Familia Martínez Bujanda 2014 - Laithwaites

A Rioja from Laithwaites

It's not often, I find, that you get a very pleasant and classy wine from Laithwaites - but this is one.

It's reasonably-priced for the quality, typical of what it should be and has no faults or rough edges; you can't ask for much more; just a nice, ripe Rioja with a little age at a reasonable price.

How did that happen?

Familia Martínez Bujanda 2014 (£9.49 plus delivery) ripe plummy-damson fruit with spice and well-integrated oak. Fresh and nicely balanced; a very pleasant easy drinker.

Match with roasted red meats.

Virgin Wines - The (Summery) Whites

Two summery whites from Virgin wines

 If you want expressive, well-made summery wines, these two from Virgin wines are great examples.

The Vinho Verde is a classic, fresh, maritime wine from two native Portuguese varieties - Loureiro and Arinto; the Brio is a northern Italian Pinot Grigio with bags of flavour and personality; it has the body stand up to even quite strong foods such as curry.

Quintas do Homem Domum Vinho Verde 2016 (£10.99) zesty, zippy citrus with melon and lime; fresh, mineral and poised.

Good.

Drink as an aperitif or match with seafood, such as grilled mackerel with garlic.

Brio Pinot Grigio 2015 (£8.49) fresh apple and ripe pear with citrus freshness and minerality; characterful, clean and substantial.

Good - and  good value.

Drink as an aperitif; a versatile food wine, it will match with most white meats and fish and will even stand up to stronger foods like chili and curry.

Decanting Club

“The two things that really drew me to vinyl were the expense and the inconvenience.”

Two wines from Decanting Club

Is wine just the liquid in the bottle or is there more to it?

There are two opposing schools of thought here - and all points in between.

For those of a purist nature, it's all about the liquid in the bottle; by contrast, behavioural economists will tell you that context and heuristics are at least as important as what we drink.

How you feel about the idea of Decanting Club's wine-in-pouches proposition will perhaps depend on whether you prefer iTunes to vinyl.

If you like the feel of vinyl, its rituals and familiar inconveniences, then wine in full-sized bottles with the awkwardness and sensuality of popping corks is likely to be your thing and you may find a pouch of wine lacks a certain sense of occasion, even if the name consciously evokes instant heritage and a more genteel age.

Clip do Monte da Vaia, Loureiro, Vinho Verde sadly, this was oxidised, but it gives the impression of having been a typical Vinho Verde

Adalia Valpolicella fresh cherry fruit; light, pleasantly juicy and gluggable - but here too there is a slight hint of taint, VA perhaps?

Cartoon from: http://www.newyorker.com/cartoon/a19180

Virgin Wines - the Reds

A range of reds from Virgin wines

If you want to try a range of reds that are both typical and demonstrate the breadth of what a red wine can be, you could do worse than try these from Virgin Wines.

From the freshness of the Loire Cab Franc to a fortified port-esque Malbec via the Rhône and a Sicilian passimento made from partially-dried grapes.

Domaine Lame-Delisle-Boucard Bourgeuil Cuvee des Chesnais 2015 (£9.99) fresh raspberry leaf and cherry fruit with pepper, spice and minerality.

Good and good value.

Fresh enough to sip slightly chilled on a hot day or match with lightly-smoked salmon fillets.

Chateau Cambis Cotes du Rhone Villages 2014 (£10.99) light and fresh Rhône, with elderberry fruit, liquorice, pencil shavings, dried green herbs and fine, firm tannins; lacks fruit-plumpness, a little basic.

Drink with red meats, such as burgers or roast beef.

Eghemon Passimiento 2015 (£15.99) prunes, figs and baked red berry fruit with spice; strong, concentrated, sweet and intense, cut through with freshness. Good underpinnings.

Good.

Drink as an after-dinner sipper or match with darker game and aged cheeses.

Familia Zuccardi Malamado Malbec 2014 (£15.99) port-style fortified Malbec from Argentina. Herbaceous, figgy-raisiny, sweet and powerful, with dried plums, black fruits and savoury roasted spices.

Good.

Like ruby port, it will match with mature cheeses, dark chocolate, Christmas puddings and mince pies; or darker game.

Crisp White and Big Red

Crisp white, big red from Virgin Wines

Crisp White and Big Red is a classic combo - you can't go wrong with it; the white as aperitif and with fish or mozzarella starters, followed by the red with a main of beef, lamb or venison.

The white here is a Sancerre-esque Loire Sauvignon - more mineral than aromatic, it is a classy Old World classic; the red is baked, Spanish and a touch blowsy.

Domaine Denis Jamain Les Fossiles Reuilly Sauvignon Blanc 2016 (£14.99) steely, mineral citrus fruit with precision and finesse. Substantial and persistent with excellent underpinnings. Good.

Pizo Garnacha 2015 (£9.99) big and alcoholic with plummy, somewhat baked dark and raspberry fruit and cocoa, liquorice and spice. The fresh, mineral core just about holds it together. Fine tannins.

Curiously, after almost two weeks in the fridge and still slightly cool, it has become something much more interesting - fresh, pure and harmonious - so consider extensive aeration and / or a few minutes' chilling.

Low Alcohol Wines from Tesco

Three low-alcohol wines from Tesco - Sauvignon, Garnacha rosé, Tempranillo

I'm not sure, if I'm honest, that I can quite see the point of low alcohol wines - they are something of a needless halfway house between a decent bottle of wine (of which you may drink half a glass if you need to consider your alcohol intake) and non-alcoholic substitutes such as iced tea, elderflower cordial or even - amazingly - water.

But if you must have low alcohol wine, then you want it at least to taste nice, even if it does not taste completely like wine.

These three from Tesco are de-alcoholised wines from Spain with some sweetness added back to maintain balance; there is a white Sauvignon, a Garnacha rosé and a red Tempranillo.

They taste pleasant enough - off-dry and fruit-forward; I've had worse full-strength wines. There's nothing actively wrong with any of them, which is probably no mean feat.

And they are apparently proving popular with consumers of low-alcohol wines.

A technical note - low-alcohol here is around 0.5%, which is almost nothing. No-alcohol is 0.05%, which really is nothing.

Priced at £3 per full-sized bottle, they are notably cheaper than even the most basic normal-strength wine.

Bastions of South Africa - Virgin Wines

Two South African Bastions V wines from Virgin Wines

South Africa has the world's oldest soils - winemaker Marinda Kruger-Van Eck says "the wine must express where it comes from, you must be able to taste the soil [then] the quality of the grapes and lastly hopefully something from me as the winemaker."

Both these wines have New World fruit ripeness with a European sense of restraint. Both are well made and enjoyable; the Shiraz is the more interesting of the two.

Bastions V Bush Vine Chenin Blanc 2016 Tropical citrus and desert apple with some limey zip and minerality. Balanced and clean with good underpinnings. Rounded and pleasant, rather like the girl next door.

Drink as an aperitif; match with starters or white meats.

Bastions V Western Cape Shiraz 2016 inky pencil shavings and spice with dark damson and black cherry fruit. Fresh and mineral with fine tannins. Darker and more intriguing; rhone-esque. Good.

Match with red meats, such as steak or venison casserole. Or drink with cheese.