Wine of the week: Cramele Recas ‘Sole’ Shiraz/Feteasca Neagra 2015

Romanian wines may not be on your radar but judging by this incredibly delicious red you should look out for them.

Mind you if Oddbins head wine buyer Ana Sapungu can’t source the best wines from her home country who can?

It’s a blend of shiraz and the indigenous Feteasca Neagra which gives it a lovely juicy freshness - a versatile, gulpable wine that you could enjoy with a pizza or a plate of pasta and brilliantly good value at £8.75.

The Cramele Recas Sole white, an aromatic blend of chardonnay and feteasca regala that should appeal if you like gewurztraminer and torrontes is also well worth buying at the same price.

Incidentally prices on a number of Oddbins wines are going up on Monday due to the fall in value of the pound against the euro - a pattern you’re definitely going to see repeated over the coming months.

Other wines I’d be tempted to pick up, even though they’re quite a bit more expensive, would be the 2015 Michel Redde et fils Petit Fumé Pouilly Fumé which will be up from £15.50 to £16.50 from Monday, Domaine Justin Girardin Bourgogne Blanc 2014 (up from £15 to £15.75), and an fabulously dark powerful 'Grand vin Seigneur' Cahors from Chateau de Haute-Serre which is going up from £18.50 to £20.

Off the Shelf: Zalze Shiraz Mourvèdre Viognier 2013

This weekend is the last in the current promotion at Waitrose which they’re trumpeting dramatically as a ‘last chance to save’ on their collection of spring wines.

Of course it isn’t. There will be a new raft of deals as soon as this one has finished but it’s your last chance to snap up this particular one which is on offer until Tuesday 12th and which I pulled off the shelf in my local small branch in Bristol.

It’s a big juicy red from the Stellenbosch region of South Africa - a classic Rhône blend of Shiraz Mourvèdre and Viognier though mainly shiraz. It’s all gorgeous dark cherries and forest fruits but not overly jammy and would be perfect with a barbecue. If you feel it could benefit from bit of air to make it smoother double decant it (i.e. pour it into a jug then back into the bottle. A funnel makes this job easier if you don’t have a steady hand.)

I paid £6.25 for it which I thought was fair enough given that the usual price is £8.29 but Waitrose has told me that the deal is £5.99 and that’s the price on the website. I don’t know if that was an error on the part of the branch or if they bump up the prices in smaller shops* but you might as well save yourself the extra 26p if you can, especially if you're buying more than one bottle.

By the way, if you like ripe, full-bodied reds you might also enjoy the handsomely bottled Tinto da Anfora 2013 from Portugal’s Alentejo region which is on offer at £7.99. But note the vintage on the website is 2011 not 2013 which is the one I'm recommending. Hopefully that's the one you'll find in store.

* I will look into this!

Tesco finest* Swartland Shiraz Bag-in-Box

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve recommended Tesco’s juicy, vibrant ‘finest’ Swartland Shiraz but now it’s appeared in bag-in-box format which makes it even more versatile.

Actually it’s probably just as well as the alcohol has crept up to 15% so none of us should really be having more than a glass at a time. (Er hem.)

It’s made by one of South Africa’s most characterful winemakers Adi Badenhorst up in the Swartland region. His excellent smooth dry Chenin Blanc is also in the range as is Tesco’s popular Picpoul de Pinet at a rather more modest 12.5%, a Fiano (14%) and a gluggable Montepulciano (13%) which would make an excellent match for a takeaway pizza.

Bag-in-box technology has immensely improved since the early days - they now adjust the level of gas to the type of wine - and these are just as good quality as a bottle. And the new 1.5 litre size - equivalent to two bottles - makes them easy to fit in an overstuffed fridge.

They’re not especially cheap but they’re on 25% promotion until Tuesday* if you buy the equivalent of 4 bottles (two boxes) which brings the shiraz down from £13.99 to £10.49 or £5.25 a bottle, the Chenin from £12.99 to £9.74 (£4.87 a bottle) and the Picpoul which is normally £14.99 down to £11.24 (£5.62).

I'd drink the shiraz with anything meaty from some big fat garlicky sausages to a steak.

PS An extra recommendation for you this week: while you’re in Tesco pick their finest* sloe gin (£15), one of the most delicious I’ve tasted. Great with stilton!

* I was assured when I checked yesterday although the main website Tesco.com is not showing the discount. You can however buy the same wines by the bottle on the wine site where the discount is shown. Confusing.

For a more extensive list of my recent recommendations from Tesco see here.

Manor House Fairtrade Shiraz Mourvedre 2011

Before you get too excited about this week's wine of the week you’re unlikely to be able to buy it unless you live in South Africa or Sweden but I want to flag it up because it’s the best Fairtrade wine I've tasted.

It’s a blend of Shiraz and Mourvèdre (mainly shiraz) which is made from dry-farmed grapes grown on the Papkuilsfontein wine farm in Darling, which is run by a partnership of Distell, the Black Economic Empowerment Company and a community trust and made by the Nederburg winemaking team.

It’s a beautifully structured full-bodied red with lovely ripe fruit and smoothly integrated tannins, impressively presented in an expensive (but not ludicrously heavy) bottle - a serious, proper, grown-up wine. Decanter awarded the 2010 vintage 5 stars in its 2012 wine awards - you wouldn’t hesitate to pour it for your pickiest of friends.

It sells for 115SAR in South Africa which is not cheap for the local market though at £6.39 at the current rate of exchange ludicrously good value by our standards and for 120 krone or £11.18 in Sweden which, given how expensive their market is, isn't overpriced either.

The message Nederburg is apparently getting from the UK market is that we’re not interested in paying this much for Fairtrade wine. I think that’s a crying shame. Won’t some retailer try and disprove that theory?

In the meantime if you’re in South Africa and visiting the winery I strongly suggest you buy a bottle or two to bring home.

There’s a more detailed analysis of the wine here.