These wines might be unfashionable – but they’re fantastic value for money
It feels almost illegal for a wine writer to say this but there are times when only a cheap bottle will do. I’m not talking about economic imperatives here. Or the desire to pursue that peculiarly British competitive sport of buying cheaper gut-rot than everyone else and pretending it tastes absolutely fine. Maybe it does to you; I have met a few people whose taste-buds appear to have been destroyed by boarding school food. No, I’m talking about those moments when a glass of simple but good wine hits the comfort spot, like a cup of builder’s tea or a plate of beans on toast.
The best way to find cheap wines is to rootle around the unfashionable grapes and wine regions. For whites, a style often found as the house wine on restaurant lists (sommeliers know what they are doing) is Côtes de Gascogne from the south-west of France. If you’re drinking one of these, there’s a good chance it comes from the vast and extremely competent Plaimont co-operative, which produces just under half of the wines from the region, and 98 per cent of those from the nearby St Mont appellation. Plaimont makes Morrisons The Best Côtes de Gascogne 2023, France (11%, £7.50 down to £6 for More Card members until 19 January), which has gentle florals and a touch of pink grapefruit warmth.
Morrisons The Best Côtes de Gascogne 2023, France, 11%, £7.50 (£6 for More Card members until 19 January)
Muscadet also remains obstinately unfashionable. Waitrose has the best supermarket version and it is about to go on offer. Fief Guérin Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu Sur Lie 2023, France (11%, £9.99 down to £7.99 from 22 January to 11 February), is faintly briny with a whiff of fresh bread, the sort of bistro classic you’d love to drink by the carafe with moules-frites. At home, I’m probably doing a piece of cod and oven chips. You might be more adventurous.
Fief Guérin Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu Sur Lie 2023, France, 11%, £9.99 (£7.99 from 22 January to 11 February)
One of the best places to look for inexpensive red wine is Spain. I’ve picked a rich, juicy number from Jumilla, to the west of Alicante, as one of my wines of the week. Made by Bodegas Juan Gil, it’s probably the best value wine in this column.
Sticking with Spain, Rioja is of course a household name but it’s also a region with a lot of wine to sell. A bottle as good as Campo Viejo Rioja Reserva 2017, Spain (14%, Morrisons, £11 down to £8.50 for More Card members until 19 January), should cost more than this mellow red that smells of nutmeg and roasted strawberries. Of course, the most unfashionable wine region of the lot right now is Bordeaux. Yes, I know, the fabled birthplace of serious wine, crowded with glittering châteaux and elite names like Petrus and Margaux. But young people don’t want to drink red wine and they especially don’t want reds that are gritty with tannins and redolent of an old, hierarchical existence. This is why you can now pick up claret for little more than a fiver; try Chevaliers St Martin 2022 Bordeaux, France (14%, Morrisons, £5.45).
Campo Viejo Rioja Reserva 2017, Spain, 14%, Morrisons, £11 (£8.50 for More Card members until 19 January)
Chevaliers St Martin 2022 Bordeaux, France, 14%, Morrisons, £5.45
Finally, and this is something a bit different, have a look at Baccolo Rosso Veneto 2022, Italy (13.5%, The Wine Society, £7.75). An appassimento-style wine from the Veneto, it’s made using a proportion of dried grapes, which mingles bright cherry notes with a touch of mace and well-worn leather. This is at its best on the dinner table, with textured food like risotto, bitter leaves like radicchio, or tomato sauces, on pasta, chickpeas or rice.
Baccolo Rosso Veneto 2022, Italy 13.5%, The Wine Society, £7.75
