Red Wines

Elegant fruit and solid structure. Classic St. Julien of a distinctly superior character. Reserve this for special occasions and grand dinners.

Classic blackcurrant aromas of Cabernet in an easy-drinking style. Ripe fruit, and bags of flavour.

The warm, wild black fruit aromas and flavours of Merlot matched by the structure and grip of Tannat. Another good value wine from our friends at the Plaimont co-operative in Gascony producing wines from regional grape varieties.

Soft, round black fruit flavours with an edge of Iberian spice. Bodegas Antano, a modern, well equipped winery in Rueda, source grapes from within and outside the DO and bring to bear their wine-making skills.

Among 2003's star performers, a wine we really felt expressed the intense ripeness of the vintage, while sharing the charm and elegance of its stablemate, Léoville-Barton. Drink from 2010. Sandwiched between the Gironde and Château Talbot, the property has been run by Ireland s Barton family (owners of Straffan House) since 1821. Charismatic Anthony Barton now makes optimal use of his modern cellars.

Wonderful concentration of rich, gamey black fruit. Dense rich and powerful with classy oak.

Wonderfully balances power and elegance.

Every so often we find a lowly claret that punches above its weight and strive to give it the wider exposure it deserves. Few contenders for our basic everyday Bordeaux crown have held our attention as forcefully as this delicious wine from Monsieur Vincendeau's 16 hectare property in the Entre-Deux-Mers. An unoaked blend of destemmed Merlot (70%) and Cabernet Franc, traditionally vinified, it offers soft blackcurrant fruit and an attractive earthy finish. Ideal with steak and kidney pie!

Wine for game, roasts, grills and your closest friends. This velvety yet power-packed Shiraz is an elegant style that reflects its relatively cool-climate origins: South Australia's rarefied Clare Valley. Tim Gramp set up his "shed on a hill" there, tempted by unspoilt beauty and affordable 'terra rossa' soils. Heir to a wine dynasty dating back to 1847 (Johann Gramp planted the Barossa Valley's first vines) he's forged his own reputation for stellar reds.

Corte d'Aibo ('aibus' is Latin for 'shelter') is smack dab in the middle of the beautiful Monteveglio Abbey regional park, a day's hike from Bologna. The monks left long ago, but treasured documents tell us that they bought several vineyard plots there in the sixteenth century. In 1989, production was endorsed as organic. This is Barbera in full force, rich and wild, yet tempered with dry tannins. Enjoy the earthy black fruit flavours with truffle-scented dishes.

The vineyards of Corte d'Aibo lie at the heart of the beautiful Monteveglio Abbey regional park, a short hike from Bologna. Advocate of 'doing your own thing', Antonio Capelli produces wines organically because he lives amid his vines: "It is not for you, it is for me". He says. In 1989 (just after Antonio bought into the place with friends), production was endorsed as organic. Barrique-aged for 12 months, this is a bold Cab. with spicy oak and meaty, herbal flavours. Classic roast lamb wine.

Tim Gramp is heir to a winemaking dynasty dating back to 1847 (his forebears planted the first Barossa Valley vines, near now-notorious 'Jacob's Creek') He is famous for his production of Clare Valley Riesling and McLaren Vale Grenache. This blend of classic red grapes is from a new development of his in the up and comingGilbert Valley, which lies to the south of the Clare. Powerful yet balanced.

Essence of Margaret River Cabernet: a warm surge of cassis-rich blackcurrant and black cherry flavours with hints of eucalyptus, black olives and spice. Fork out for rack of lamb to go with this. Mark Messenger, ex-of Cape Mentelle and now winemaker at Western Australia's Juniper Estate, is famed for single varietal reds of real power and finesse. He's brought medal-winning acclaim to this relative newcomer to Wilyabrup Creek, also home to Cullens and Vasse Felix.

Reach for this if you're cooking up something spicy. Well-made Grenache has a vibrant, peppery edge and you won't find one better built than Tim Gramp's. Heir to a winemaking dynasty dating back to 1847 (his forebears planted the first Barossa Valley vines, near now-notorious 'Jacob's Creek') Tim has carved a niche as South Australia's Grenache supremo. Successive vintages of this wine has always won plaudits for its resounding raspberry fruitiness and sheer oomph.

Fabulously rich, velvety-black fruit flavours and notes of liquorice and vanilla are the hallmarks of this meticulously-made, blockbuster Syrah-Grenache-Mourvèdre from Christine and Joel Laval. Their small but prestigious Mas Laval vineyards lie on the same exceptional soils as famous Mas de Daumas Gassac, and production standards are just as high: this was aged for 18 months in barrels used for a year at top Burgundy estate Domaine de la Romanée Conti.

A full, spicy edged mouthfull from this Carmenere, the adopted grape of Chile. The latest addition to our Casa Rivas range (showcase for Chilean brilliance) comes courtesy of grandiose, century-old Viña Tarapacá. Their 2, 600 hectare Rosario de Naltagua plot lies in a loop of the Maipo River, 40 minutes' invigorating drive south of Santiago. Ideal growing conditions, notably cold nights and hot days, produce deeply- coloured wines like this.

'Fleur Bleue' is a term the French use for charmingly unworldly people like Amélie Poulain or Monsieur Hulot. Given that this stylish Pinot Noir was made by efficient top Languedoc cellar Domaine de Cousserges, an ancient royal estate between Montpelier and Beziers. Elegant, silky, smoky black cherry flavour and an appetising toasty edge, at its best with roast chicken.

Don't fire up the barbecue without it. Everyone will want a taste of this rich, spicy 14% whopper Australian red, and that's no problem at the budget-friendly price. Our old friends at Beresford Wines lovingly crafted it from prime Shiraz and Cabernet grown in Langhorne Creek, long a contributor to the legendary Grange (Australia's most prestigious red). Canoe Tree? The name given to ancient gum trees whose bark was used to make yes, you've guessed it, canoes.

Media mogul John Hegarty (remember 'Flat Eric' and 'Vorsprung Durch Technik'?) has sunk his cash into an amphitheatre of vines near Carcassonne facing the Montagne Noire, exploiting them in a green, state-of-the-art way. Burgundian Gold medal winemaker Samuel Berger aced drought-ridden 2003; his 2004s, like this Carignan-Syrah-Mourvedre build on that success. Unoaked, it's ripe and ready drinking, with ample, smoky black fruit flavours. Wine for steaks.

Unlike many Valpolicella estates, there's nothing slapdash or rustic about I Castei. Genial Sergio Castellani runs his immaculate Marano cellar (founded by his father in 1945) like clockwork. Modernity doesn't run riot, but there are rational concessions: plastic buckets instead of fraying wicker, and aluminium fans to dessicate grapes for 'passito' styles like this. Rich, mellow flavours of conserved fruits and nuts; as sipped with almond biscuits at swish Italian eateries.