December 2007
Coonawarra 2005 - Marks & Spencer £7.49
A classic example of a clean and rather refined cabernet sauvignon from Australia which will go great with a roast on Boxing Day. This wine is full bodied exhibiting the obvious varietal characteristics of this famous grape variety, intermingled with spice, a bit of chocolate and creamy vanilla.
Keep for up to 2 years if you have the will power.
Rating: Good 
Domaine de la Curniere 2006 - Marks & Spencer £8.19
I found this wine rather ordinary and overpriced for what I tasted in the glass. Rather full bodied, exhibiting warm, smooth and spicy fruit but little else.
Rating: Poor 
Sesfikile 2006 - Marks & Spencer £7.19
This is my wine of the month which will be gracing my dining table this Christmas, as I will be having guinea fowl instead of the usual turkey. Produced in the Western Cape, South Africa from a winery owned by three former school teachers. Juicy, sweet shiraz complemented by the smooth and delicate smokiness of the pinotage counterbalanced by some oak ageing.
Drinking now.
Rating: Good
Yalumba 2006 - Spar £6.99
An interesting wine from the Hill Smith winery which is the oldest family run estate in Australia. Rampant sweet/spicy fruit of the shiraz balanced rather well with the rather restrained flavour of the viognier grape variety.
Rating: Good
October/November 2007
Freedom Ridge Shiraz 2006 - Marks & Spencer (on offer at £4.49)
A straightforward medium bodied wine from California. Rather restrained yet refined juicy sweet shiraz fruit with some mild oak influence and gentle spice.
Rating: Average 
Crow’s Fountain 2006 - Marks & Spencer (on offer at £4.99)
This is my favourite wine of the bunch made by Jeff Grier and Anton Smal of the Villiera winery, Stellenbosch, South Africa offering an unusual blend of shiraz, merlot and pinotage. A juicy and lively wine packed with red fruits and spice- smokiness of the pinotage, spiciness of the shiraz with the soft influence of the merlot to bind all the flavours together.
Drinking now or keep for up to 2 years.
Rating: Good
Teichert Ranch-Barrel Reserve - Marks & Spencer (on offer at £5.99)
Hailing from California this petite syrah barrel aged offers some spice and pepper that is blended with the souzo grape variety for depth. Even though this is a full bodied wine it does display slightly unusual flavours (must be the souzo grape) but does lack rampant fruit flavour.
Drinking now or keep for up to 2 years.
Rating: Average
August/September 2007
Tim Adams 2004 Shiraz - widely available £9.99
Made from 100% shiraz this full bodied wine from the Clare Valley, South Australia displays classic sweet, juicy and spicy shiraz flavours that are nicely integrated with the smooth vanilla as a result of aging in American oak barrels for one year. Not a complex wine but a good example of a decent and well made wine.
Drinking now or can keep up to 2010.
Rating: Good
Cimarosa Merlot 2006 - Lidl £2.98
A simple medium bodied and delicate offering from the Central Valley, Chile. The wine is well made exhibiting some limited merlot characteristics but that is just about it. No airs and graces just down to earth value.
Great for glugging down with barbecue food – weather permitting!
Rating: Good
Cimarosa Cabernet 2006 - Lidl £2.98
Similar to the merlot but this has less pronounced blackcurrant fruit with a twist of spice and is indeed much lighter.
Both wines are for immediate drinking.
Rating: Average
Turner Road Cabernet/Merlot - widely available £4.99
I was not too impressed with this blended offering from the Turner road winery, California. Medium bodied with some varietal character yet overly sweet for my tastes.
Drink now.
Rating: Average
July 2007
Terres De Galets 2006 - Sainsburys £7.99
A reasonable wine produced in the Cotes du Rhone region by Gabriel Meffre made up of the usual Rhone blend of grenache, shiraz, cinsault and mourvedre grapes. Medium bodied, smooth and offering juicy sweet fruit with well integrated flavours all round. This was bought on offer at £3.99 which represents good value for money; however I have to rate the wine based on its normal retail price, therefore 2 stars.
Rating: Average
Yalumba Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 - Tesco £6.99
From one of the oldest family estates in Australia. In my view Yalumba offers wines of consistently good quality and reliability. This cabernet is full bodied, with well-integrated classic cabernet flavours of blackcurrant, vanilla and spice. Another wine on offer at £4.99 and rates 3 stars based on its full retail price.
