Cepa Lebrel Rioja Reserva, 2015 - Lidl

A mature Rioja from Lidl

Age does something to a wine that nothing else achieves; a wine is not really considered "mature", let alone aged, until it is at least five years old. And not all wines are designed to last even that long.

Rioja is, like Bordeaux, Burgundy and vintage Champagne, a classic ageworthy wine; good examples have a lifespan measured in decades. As a rule of thumb, it costs about £1 per year, per bottle to store wine professionally. On that basis, this wine basically costs nothing and so is incredibly good value.

Cepa Lebrel Rioja Reserva, 2015 (£5.49, Lidl) evolved aromas of old leather, pencil shavings and gamey, mushroomy woodsiness, bramble and damson fruit, sweet vanilla spice and porty eucalyptus with a warming finish; fresh with harmonious, fine and well-integrated tannins.

Improves with aeration and drinking nicely now, but could be aged further.

Thoroughly enjoyable and Good Value.

Serve with herby beef stew, roast lamb with rosemary or rare venison steaks.

87 Bampfield points.

Also recommended by Wilson On Wine, Peter Ranscombe.and Brian Elliott

Co-op Irresistible Australian Chardonnay

An elegant, well-made and good value Aussie Chardie from The Co-op

Western Australia was the first part of the country - or, rather, continent - that I loved. Five hours' flying time from what we think of when we think of Australia, Western Australia is the New New World whose wines feel like the Old World.

This Co-op Chardie shows what Western Australia does best; elegant, food-friendly, European style wines with balance and restraint. It is a lovely wine and very well priced.

Co-op Irresistible Australian Chardonnay (£7, The Co-op) ripe orchard and melon fruit, sweet spices and leesy salinity with just a touch of toastiness; full, supple and harmonious with good underpinnings. Very adept and very well-made from excellent fruit.

Drinks nicely straight from the screw-cap bottle, improves with a little aeration and has the potential to age.

Good and Good Value.

A versatile wine, match with starters, picnics, fish dishes or roast white meats.

Cimarosa South African Pinotage, Lidl

An enjoyable, inexpensive Saffer Pinotage from Lidl - and some behavioural economics

There are two good reasons to buy this South African Pinotage from Lidl:

- it's thoroughly enjoyable
- it is inexpensive and very good value

There is one really good reason to buy it now:

- South African wineries are currently dependent on exports for income, so if you ever want to drink South African again, buying a bottle or two now might just help the industry survive for another growing season.

Remember the toilet roll and flour shortages of a few months ago? It turns out the panic-buying hoarders weren't the problem at all. No, it was everyone else buying a little more "just in case" who caused the problem.

Right now, for South Africa, running out of wine stocks to sell would be classed as a good problem to have. But in any case, the point is this; if a whole load of us just buy a bit more South African wine, the effect will be much greater than a few people buying loads.

So, how about you replace just one of your other wines with a Saffer this weekend and suggest to a few friends that they do the same?

Between us all, with just a few bottles of wine bought per person but lots of us doing it, we can help ensure there are lovely South African wines to enjoy next year and for many to come.

Cimarosa South African Pinotage 2018 (£3.99, Lidl) smokey with juicy dark-berry fruits, cassis and spice; fresh, savoury and harmonious with supple, rounded and well-integrated tannins. Improves with some aeration.

Thoroughly enjoyable and Very Good Value.

A perfect barbecue wine, match with sausages and burgers.

It has 86 Bampfield points plus gongs from Decanter and the IWSC; all this for under £4! And you get a cute giraffe on the label - what's not to love?

L&C Gin from Virgin Wines

 A new gin from Bullards Distillery, exclusive to Virgin Wines

Virgin Wines have been working with Norwich-based Bullards Distillery to produce a new gin; a London Dry, the botanicals are re-distilled with the gin and juniper for elegance.

With an emphasis is on easy-drinking freshness, additional flavourings have been limited to lime leaf and cardamom.

Using fewer ingredients means that each must complement the others and be of the highest quality - there's no room to hide.

