Mike Tipping picks four reds he enjoyed over the festive period (From York Press)

Mike Tipping picks four reds he enjoyed over the festive period

11:48am Saturday 7th January 2012 in Tipping's Tipples

UNSURE if this was the week I should put out the rubbish or the recycling, I went for ‘belt and braces’ and put out both, perhaps rather optimistically.

I was hoping that since everything had been piling up over the Crimbo holidays that there would be a double collection. Of course there wasn’t and I have had to put the recycling boxes back in the yard until next week.

In retrospect, I was glad the glass hadn’t gone because looking in my wine notes I realised I had omitted the vintage of a wine I was keen to write about. It has been so long since the last collection I had to search through quite an array of empties to find the one in question. As all this week’s recommendations, the empties anyhow, are still in the back yard, this is my rather loose theme for the first Tipping’s Tipples of the New Year. So here are four reds that I enjoyed over the festive period.

Good, drinkable wines for under a fiver are few and far between, but I was very impressed by Lascar Carmenère 2010. From Chile’s Central Valley, it delivers brambles and plums, green pepper, cloves, vanilla and smoky notes.

Santa Rita 120 Carmenère 2010, from the same country and region, is reasonable value too. It is also full of varietal character, with blackberry and cassis flavours, tomato leaf, vanilla and spice.

Wirra Wirra Church Block 2009 is a concentrated, juicy affair from the McLaren Vale in Oz. A blend of cabernet sauvignon, shiraz and merlot, it is balanced and approachable, with ripe berry fruit flavours, liquorice, vanilla, integrated oak and fine tannins.

Rioja is not always to my liking, often it tastes medicinal, but I was impressed by the deliciously different Beronia Special Production Tempranillo 2009, a modern take on the reds of the region. It is silky smooth, with blackberry and strawberry, pronounced coffee flavours, coconut oak notes and vanilla.

• Lascar Carmenère 2010, £4.95 from The Wine Society 18/20.

• Santa Rita 120 Carmenère 2010, RRP £7.49 at The Co-operative and Majestic 18/20.

• Wirra Wirra Church Block 2009, McLaren Vale, RRP £11.99 at The Co-operative, Waitrose and The Wine Society 17/20.

• Beronia Special Production Tempranillo 2009, Rioja, RRP £11.49 at Waitrose and Ocado 17/20.