Château Saint Martin de la Garrigue, Grès de Montpellier, 2012, France

Sitting in the Languedoc Roussillon in the south of France this blend of Mourvedre, Syrah and Grenache Noir is typical of the area and Château Saint Martin de la Garrigue make a very good job of blending.

Dry, bold and a good chunk of tannins makes this like many other reds from the Languedoc. There’s a fair bit going on here, spice, leather, plum and black fruits on the nose with underlying tobacco and oak notes, these following in the taste with prunes, chocolate hints and herbs. The tannins are a little much for me, if you have it with food, such as beef than you won’t notice the tannins. At £12 a bottle it’s great value.

Château Saint Martin de la Garrigue, Grès de Montpellier, 2012, France

Château Saint Martin de la Garrigue, Grès de Montpellier, 2012, France

Burrowing Owl, Cabernet Franc, 2012, Okanagan Valley, Canada

Burrowing Owl in the Okanagan Valley have a reputation of excellent wines and this Cab Franc underlines this.

Like many Cab Francs is dry, fairly acidic with a decent hit of tannins and a little jammy in taste.

This is a bold wine with aromas and flavours of blackberry, black cherry, plums and chocolate undernotes. Spice, tobacco, oak and earthy flavours make this an interesting wine, very good on its own, possibly excellent with food, esp lamb kebabs and BBQ ribs.

As with most canadian wines its not cheap at approx £30 a bottle.

Burrowing Owl, Cabernet Franc, 2012, Okanagan Valley, Canada

Burrowing Owl, Cabernet Franc, 2012, Okanagan Valley, Canada

Giusti, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2012, Veneto, Italy

Amarone was a wine that i could not see the point of the generally high price tag, this classico from Giusti shows why you may have to pay a high price to get a real cracker of a bottle.

At 16.5% alcohol strength this is a bold wine with a capital B. Its dry, but as about 30% of the grapes are dried you get a sweetness which is very seductive. There are aromas of cherry, plum, herbal and vanilla notes. These follow through in the taste and you get a long finish and real smoothness to boot

At about £40 a bottle is not cheap but its a great wine.

Giusti, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2012, Veneto, Italy

Giusti, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2012, Veneto, Italy

Maray Limited Edition Syrah, 2012, Chile

This is a full Syrah, with lots of black fruit, spice, cocoa and pepper. This is a mature wine with great structure, flavours, aromas and tannins. Its what you expect from a quality dry red wine. This got a trophy at the International Wine Challenge in 2015.

At under £15 a bottle this is a really grown up wine.

Maray Limited Edition Syrah, 2012, Chile

Maray Limited Edition Syrah, 2012, Chile