Fortunately, Virgin's spirits buyer, Dave Roberts, and Master Distiller of Bullards, Dave Crofts, have succeeding in creating a distinctive and very elegant gin.

L&C Limited Edition London Dry Gin (£41.99, Virgin Wines) aromatic, citrussy and botanical with lifted cardamom on the palate; zesty, fresh and inviting. Balanced, harmonious, elegant and long.

Good.

Serve as an aperitif, ideally neat. In the Garden. On a sunny day.

Lustau Sweet Sherries at Marks & Spencer

A brace of reduced-price Lustau sweet sherries from Marks & Spencer

I feel conflicted about this in many ways; sherry is one of the world's great wines, yet for all the talk of a revival, it is still ridiculously undervalued. The darker and sweeter the style, the more undervalued it seems to be.

These Lustau sweet sherries are selling at what must be below-cost prices, which is a shame not just for the producers now but also for the future of sherry generally; that said, they represent a great short-term bargain for the consumer, so it would be churlish not to buy them. I bought a rucksack full of bottles and then went back for more.

At their full prices, these sherries are good value; at these levels, they are basically being given away.

Yes, I know sweet dark sherries are for vicars and maiden aunts. but really, these are absolutely lovely wines; sweet and expressive with an aged complexity.

M&S Rare Cream Sherry (£5 for 75cl, reduced) fragrant blend of oloroso and PX with mixed fruit, roasted nuts and spices, caramel and toffee with complex savouriness and delicious sweetness cut through with a linear freshness; very harmonious.

Good.

Match with sticky toffee pudding, chocolate truffles, blue cheese or just sip slightly chilled at the end of a meal.

Recommended by Tom Cannavan here.

M&S Rare Pedro Ximenez (£4 for 37.5 cl, reduced) made from sun-dried grapes, intensely sweet and stickily viscous-unctuous; raisiny, figgy, candied-peel, Christmas-pudding roasted sweet spices and long, complex, saline savouriness with just enough freshness to keep it all in check.

Good.

Sip as a pudding-in-a-glass; match with clotted cream ice cream or Christmas pudding (depending on the season).

Recommended by Olly Smith here.

Mission La Caminade, Cahors 2017

A fresh and elegant Cahors Malbec from Intermarché

Mission La Caminade, Cahors 2017

I've been impressed with all the local wines we bought in Cahors on holiday last year; this one continues in much the same vein. Lighter and fresher than you might expect, it evokes a minor right-bank Bordeaux from a warm year.

The second wine of Chateau La Caminade, it is technically very well made and drinking nicely now with some aging potential.

Mission La Caminade, Cahors 2017 (€5, Intermarché) juicy black cherry and dark-berry fruit with red plums and savoury olives. Focused and fresh with rounded and well-integrated gentle tannins,

Good.

Drinking nicely now and can be aged.

Match with red meats.

Adler Grüner Veltliner Alto Adige, Lidl

A classy Italian Grüner from Lidl

Adler Grüner Veltliner Alto Adige, 2018, Lidl

Gruener is Austria's signature grape and little found outside the country; New Zealand does some and now, it seems, so does Südtirol.

Südtirol was formerly part of Austria and is culturally more Austrian than Italian; it is, however, a long way from the Wachau where Grüner does best.

Prices for Austrian Grüner have been rising since I first fell in love with the grape 20-odd years ago, so to find a good example below a tenner these days is quite something.

This wine is part of Lidl's Wine Tour and gets a score of 91 from MW Richard Bampfield; it also gets a nod from Tom Cannavan, with good reason.

Adler Grüner Veltliner Alto Adige, Lidl (Lidl, £8.49) fresh and citrussy with green apple and lime marmalade, herbaceous, minty rubbed sage and white pepper; well-structured, textured and linear with saline minerality and good underpinnings.

Improves with some aeration and will age.

Very Good and Good Value.

A versatile food wine, match with a range of starters, picnic foods or white meats and meaty fish.