Wine of the week: Ventisquero Root: 1 Carmenere

Recommending a specific wine is a bit of a lottery at the moment. I had planned to tell you about this seductively velvety Chilean red a few days ago but couldn’t get get into the Morrisons site. But I’m hoping you can find the odd bottle in store although its current sharp promotional price of £6 (until April 4th) may make that a long shot.

Carménère as you may know was originally a Bordeaux grape which popped up in Chile where for a long time it was mistaken for merlot.

This Root:1 Carmenere 2018 from Ventisquero comes from the Colchagua Valley and is a rich, lush almost chocolatey wine that will make lovers of full-bodied new world reds very happy. It would go well with red meats like beef and lamb, especially cooked on the barbecue and could also handle a curry

The best food pairings for carmenère

If you miss the special offer which ends on April 4th, the normal price of £7.75 is still fair. Or you could buy Morrisons own The Best Carmenère which is also £7.75 instead.

What else you could buy at Morrisons

In general the The Best range - and their premium Wm Morrison wines - are pretty reliable. Prices are accurate at time of writing but may well have changed by the time you read this.

The Best Chablis 2018 on offer at £10

In fact their whole The Best Chablis range which includes a Petit Chablis and a Premier Cru is decent. A really good buy at this price

The Best Gruner Veltliner 2018 £8.25

Engaging, slightly peppery dry white. Good with south-east Asian food

Masseria Petrosa Verdeca 2018 on offer at £6.50

Attractively fresh crisp white from Italy - fruitier than many of Italy’s whites Good with punchily seasoned seafood or salads

The Best Rioja Blanco Reserva 2015 on offer at £11

Rich weighty full-bodied white you’ll like if you’re a fan of oaky chardonnays.

J Boulard La Verdier Carianne 2018 £10

Exuberant, juicy Cotes du Rhone. Think garlicky sausages and beans or roast pork

The Best Primitivo 2018 (£7.50) and The Best Negroamaro 2018 (£7.25)

Two characterful southern Italian reds that would be particularly good with cheese and baked pasta dishes like lasagne

CVNE Ribera del Duero 2018 on offer at £8

An alternative to Rioja though made in a brighter fruitier style than is typical for the region. Would go well with lamb.

The Best Douro Red £7.50

Rich full-bodied red from the same area that produces port. Good for a beef stew.

The Best Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2018 Chile on offer at £10

Sumptuously fruity pinot noir but with some real elegance. Chill lightly and serve with roast chicken, a mushroom risotto or seared salmon

MV Reserve organic malbec 2018 on offer at £6.50

More of a classic European style than a typically Argentinian one (think Bordeaux) but incredibly good value for money. Good for homey dishes like cottage pie.

Vinalba Patagonia Malbec 2017/18 on offer at £7

Vinalba is a reliable name to look out for from Argentina - I almost always like their malbecs and at this price this is pretty well irresistible. Drink with steak if you have it.

Morrisons The Best English Sparkling Wine £18

One of the best own label English sparkling wines I’ve tasted.

Morrisons 10 year old tawny port on offer at £11

Tastes (yummily) of roasted nuts and salted caramel. One to sip with the Easter eggs.

Chianti in magnum from Lidl

The more, er ... mature ... among you may remember when you went to an Italian restaurant and found a round straw-covered bottle of Chianti on the table, often with a guttering candle stuck in the neck and wax (always red) dripping down the side. It’s rather weirdly called a fiasco - which is Italian for flask as well as referring to a disaster. Like Brexit. Or Boris.

Well Lidl is selling one in magnum which I think would be fantastic fun for an impromptu spaghetti and meatball - or lasagne - party. OK, I cannot lie, it’s not the BEST Italian red I’ve ever tasted but it’s clean, fresh and perfectly drinkable and TBH your friends will be having such fun they won’t notice. And at just £9.99 (a magnum is the equivalent of two bottles, remember) it’s hard to resist.

If you prefer a slightly fuller-bodied red (or they’ve sold out of the Chianti) you could buy a bottle or two of the Corte Aurelio Nero d’Avola which at a ridiculous £7.99 a magnum or £3.99 a bottle is even cheaper. I can’t help feeling it must be a bit dodgy for that price but if you’re a student or otherwise strapped for cash, you might consider it worth a whirl. It would also go with spag bol.

Somewhat improbably nero d’avola is Britain's favourite wine - a conclusion extrapolated from a large blind tasting last year organised by Majestic. I have to say I'm not convinced. My own litmus test of popularity - whether taxi drivers are talking about it - suggests it would be a poor runner up to Malbec. But who knows? Maybe it's the Next Big Thing - though possibly not on the evidence of this particular wine.

Il Passo Segreto Appassimento Sangiovese

Confession time. Off-dry reds like this 2017 Il Passo Segreto Appassimento Sangiovese are not really my thing but it’s hard to think of a more romantic looking bottle and if you’ve got a sweeter tooth than I have (not hard) you’ll love it.

It’s also got a sexy Italian name though appassimento doesn’t actually mean passionate but refers to the process of making a wine from dried grapes which concentrates the flavour and sweetness. Think of it like a mini-Amarone or a slightly drier port.

You could have it with steak or lamb but personally I’d enjoy it with a selection of cheese, particularly hard and blue cheeses, grapes, figs and cherries - and maybe the odd chocolate. Which is perfect for V Day cos you don’t really want to cook, do you? And at £8.50 (from Tesco) it’s a really good price

If that doesn’t appeal and you want a drier but still voluptuous red I’d go for a pinot noir - probably one from New Zealand as that’s where I’ve just come back from. It could be from Central Otago, or Martinborough but I was impressed by the pinots from Nelson and Marlborough too this time, especially from the family owned Neudorf. If you can run to it buy the Moutere* though the 2016 Tom’s Block (available from James Nicholson in Crossgar, Northern Ireland for £22.50 and Waitrose Cellar for £25.99 if you’re in no rush, is a gorgeous pinot for the money and would be great with duck - and cherries as you'll see from this week's Match of the Week. Neudorf’s chardonnays are lush too.

* Also available for £42.50 from Berry Bros & Rudd if you need to get your hands on a bottle in London

Wine of the Week: Gloria Douro Reserva

One of the best sources of good value reds right now is Portugal and if you like full-bodied styles the Douro is the region to look out for. This 2017 Glorio Douro is almost porty which should come as no surprise as it’s made from three of the grapes - tinta roriz, touriga nacional and touriga franca - that are used to make port.

It would be great with rich meat dishes such as braised oxtail or ox cheek (you could even chuck a bit in the sauce) or just enjoy it with a cheese board.

Given that it’s handsomely bottled too I think it’s really good value for £7.29 at Aldi.

(If you like a slightly lighter, more medium bodied red you might prefer their 2016 Salicornia Dao Reserva at £6.99. I often find that Portuguese reds remind me of Italian reds and this would certainly go with pizza and meaty pasta sauces like a ragu bolognese.)