Wines of the week: Eight reds for February

Unready to forgo hearty reds infront of the fire, Terry Kirby thinks we’re not quite out of the winter months yet

Best of both worlds: read on for full-bodied reds with a spring in their step

It is still a month until the spring equinox and several weeks after that until Easter, and while these mid-February days can sometimes hold a sunny promise of spring, as some of us have seen this week, the evenings are chilly and I fear we may not have seen the last of winter.

For a wine writer conscious that the majority of wine is consumed with food in mind, this matters: are we still in roasts, pies, casseroles and big hearty reds season; or are we all fed up with that and longing for lighter meals and more medium-bodied wines?

Hmmm… for my money, I’m not quite ready to forsake a glass of chunky red in front of the fire just yet, but am prepared to hedge my bets slightly, so here are firstly some red wines that are still full bodied and warming, but have just a little spring in their step, so to speak, followed by three more robust bottles for if/when winter sets in again.

Firstly to the Dao region of Portugal and a toothsome, juicy blend of touriga nacional, tinta roriz, alfrocheiro and jaen, the Somontes Colheita Tinto 2015 (£11.95 davywine.co.uk), which relies on grapes from high altitude vineyards to give a mineral freshness to the brambly flavours of blackberries and plums.

Best of both worlds: read on for full-bodied reds with a spring in their step

Expansive, ripe, red fruits dominate the next wine, Les Dissidents L’Idiot (£10.99 jnwine.com) from Domaine de Ventenac in the Carbardes appellation in southern France. Made entirely from merlot, not a common grape in the region, the red fruits are balanced with a hint of tar and chocolate and the mouthfeel is fulsome and velvety. Both of these wines would work well with pasta dishes or something like a chicken and chorizo casserole or paella.

The flavours of Portuguese blends and merlot are relatively familiar, but how about the okuzgozu and bogazkere grapes? Nope, me neither, until I tried the Kayra Buzbag 2017 (£11.43 strictlywine.co.uk), which is made from a blend of both these local grapes in eastern Anatolia in Turkey, resulting in an intense, ripe, black-fruit wine, with some other underlying hints of spice and even pomegranate and cherry which deliver a little lightness. A really characterful wine to drink with spicy Middle Eastern lamb, roast or in a casserole, with chickpeas and aubergines, picking up on the sour-sweet notes of the wine.

Moving slightly up the price bracket and across the other side of the Atlantic, the Parts and Labour 2016 (£16.98 armitwines.co.uk) is California-does-southern France with a medium bodied, approachable blend of mostly biodynamically grown syrah, but with carignan, grenache and a touch of Italian barbera. It’s remarkably food-friendly, suitable for almost any Mediterranean foods.

Staying on the west coast, the Foxglove Zinfandel 2014 (£17.95 stannarywine.com; £20.50 honestgrapes.co.uk) from the Paso Robles region of central California, is a lovely, almost Burgundian take on the grape otherwise known as primitivo in southern Italy, where it mostly produces bigger, ballsier wines. This is not lacking in heft, but is altogether more refined, with the naturally wild flavours restrained into luscious, perfumed cherry and red fruits, underpinned by subtle notes of earth and tar. But please, decant well in advance to let the flavours settle and expand and pair most effectively with duck: roast, magret or confit…

Now back to Europe for three somewhat more heavyweight wines for substantial meat dishes and winter casseroles: the merlot-dominated and award-winning Chateau Castera Cru Bourgeois Medoc 2015 (£17.50 excelwines.com) is a very fine example of the kind of bargains to be found among Bordeaux’s Cru Bourgeois wines – punching massively above its price point, this is full bodied, packed with ripe, blackcurrant and blackberry fruits, elegant and easily approachable; it’s a wine for a fine steak or Sunday lunch roast chicken.

From a very traditional claret to a modern rioja: the concentrated 100 per cent tempranillo Izadi Rioja Reserva 2013-14 (2013: £11.95 slurp.co.uk; 2014: £13.42 thedrinkshop.com) which has some oak ageing, but the fruit flavours are to the front, underpinned by some tarry, liquorice notes.

And lastly, for dinner parties or special meals, we move across northern Spain to the Ribera del Duero and the Valdubon Reserva DO Ribera del Duero 2012 (£24.99 ocado.com), which is smooth, velvety and intense, a big warming comfort blanket of a wine, for when you really need to keep the cold out.