£8.49, Waitrose
Clear a space in your fridge for another chillable red this week – unoaked old-vine Grenache at its most engaging and accessible, and accessibly priced too. Give it a light chill to emphasise its winning strawberry perfume, succulent summer-pudding fruit and the sapid white pepper note that adds a savoury lick.
It comes from Thistledown Wine Company in South Australia, a small-batch producer founded and run by two Masters of Wine, Giles Cooke and Fergal Tynan, and the vines really are old – 60-plus years. Fermentation is partly whole bunch and with natural yeasts.
It's the sort of red wine that goes down with most things you might have on a barbecue, whether meat, veg and tomatoes or fish, and with spicy sausages, cold meats and charcuterie, and the tannin is low enough to handle light curries. 14.5%
Summer Road Old Vine Grenache 2020, Riverland, Australia
£8.49, Waitrose
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