9 red wines you should have on your radar - from M&S to Morrisons (2024)

As jarring as it is being back at work, chin up, summer doesn’t officially end until September 22.

It’s completely natural to feel down about now, as the ‘end of summer blues’, also known as The Seasonal Scaries, is actually a recognised syndrome. We can experience a dopamine crash that occurs when the fun summer activities end and we enter the adjustment zone of returning to work life.

So, this means we’re in that seasonal hinterland where the kids are back at school, the weather (and our mood) is up and down, the days are getting noticeably shorter, we’re not sure whether to wear a T-shirt or a trench coat and mummy and daddy deserve a little mid-week snifter after work.

Not to promote wine as a cure-all, but a study previously posted in the Journal of Psychopharmacology shows that people who drink red wine in moderation have less anxiety and feel more positive emotions than people who drink white wine or water. I repeat, in moderation.

Stuffy wine rules would have us believe that white wine, rosé and at a push, light-bodied reds are the only possible candidates for summer sipping. I can see the logic but sometimes only a chunkier style of red will do, especially once the mercury drops. Right? So, if you’re craving a beefy Aussie Shiraz while we’re still officially in summer, be my guest and pop one open.

Before we get carried away though, let’s establish whether anyone actually drinks mid-week anymore. Well, a recent YouGov survey showed that from 2011 to 2022, weekday drinking declined from 54% to 48%, so it looks like people still do.

Among those, 55% of men drank at least once a week, compared to 42% of women. Eight percent of those men reported drinking almost daily, compared to 5% of women. The highest number of mid-week drinkers came from the 65 – 74 age bracket, whereas the lowest was among the 16-24-year-olds.

So, now we’ve established that weekday drinking is still a thing, here are some fuller-bodied reds to raise your mood:

Chevaliers St Martin Bordeaux, France, £5.45, Morrisons

Bordeaux doesn’t exactly scream lighter-bodied for summer, but then, who cares? This little gem is £5.45, a blend of Cabernet and Merlot, smooth as a baby bat and highly quaffable.

Think blackcurrant leaves, plums, black cherries and creamy liquorice, made from grapes grown in the less prestigious Entre Deux Mers, under the more generic AOP Bordeaux appellation. Nothing overly fancy but it’s still giving value for money.

The Wine Atlas Dao, Portugal, £7, Asda

Talk about a blast from the past, this range was first launched 11 years ago, which kind of fizzled out. It’s now been resuscitated and thank Beetlejuice’s sequel it has.

They take small parcels of wine from unfamiliar regions and price them at £7 or below, pretty genius if you ask me. This red is made from a Portuguese grape called Jaen, otherwise known as Mencia in Spain. All in all, it’s a juice-fest of raspberry, bramble fruit and basil.

Maruxa Mencía, Spain, on sale £7.99, Waitrose

Reduced to clear? On the bright side, there’s a fiver off the price and you can still get it at Majestic.

This one’s for lovers of Pinot Noir who like the aromatics ramped right up. It also has that allusive minerality, something in between hiking through Mediterranean underbrush, scooping the seeds out of a fresh pomegranate and sucking on a wet river stone. All in a good way though.

Half Eye, South Africa, £8, South Africa, Morrisons

This is turning into a Morrisons takeover, but can I help it if they’re serving top-tier tipples?

This one’s label caught my eye, designed by a graffiti design supremo. Plus, the wine is made from a blend of some of my favourite red grapes, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage, Cinsault, Merlot and Mourvèdre.

It’s produced from low-yielding vines that bring a deep flavour concentration. Think cherries, berries and strawberry yoghurt flavours.

Chosen by Majestic Primitivo Puglia IGT, Italy, £8.99

Primitivo is a go-to red grape for me at home. It’s the more restrained version of Zinfandel, same grape, different nurturing style. Originally Croatian, Primitivo is now found in Puglia, Italy, whereas Zinfandel has grown up stateside.

Italy’s version is all dried blueberries, tobacco and fresh plums in flavour, this one is made by the fifth generation of the Piccini family, who know a thing or two about making wine.

Athlon Xinomavro Syrah, Greece, on sale £8.99, Aldi

This bad boy is a silver medal winner at the coveted IWSC (International Wine and Spirits Challenge) and 75% of the blend is made up of a native Greek variety, pronounced zin-oh-mav-rowe, and the rest is spicy Syrah.

Sure, it’s upper-end pricing for Aldi, not for Greek wine though. You get what you pay for at Aldi, and that’s a silky red with intense flavours of damsons, liquorice and almond skin.

Best Chinon, £9, France, Morrisons

Chinon is a rare example of a red wine from the Loire, you know, where Sancerre is made? Fifty-two percent of the Loire’s wine output is white wine, only 26% is red so you see why this wine is casually unique.

This is one of my favourite styles of red, made from the daddy of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, namely Cabernet Franc. It manages to have lashings of raspberry and blackberry flavours, with herbaceous green pepper notes along for the ride.

Found Saperavi, Georgia, £9, M&S

Be prepared to fall hard for the Saperavi grape because I wasn’t. It’s the signature grape of Georgia, a transcontinental country between Europe and Asia.

Saperavi is what’s known as a ‘teinturier’ variety, a unique grape that’s red both on the outside and the inside. Well, Saperavi means ‘dye’ in Georgian, as the juice stains everything in its path. The result is a deeply inky-coloured wine with a silky texture and notes of violets, leather and spice.

Artelan Rioja Tempranillo, Spain, £9.99, Naked Wines

This could be my favourite wine in the Naked Wines portfolio, I was introduced to it by the delightful Ray O’Connor MW, their Ex-Buyer.

I like it because it’s lighter than your typical Rioja, some of which I find similar to drinking a reclaimed oak beam. This is made in the more northerly Rioja Alavesa region with a cooler climate and older vines, the result is a smooth, fruity, berry-led red with a cherry-flavoured finish.

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