarade Les Pigières Gigondas 2022, Rhône, France
Generous, rich, sweet-fruited and spicy, but with precision, freshness and a perfumed lift that Gigondas sometimes lacks. Les Pigières is a 1.25-ha parcel within the Burle family’s 37-ha estate and the blend of 60% Grenache, 35% Mourvèdre and 5% Syrah is aged in concrete. 14.5%.
£24, Haynes, Hanson & Clark
Château Pey la Tour 2020, Bordeaux Supérieur, France
An imposing magnum of claret at an unimposing price. Plump, fleshy and cedary with mulberry fruit and ripe, velvety tannins and some graphite, mineral freshness on the finish. Good value and a good wine for the festive table. 14%.
£25 for 150cl, selected Waitrose (75cl bottles of the 2022, which I haven’t tasted, are on offer until 26 November at £8.99, down from £11.99)
Pascal et Nicolas Reverdy Terre de Maimbray Sancerre Rouge 2022, Loire, France
Light, bright colour, raspberry-accented fragrance and fruit, gossamer-fine texture and fine-boned structure. Sleek, very appealing Sancerre Pinot Noir. 13.5%.
£25, Haynes, Hanson & Clark
Vasse Felix Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, Margaret River, Australia
Here’s a good present for a 50-year-old: the label proudly announces ‘The 50th vintage’. If you can persuade the recipient to hold off a few years before drinking it, so much the better. It’s classic Margaret River Cabernet, with cassis, dark chocolate, mint, dried herb, cedar and soy in bright definition with acid coolness and sinewy, polished, tannins. Given time, it will become more nuanced, although it’s very good with steak already. 14%
£26.24 (mix six), Majestic
Domaine des Hauts Chassis Les Galets Crozes-Hermitage 2021, Rhône, France
Crozes-Hermitage Syrah in an elegant, pure style bringing raspberry perfume, white pepper, meatiness and sweet earth. The name refers to the heat-reflecting galets roulés stones in the Faugier’s terraced, organic vineyards high above the Rhône. 13%.
£26.25, Corney & Barrow
Domaine Richeaume Syrah 2019, Méditerranée, France
Superb Syrah from this long-established organic estate in Provence. Powerful and dense with dark, sweet, chocolate-coated black cherry fruit, burnished tannins and touches of garrigue and spice. Can be drunk with great pleasure now but will gain in complexity. 14%
£27, The Wine Society
Rockburn Pinot Noir 2022, Central Otago, New Zealand
Eloquent, silky textured Pinot with a scent of bergamot wafting over raspberry, cherry and plum wrapped in creamy cappuccino oak. Poised, precise and multi-layered. 13.5%
£29.49–£36.55, All About Wine, Vinvm, Hic!, Shelved Wine, Wine Poole
Château Tronquoy-Lalande 2014, Saint-Estèphe, Bordeaux, France
An opportunity to get a mature claret to enjoy now or anytime into the beginning of the next decade. Rich, intense fruit with dark, smoky edges, structural, polished tannins and impressive length from, unusually for Saint-Estèphe, more Merlot than Cabernet Sauvignon. 14.5%.
£32–£35, Cambridge Wine Merchants, Tanners, Shrine to the Vine
Vignamaggio Monna Lisa Chianti Classico Gran Selezione 2015/17, Tuscany, Italy
Monna Lisa is the flagship Chianti Classico of the estate where Mona Lisa is reputed to have been born in 1479. Both vintages are 90–95% Sangiovese with 5–10% Cabernet Sauvignon and the style is generous, fragrant and umami with sandalwood spiciness, violet, plum and red cherry, silky oak, fine-sand tannins and blood-orange freshness. The 2015 is more concentrated, savoury and barely ready and may outlive the slightly spicier 2017, which is ready now, but both have a good future. 14.5%
£33.70–£35, Vinvm, Hic! (2017), The Wine List (2015)
Domaine de Bellene Savigny-lès-Beaune 2021, Burgundy, France
From Pinot Noir vines planted in 1904 and foot-trodden grapes, this is fragrant, graceful and precise, with rosehip, red cherry, plum and tangerine notes and a veil of silky tannins. It’s one of three Vieilles Vignes Burgundies by Nicolas Potel that were sent by Tanners in 100ml Ecosip sample pouches. The other two were a beautiful Nuits-Saint-Georges – temptingly on offer at £45 (£10 off) until January 6 – and a dark, crunchy Volnay Vieilles Vignes (£43) from Nicolas Potel's negoçiant arm, Maison Roche de Bellène. 12.5%.
£35, Tanners
Roccheviberti Vecchie Viti Castiglione Barolo 2019, Piedmont, Italy
Bright, garnet-ruby with delicate floral, red fruit and smoky, earthy aromas emerging on to an expressive, sustained palate. This an old-vine beauty that gives great pleasure now, but there’s no hurry to drink it: it will see out this decade. 14%.
£47.95, Lea & Sandeman
Château de Ferrand 2019, Saint Emilion, Bordeaux, France
This organic, Grand Cru Classé Saint Emilion, a blend of 73% Merlot and 27% Cabernet Franc, is a great advertisement for contemporary claret. The bright, lush fruit – victoria plum with a whiff of violets – has beautiful clarity and definition and is suffused with soft, cedary spice and supple tannins. It can be drunk now but could be cellared for another 12 years. 14.5%
£49–£59.50, The Perfect Bottle, Lay & Wheeler, Cavavin
Château Larrivet Haut-Brion 2020, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux, France
Another young, organic Bordeaux that’s a great advertisement for the region. The nose is really quite exotic, with blueberry, blackberry, black cherry, cedar, nutmeg and a hint of mint, and the palate is velvety and opulent but with persuasive tannins. Drink from now until 2040. 13.5%
£40, but sold by the case of 12 (£480), Millesima UK
Castello di Fonterutoli Siepi 2019, Toscana, Italy
You could choose any vintage of this Tuscan blend of Merlot and Sangiovese and you wouldn’t be disappointed, unless perhaps a little by the 2010 which I found strangely undeveloped when I tasted it at Siepi’s 30th anniversary tasting recently. Together with 2016, this 2019 was my favourite of the 10 vintages tasted – a wine of wonderful harmony amid extravagant aroma, opulence and depth, with violet and floral aromas washing over layers of glossy black and red fruit and powerful yet satin-smooth tannins. 14.7%
£60, Atlas Fine Wines
Château d’Issan 2012, Margaux, France
A third growth Margaux just getting into its impressive stride at 12 years old, with appealing evolution of cedar, spice and tobacco notes on the nose followed by a palate that is still youthful in its concentration and fruit. Notes of cassis, plum, clove, black pepper and graphite with fine-grained tannins, acidity and energy. Drink from now until at least 2040.
£68, Hedonism
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