Parcel series Cabernet Merlot Reserve 2012

South African reds are on a roll right now but few are better value than this elegant Bordeaux style red from Majestic.

It’s part of the so-called 'parcel series' which, as the name implies, consists of parcels of wine which are released from various unnamed wineries who presumably have wine to flog but don’t particular want it to be known they’re prepared to sell it at the price. A bit like lastminute.com’s Top Secret hotels.

The only clue on Majestic’s website is that it’s “a well-known, multi-award-winning organically farmed estate in South Africa. Hand-harvested, fermented in traditional open tanks, and matured for 18 months in French and American oak.” I could have a guess but wouldn’t be fair to let on.

Whatever. It’s a lovely wine - smooth, ripe and generous without being at all jammy. One that would make any Bordeaux-lover very happy, especially on the current ‘buy two bottles save 33% deal’ which brings it down to a very attractive £6.66. Perfect for a roast leg of lamb.

(If you’re looking for a white to make up your six bottles try the As Caixas Godello 2012 - a crisp citrussy white that tastes a bit like a cross between a sauvignon blanc and an albarino. On the same promotion at £6.66 and an ideal seafood wine.)

Collefrisio Falanghina 2012, Terre di Chieti

Not that many people get past pinot grigio in their exploration of Italian whites but Falanghina (pronounced fal-an-ghee-na) is certainly one you should try.

It’s a grape variety that originally comes from Campania in the south of Italy, not somewhere you’d think would make such a fresh-tasting white. According to Jancis Robinson et al’s seminal Wine Grapes (a book I’d urge you to buy if you’re remotely interested in wine) it dates from the late 17th century and is named after the falangae or stakes that support the vines. This one actually comes from the Abruzzo from an organically run estate.

There are cheaper examples in the supermarkets but the Collefrisio, which I tried at my local Bristol wine merchant Davis Bell McCraith this week, has a lovely singing purity that makes it well worth its £13.49 price tag. "It's the kind of wine that makes you want to finish the bottle" as Aiden Bell put it (and by no means all wines do).

I’d want to drink it with simply cooked fish and shellfish - grilled prawns or squid or swordfish for example but it could handle quite punchy flavours such as garlic, capers and parsley.

Cambridge Road Dovetail Martinborough 2011

It’s easy to think you know what to expect with New Zealand wine - immensely drinkable, intense fruit flavours - but this range from Cambridge Road in Martinborough really blew me away

There’s also a pinot noir which you’d expect from Martinborough and a syrah which you perhaps wouldn’t but I was particularly taken with this ‘field blend’, a description that applies to vineyards where a number of grape varieties are grown together - in this case very low-yielding pinot noir and syrah.

In fact it tastes quite cabernet franc-ish to me with its beguiling crunchy wild raspberry and mulberry fruit but it has that characteristic syrah hit of white pepper and the purity and vitality that comes with biodynamic viticulture. It’s unfined and unfiltered and made with minimal sulphur.

I would drink it lightly chilled with simply grilled lamb though it would also pair well with veal or seared fish like tuna and with grilled asparagus as in this asparagus, potato and herb salad

The most exciting wine I’ve tasted from New Zealand for a long time - not cheap, granted, at £34 a bottle (from Les Caves de Pyrène) but world class.

The Smiling Grape Company has the 2010 which I haven’t tasted for £38.69 currently.

Sixpoint Bengali Tiger - in a can!

This week’s post on the Guardian’s Word of Mouth section about Wetherspoon reminded me that I hadn’t yet tasted the three cans from Brooklyn’s Sixpoint Brewery they’re now stocking.

I confess I’d made up my mind they weren’t going to be much cop - after all beer in a can was almost uniformly rubbish back in the day when I was first drinking beer. But technology has moved on and canning has apparently become all the rage among craft brewers in the US.

They also have practical advantages as set out in this article on the Wetherspoon site by beer writer Jeff Evans. Cans are lighter, easier to stack, quicker to chill and effective at excluding both light and oxygen.

But is it any good? I must say I wasn’t overwhelmed by The Crisp, a 5.2% Pilsner that did seem to me to have a bit of a tinny taste despite being told that new canning technology avoids this. (The cans are lined with plastic which I’m not totally convinced is a good thing though it obviously avoids metallic taint.)

I quite liked the rich hoppy Sweet Action (5.4%), described as ‘part pale ale, part wheat, part cream ale’ though, as the name suggests, it is on the cloying side.

But the 6.4% Bengali Tiger IPA was a very decent drink indeed with a nice note of bitterness to counterbalance the big wallop of hops. You could, as they suggest, easily drink it with a steak.

There’s a lot of over-the-top blurb on the cans including, in the case of Bengali Tiger, a quote from Blake “What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?” (wonder what they had to pay to use that?) as well as wittering on about how the beer ‘strides forward with a malty cadence then leaps with a wave of bitterness ....slashed with a giant paw of citrus, pine and resin.” But they’re not designed to appeal to cynical hacks like me.

Anyway sounds like we’ll be seeing a fair few more upmarket beers in cans over the coming year. Brewdog (natch) and Camden are both reported to be investing in the technnology, according to Evans. And I have to admit these new beers will be terrific for beer-can chicken (recipe here).

The beers are available exclusively at Wetherspoon pubs at £2.89 a 355ml can or £5 for two (except in Scotland which doesn't allow multibuy deals) though prices may vary from pub to pub.