Rating: Good
Cotes du Ventoux 2005 - Tesco £4.99
A wine from the Bishops selection range from vines growing in the Southern Rhone. This is more of a barbecue red that is medium bodied displaying some warm spiciness of the shiraz and grenache which offers simple yet fun flavours.
Rating: Average
McPherson Family Vineyards 2006 - £6.67 Sunday Times Wine Club
This shiraz was sent to me as a gift from an admirer known only as Jackie.
I was impressed by the maximum amount of juicy ripe and sweet shiraz fruit flavours that was able to be extracted during the wine making process This is a medium bodied and well crafted wine offering delicate spice and vanilla integration coupled with good length.
Drink within the next 2 years.
Rating: Good
June 2007
Cottesbrook Pinot Noir 2004 - Tesco £6.99
For months I have noticed this wine is Tesco’s and was tempted to purchase but never got round to it until now. Unfortunately this is not a wine I would expect from a premium wine producing region such as South Island in New Zealand. A light to medium bodied wine displaying very little varietal character which is rather diluted and acidic with hardly any discernible flavour. This is the first wine in a long time that I have poured down the kitchen sink!
Rating: Poor
Penny Farthing 2005 - Tesco £5.99
An offering from Australia produced from old vines shiraz with a dollop of viognier thrown in for some refinement. A medium to full bodied wine that I thought would be more intense and rich considering that the shiraz was sourced from old vines. However, nice sweet cherry and spice flavours abound with some oak influence thrown in for good measure.
Drinking now or cellar up to 2009.
Rating: Average
Zontes Footsteps 2005 - Sainsburys £7.00 (on offer at £5.99)
This is my wine of the month made from an intense blend of shiraz with yet again a tiny amount (7%) of viognier giving some balance and subtle refinement from Langhorne Creek, Australia. Quite rich, dark and full bodied wine offering oodles of juicy peppery shiraz with a layers of chocolate, spice and vanilla.
Drinking now or keep for up to 2 years.
Rating: Good
Red Burgundy 2005 - Sainsburys £5.49
A light and simple burgundy made exclusively for Sainsbury’s by Antonin Rodet. This is a very light and delicate pinot noir displaying some raspberry flavours with just a touch of spiciness and gentle oak influence. However this style of burgundy is just too gentle and light for my taste.
Drinking now or keep for up to one year.
Rating: Average
May 2007
Sicilian Shiraz 2006 - Marks and Spencer £3.99
A fun wine for the barbecue with its vibrant colour and enough acidity and tannin to cut through most foods. Displaying ripe and cherry flavours, this medium bodied shiraz was made in the western part of Sicily by Gaetune Carron who has aged the wine in oak for 5 months.
Rating: Average
Hardys Nottage Hill Shiraz 2004 - Widely available £6.49
A typical example of a reasonable Australian shiraz displaying juicy
sweet peppery shiraz. This is a full bodied wine from a company that
produces wines of consistent quality.
Rating: Good
Palo Alto Reserva 2005 - Sainsburys £6.99
I was impressed with this stylish blend of cabernet sauvignon, carmenere and shiraz from Chile. A full bodied wine displaying juicy/chewy blackcurrant peppery fruit rounded off with smooth vanilla. This is too refine for the barbecue so would recommend this for the dinner table.
Rating: Good
Paul Masson California Red - Widely available £4.55
This type of wine has been doing the rounds for years and is instantly recognisable by its carafe shape bottle. I bought this as I was passing the local corner shop and only had a fiver on me. This is a very simple and rather sweet, acidic and delicate red without any discerning flavour. Rather characterless but probably okay to quaff with burnt barbecue food!
Rating: Poor
April 2007
Chateau Fonfroide 2003 - Spar £4.99
A straightforward wine from Bordeaux offering a full bodied blend of rustic black forest fruits accompanied by a reasonably firm tannic backbone.
Rating: Average
Blue Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 - Tesco £4.99
I have never been a fan of Bulgarian wines as they have for many years been rather unpleasant to drink with always too much lean and tart acidity with little varietal character present and were not well made. However, I could be swayed by this Bulgarian wine from the Boyar estate produced from grapes sourced from the Thracian Valley.
A rather pleasant quaffing wine exhibiting typical blackcurrant flavours but for me has been aged too long in oak for its medium body structure and would have fared much better if the wine was full bodied to handle the rather chewy oak flavours.
