(2025) Ricasoli's 2022 Brolio is primarily Sangiovese (80%), blended with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon and matured for nine months in barriques. It is indeed a classical style this; savoury and gastronomic, with the cherry freshness of the fruit joined by earthy and cedary notes. In the mouth it is supple, with a firmness to the red fruits and acidity, and a very fine tannic background that adds a graphite edge. A food wine of elegant proportions. Watch the video for more information.

(2025) Emilia-Romagna’s version of a Super Tuscan? That's according to Laithwaites for this Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese blend that is £17.99 as part of a mixed dozen. The wine was aged in French oak barrels for 11 months and, having left the grapes on the vine for a month later than normal, it has an almost Amarone touch. Chocolaty, spicy, a prune-like (but most definitely not stewed) character has sweetness and intense blueberry richness. The palate too has an Amarone intensity of dried fruits, spices and mocha, and that hit of sour cherry acidity. The barrel ageing has added softer, vanilla and cocoa touches in a big, bountiful wine with enough structure to offset the fruit sweetness.

(2025) This Languedoc red is vintage 2019, so rather nice to have a wine with a bit of tertiary development. Montpeyroux is a 'Cru' on schist soils in the foothills of the Pyrenees, this blend of Carignan, Grenache and Syrah from vineyards that lie between 140 and 280 metres altitude. Dark, spicy and deeply fruited, there's some cherry and raspberry lift over plummier, chocolate depths. The palate is smooth, dense and spicy with quite a long finish, the tannins well on their way to being fully resolved but, along with good acidity, freshening the finish. £16.99 as part of a mixed dozen.

(2024) The first release of an organic certified Malbec from this producer, the wine aged in oak barrels for 12 months. A proportion was kept in tank to enhance fruit freshness. It's a vivid purple, aromatic Malbec, violet, caraway and and almost strawberry-like lift to the fruit aromas, oak in the background. The palate is dry and savoury, the tannins have enough sandy grip and texture, acidity is moderate but present and the black fruit sits nicely in the long, spicy finish. Watch the video for more information.

(2024) Schiava is one of the oldest cultivated varieties in Trentino.  In the Middle Ages, farmers invented a technique to control the growth of the vines by tying young plants to a rigid support.  This gave rise to the expression ‘Cum Vineis Sclavis’, literally ‘enslaved vines’, later shortened to schiava, meaning 'slave'.  Vines for this wine are at least 30 years old, planted at 250-350m altitude. It spent 10 months on the fine lees, 40% in stainless steel and 60% in concrete vats. It has a delicate, medium-pale garnet colour moving into orange. Made in a leafy, mellow and light style (only 12% alcohol) there's a soft, easy drinkability with very mellow tannins and a nip cherry acidity. One to please the Pinot Noir or Beaujolais drinker perhaps, but with its own Italian twist of bittersweetness in the finish.

(2024) A blend of two hybrids, Rondo and Regent, this is barrel-aged and like the varietal Regent in this range, weighs in with only 11.5% alcohol. Vibrant and dark, there quite a coffee-ish, earthy character here, a little darker than the Regent for sure. In the mouth it has some of the same Indian ink dryness, again savoury and spicy with some bitter cherry over the soft oak background. Maybe not quite the vibrancy of the Regent, but very drinkable.

(2024) A well-regarded Cru Bourgeois located between St Julien and Margaux, Beaumont's 2016 is more or less equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot with 9% Petit Verdot. Youthful in appearance, notes of blackcurrant, plum, game and cedar are classically framed, spice and tapenade/herbal notes too. In the mouth the fruit is surprisngly ripe, sweet and fleshy, rippling blackcurrant moving into a spicy finish with a bit of dark cocoa and a pert cherry skin bite to the acidity. Watch my video review for more information.

(2024) From vineyards in the Awatere and Wairau Valleys of Marlborough. This was fermented with a mix of indigenous and cultured yeasts and spent 10 months in French oak barriques, only 5% of which were new. Pale and translucent cherry colour, it is an intensely aromatic Pinot, lots of wild strawberry, herbs, vegetal mushroom notes and patchouli. A toasty background of oak is in there too. Sweet and creamy fruit, but the 12.5% alcohol means it is only medium-bodied, the oak filling in and acid a little soft but doing enough to keep this fresh and savoury. A pale and sweeter style of Pinot on offer at £12.99 at time of review (though not a buy at the full asking price for me).

(2024) From a plot with very deep clay soils, this is a big-scaled and plush Pinot, slicked with vanilla and deep mulberry fruit. In the mouth that sense of plushness continues, a ripe and relatively solid style, creamy tannins and a bit of spice, but balanced and juicy, perhaps a touch of alcohol heat in the finish. No UK retail stockists listed at time of review.

(2024) A highly unusual blend for Achaval Ferrer's new entry-level red in their sustainable Quimera range. It mixes Pinot Noir, Malbec, Syrah and, would you believe it, 12% Sauvignon Blanc. All fruit comes from the Uco Valley and the wine is unoaked, the Pinot Noir and Malbec fermented in concrete tanks, the rest in stainless steel. I presume the Sauvignon Blanc is there to lift the aromatics and overall picture, though the nose is solidly fruited, little raspberry and floral notes sit on top with the merest suggestion of something herbal. In the mouth it is creamy and sweet. A plushness is evident, but so is a freshness. The alcohol sits at 14.5% and adds a little heat and richness, but the overall picture is in the red fruit spectrum of cherry, raspberry and ripe red plum, with modest tannins and a long line of acidity. Watch the video for more information and food matching ideas.