Segredo do Lisboa Castelao-Syrah, Lisboa 2011

For obvious reasons* I was all set to recommend a handsomely bottled Irish whiskey I’d discovered this weekend but then I tasted it and actually didn’t rate it so here’s a fantastically good value wine deal I found in my local Co-op instead.

It’s a typically dark, intense Portuguese red with lovely brambly, but not too jammy, fruit that would pair swimmingly with dishes like beef stews, rich meaty pasta sauces and beef or venison sausages. But obviously people are not impressed by something that sounds so obscure so the Co-op is flogging it off for £4. No, that’s not a misprint. £4!

At least I hope they are in a Co-op near you. The Co-op moves in mysterious ways which is probably why it’s in such trouble these days so although they had it in my local Bristol branch, it may not be in yours. Or it may be and cost £7.99 which wouldn’t be such a steal.

There's also an equally obscure white, Segredo do Lisboa Fernao Pires-Arinto Chardonnay 2012 which isn’t quite as impressive tasted on its own but perfectly fine with anything fishy. And ‘perfectly fine’ is good enough for £3.80 (the 'bin-end' price)

At the other end of the price scale I tasted an amazing Vouvray up in Settle where I was inspecting one of our BBC Food and Farming Awards shortlistees The Courtyard Dairy (a brilliant cheese shop, btw). It was the 2009 Clos de la Meslerie which was fragrant and delicately honeyed with a lovely balancing acidity - and a very good match with a Gorgonzola Dolce.

Oddly it’s made by someone called Peter Hahn who doesn’t sound particularly French and indeed turns out to be an American who’s rather improbably making natural wine in the Loire. But don’t assume it’s all weird and funky, it’s the best Vouvray I’ve tasted for an age. You can buy it online from BuonVino (the wine merchant next door to the Courtyard) for £28 and for marginally less from an outfit called WineBear but the Buonvino people have a lovely shop so do buy it from them.

The whisky, if you're curious, is called Writer’s Tears and comes from Marks & Spencer. I was seduced by the tall elegant bottle but in truth the whisky itself is lacking in depth and unbalanced by a crude woody finish. I don’t know how old it is, certainly not old enough to justify charging £28. Try one of these recommendations I made in the Guardian a couple of years ago instead though infuriatingly Sainsbury's seems to have dropped their excellent Taste the Difference Dun Leire Irish Single Malt, according to Irish drinks writer Tom Doorley, since Cooley was taken over by Jim Beam (and now Suntory).

A final thought since I was chided for giving the impression that whiskey was the only Irish drink, there's a cracking Irish cream liqueur in Lidl (for £5.99 when I last checked the price). Though I think he was probably talking about beer.

*St Patrick's Day in case you'd forgotten . . .

Tierra Hermosa 20° (Veinte Grados) 2010, Andalucia

Today’s Guardian column was all about getting out of your wine drinking rut which in the case of Spanish wine most likely means Rioja.

In fact there are a wealth of other wine regions in Spain which offer rewarding drinking, one of them being Andalucia.

I wouldn’t have known about Tierra Hermosa had it not been for the British owner Harry Hunt who badgered me (in the nicest possible way) to taste his wines and write about them. I wouldn’t have done so of course if I hadn’t liked them - or at least not in such enthusiastic terms - but fortunately I do.

Although further south than regions like Rioja and Navarra the Hunts’ vineyards, which are situated to the south of Alhama de Granada, amongst the Sierra Tejeda mountains, are unusually high at an altitude of 1200 metres which gives their wines a delicious freshness.

The Tierra Hermosa 20° a blend of Tempranillo, Syrah and Garnacha has an exotic dark fruit character that would make a good pairing for the Moorish food of the region - and that of North Africa opposite. I could imagine drinking it with a lamb tagine or with Iberico pork but in fact it’s flexible enough to adapt to all kinds of dishes - the acidity would make it a good choice with Italian food too.

There’s also a straight tempranillo called Neblerio which is perfectly enjoyable but not as complex IMO though, like the 20*, it won a gold medal in Canada’s Intervin wine awards last year.

Both are imported by Moreno Wines and widely availble in independents including Corks of Cotham and Grape & Grind in Bristol, Fingal Rock in Monmouth, Hanging Ditch in Manchester and Red Squirrel Wines online (see full list of stockists here). The Veinte Grados costs about £9.95.

Mas de Libian Bout d’Zan, Côtes du Rhône 2012

If you’re after a bright, fruity, sunshine-filled red to carry you through the dark, dreary days of winter you couldn't do better than this delicious Côtes du Rhône.

It’s made by a young woman winemaker Hélène Thibon from 40-45 year old vines on an estate the family has farmed since 1670 and at £9.90 a bottle (from Les Caves de Pyrène*) it’s ridiculously good value for a biodynamic wine.

It’s a typically southern Rhone blend of grenache (80%) and Syrah (20%) but has amazing, mouthwateringly vivid fruit you just don’t get from conventionally made wine - certainly at this price. Only 30% of the wine spends time in oak - big foudres rather than barrels.

You could drink it with practically anything from charcuterie to cheese - roast chicken, pork belly, garlicky sausages, grilled lamb - even the Christmas turkey. Certainly the Boxing Day leftovers. Caves’ Doug Wregg suggests “lamb meatballs impregnated with fennel and herbes de Provence and pasta” which I imagine would be a terrific match. Or a pizza, maybe - as I say, practically anything.

The quirky name apparently means bits of liquorice and refers to the liquorice flavour in the wine though I don’t personally find it that liquoricey and wouldn’t like it so much if it was. The wine is made without sulphur but I’d defy any natural wine sceptic not to like it. Pure happiness in a glass.

It's also available for £12.49 from the Smiling Grape Company and £12.95 from Joseph Barnes or £11.66 if you buy an unsplit case. You can read more about it on the Caves de Pyrène website.