Nevertheless, a decent red for the price.
Rating: Good
Farquharson 2004 Shiraz - Tesco £7.99
A medium to full bodied wine from the 'Finest' range produced by James Farquharson from vineyards in the coastal region of South Africa. A rich smooth wine displaying classic varietal characteristics of pepper shiraz with dark berry fruit.
Rating: Good
March 2007
Beyerskloof Pinotage 2005 - Tesco £6.99
A juicy, smoky and smooth pinotage from the Stellenbosch region of South Africa. Exhibiting lovely Danish blue flavours with rich blackberry spiciness, this rich and full bodied wine is made from vines that are up to 40 years old, therefore giving a wine of good concentration of flavour and colour.
Drinking now or keep up to 3 years.
Rating: Good
Graham Beck Shiraz 2003 - widely available £7.99
I really like this producer who has once more presented a full, rich and smooth sweet/peppery shiraz with dark red fruit flavours. Aged in American and French oak for 12 months has resulted in a rather refined wine.
This style is in contrast to the dense and rather exiting pintotage that I reviewed previously which is my favourite from this producer so far. However, be warned that this shiraz packs a hefty 15% alcohol by volume.
Drinking now or keep up to 2 years.
Rating: Good
Oyster Bay Merlot 2006 - widely available £7.99
On offer at Sainsbury's for £5.99 at time of writing
An enjoyable wine from the Hawkes Bay region of New Zealand offering an intense ruby colour with rather firm, yet well integrated tannins supporting vibrant black cherry fruit with a hint of cassis and oak.
Reasonably rich and full bodied. Drinking now or keep for up to 2 years.
Rating: Good
Inycon Shiraz 2005 - widely available £6.99
On offer at Sainsbury's for £3.99 at time of writing
What a disappointment. A simple medium bodied Sicilian wine from the Vineyard Selection range that offers limited shiraz characteristics that is definitely not up to the standard I would expect. A poor rating at the full price and an average rating at the offer price.
What make this so annoying is that I have reviewed previously a merlot at £2.99 from Inycon which was streets ahead in character and flavour of its much more expensive counterpart.
Rating: Average
February 2007
Marananga Dam 2004 - Marks & Spencer £9.99
Made from a blend of grenache, shiraz and mourvedre from 80 year old vines from the Barossa region of South Australia; this is an impressive and sophisticated wine.
Juicy with subtle flavours of cherries, spice and oak that are well integrated in this medium bodied wine. Great for drinking now or keep for up to 2 years.
Rating: Good
Zamora Zinfandel 2005 - Marks & Spencer £6.99
A rather light and zesty zinfandel from California produced from 40 year old vines, displaying succulent cherry and strawberry flavours intermingled with spice and pepper. However, a bit too light for me.
Drinking now.
Rating: Average
Rosemount Estate Founders Selection 2005 - widely available £7.99
A blend of shiraz and cabernet has led to a full bodied and rather smooth offering from Australia. A well integrated wine offering juicy berry, spicy and sweet fruit flavours in a well integrated wine.
Rating: Good
Lindemans Sangiovese Vintage Selection 2004 - widely available £6.99
There is something wrong here… medium bodied with some cherry fruit but rather diluted and one dimensional. Definitely not up to the usual high standards I have come to expect from this successful company as showcased with their ‘bin’ ranges. Disappointing.
Rating: Poor
January 2007
Penfolds Bin 128 Shiraz 2002 - widely available £10.49
A pretty decent red exhibiting classic punchy, yet reasonably refined spice and pepper characteristics of the shiraz grape variety. Full bodied, smooth and well structured with integrated oak influence.
Rating: Good
Inycon Merlot 2005 - widely available £2.99
I was rather pleased with this Sicilian wine at its very modest price offering a concoction of almost stewed winter fruits with a hint of spice. An attractive, medium bodied supple and smooth simple red.
Rating: Good
Reserve de la Condamine 2005 - Sainsburys £6.99 (on offer for £4.00)
A quality red offering a juicy and sweet blend of syrah, grenache and carignan from the Mont Tache cooperative in Fitou, South of France.
Rating: Good
Palacio Del Marques - Marks & Spencer £4.49 (on offer for £2.99)
A spicy, earthy and rustic yet rather dense red from Spain. However, it displayed rather limited cherry fruit.
Rating: Average