Blason du Rhône Côtes du Rhône Villages, France 2021, £10.99, Waitrose It’s the time of year for finding compensations for the retreating light and low temperatures; the little pleasures of pulling on a favourite jumper for the first time in months or sitting by a fire with a pint in a pub. When it comes to wine, now is the time to bring out the robust red wines that work better with stews and roasts and, for me, the definitive autumn-into-winter bottles are the reds made with either or both of grenache and syrah, often with some mourvèdre or carignan in support, in southern France. I‘d start in the east, in the southern Rhône Valley, with this classic Côtes du Rhône Villages that offers the brambly berry succulence and spice of the area’s more celebrated appellations such as Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas at a much more competitive price.
Château Milhau-Lacugue ‘Les Truffières’, France 2017, £19.45, Yapp Brothers Another widely available good-value southern Rhône buy is Le Verdier Cairanne 2021 (£11.95, Morrisons), which is sourced from vineyards from around Cairanne, one of the 95 villages permitted in the Côtes du Rhône Villages appellation, and offers a sumptuous and polished version without losing the robustly spicy, solar-powered intensity that makes the grenache-syrah wines of this area so special. For the full glorious sun-saturated spectrum of evocative Mediterranean French flavours, however, it’s hard to look past top winemaker Louis Barruol’s Château de Saint Cosme Gigondas 2020 (from £39.70, vinvm.co.uk), which has luscious plum, cherry, figs and olives, and aniseed, rosemary and smoky meatiness. No less impressive, and no less capable of casting a ray of southern French sunshine on a dark British autumnal evening, is a take on the grenache-syrah recipe from Saint-Chinian in the Languedoc in the shape of the nicely maturing Les Truffières with its mix of blackberry compote and tapenade and dusky, savoury tannins.
Le Petit Train Syrah, France 2022, £9.99, Naked Wines The red wines of the Northern Rhône, the area of the Rhône Valley that follows the river from Vienne just south of Lyon to Valence, are for the most part the home of 100% syrah, the exception being the celebrated appellation of Côte-Rôtie growers who add a little of the fragrant white viognier to the blend. With or without the dose of viognier, these are wines that have a wonderful way of mixing the savoury, almost meaty, and the perfumed: that certainly is the case with the gorgeous Domaine François Merlin Saint-Joseph 2021 (£34, robersonwine.com), which has wisps of smoke and black pepper in among the lavender and glossy red cherries, raspberries and meaty undertones in a supple and slinky style. For a budget alternative, best to head back south and west to the Languedoc and a 100% syrah from English winemaker Katie Jones: a lovely bright, aromatic easy-drinking take on the grape for autumnal bangers and mash.
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