Favourites

With the weather cooling it is time for the warming red wines to enjoy pride of place. My current favourites are from Spain and Italy.

Mesoneros de Castilla Roble is simply the best value wine from Ribera del Duero I have ever come across. With so much money being invested in flash new wineries selling expensive much hyped wine in Ribera del Duero, it is great to work with a Bodegas that has been making wine for 400 years and offering excellent value. It is a big brooding, powerful wine with intense, concentrated dark fruit and a hint of chocolate. A word of warning - it needs decanting to show at its best, but well worth the effort.(?8.99)

My other current favourite is Salento Rosso Valle Cupa from Vinicola di Apollonia in Puglia in the far south of Italy. This is also an intense wine with dark beery fruit and a smooth luscious finish. (?9.99)

I can highly recommend these wines and I hope that you enjoy them as much as I do.

Simon Thomson, November 2008.