Best red wine to drink in 2022: Italian, French, Austrian and more for every budget

Best: Overall

Rating: 9/10

Few wine regions boast the complexity and influence of Bourgogne, which – home to France’s highest concentration of appellations d’origine contrôlée – produces some of the world’s most expensive wines. While it’s often tough to find value at the (relatively) lower end of the scale, this graceful premier cru from the Givry region is a beautifully floral wine and a perfect primer to “serious” burgundies. Produced by the father and son team at Domaine Laurent Mouton, it’s a fruit-forward pinot noir with evolving strawberry, cherry and petrichor aromas, a subtle touch of leather and spice on a palate shaped by elegant tannins and a balanced, dry finish.

Best: For Sunday roast swigging

Rating: 8/10

To the north of Verona, Valpolicella is one of Italy’s most productive wine regions, yet there’s plenty of variation to be found upon its south-facing slopes. This excellent ripasso – a robust style based on a centuries-old winemaking technique that sees a proportion of its corvina, molinara, and rondinella grapes dried and returned to the blend for a second fermentation – is a vivid, intense red that packs character at an accessible price point. Ruby red in colour and with bags of dark fruit, oak and spice flavours, it’s a great complement to roasted meats.

Best: Crowd-pleasing rioja

Rating: 8/10

From the family-run Diez-Caballero winery in the heart of the Rioja Alavesa region comes a charismatic crowd pleaser for Christmas. Made solely from tempranillo grapes aged in French oak for 12 months, it’s a sophisticated embodiment of the region with vanilla, oak and tobacco on the nose and a full-bodied, tannin-heavy palate of black fruit, plum and liquorice. Yet, testament to the founders’ innovative approach that uses modern methods to bring the best out of their 80-year-old vines, this wine is a far fresher wine than many of its more traditional neighbours, making it a versatile option that works equally well with wintry stews, poultry or cheeses.

Best: For elegant easy drinking

Rating: 9/10

Usually known for its full-bodied, spicy character, Blaufränkisch – the dark-skinned, tannin-heavy grape synonymous with central Europe – is given a biodynamic spin by winemaker Claus Preisinger in Burgenland, Austria. Made with minimal maceration (resulting in lower tannins), Bonsai is light in colour – sitting somewhere between a rosé and a red – vibrant and incredibly fruity. We served it slightly chilled, which allowed its strawberry and redcurrant notes to really sing and its crisp acidity to come to the fore.

Best: Big hitter on a budget

Rating: 7/10

While Lebanon’s links to viticulture date back millennia, winemaking particularly flourished under French occupation in the mid 20th-century. In the fertile Bekaa Valley, dry summers, cool nights and consistent rainfall often result in intense expressions of typically French varietals, with Aldi’s striking cab-sav blend following suit. This powerful, spicy red is deep in colour with cedar and forest fruits on the nose and a vibrant plummy palate with a hint of chocolate. We found its black fruit notes developed nicely with time in the glass and proved a hit alongside grilled lamb.

Best: For (very) special occasions

Rating: 9/10

A prestige wine, often with a price tag to match, barolo is the jewel in Piemonte’s crown. Stemming from the Bergeisa grand-cru parcel in the heart of the Barolo DOCG area, this is a particularly smooth expression of the nebbiolo grape, an extremely elegant, multi-layered wine that evolved beautifully in the glass, pairing perfectly with slow-cooked braised beef. An aromatic nose of berries, cedar and spice, violet, silky, well-structured tannins and a long, luscious finish with a hint of liquorice mean that – while far from cheap – it’s a wine to truly revel in.

Best: For poultry and white meat

Rating: 7/10

Produced by one of Burgundy’s best-known producers, this larger-than-life gamay has plenty going for it. Fruity, floral and incredibly easy drinking, it’s made with grapes grown on granite soil, which adds layers of depth to its character. After chilling for an hour before serving, we found red fruit notes on the nose – strawberry, cherry and raspberry – while a succulent medium-bodied palate is enhanced by gentle tannins and refreshing amount of acidity, working beautifully on its own and alongside roast chicken.

Best: Full-bodied finesse

Rating: 8/10

Portugal has long represented excellent value for money and that certainly holds true with this bold red from the remote Vilarica Valley of the Douro Superior. Produced by the Symington family, who have five generations of winemaking in the Douro behind them, its a wonderfully inky wine that blends traditional Douro grape varieties including touriga nacional and touriga franca aged in oak for 10 months. A particularly spirited, fruit-forward wine, we found blackberry, chocolate and spice on the nose, juicy fruit on the palate and a velvety, tannic mouthfeel. Equally enjoyable sat by the fireside or paired with a wintry stew.

Best: Cool-climate complexity

Rating: 9/10

This hugely elegant pinot noir comes courtesy of Eyrie Vineyards, whose pioneering founder David Lett was the first to take a punt and plant the notoriously tricky grape in Oregon’s Willamette Valley half a century ago. Here, distinctive volcanic soils and a cool climate have given rise to a refined, bright-red wine with gentle, nuanced aromas of red fruit, tobacco and earthy forest floor accents. A medium-bodied palate of spice and leather is underpinned by silky tannins and a long, spicy finish. With many subtleties to ponder and unpick, it’s a sublime “meditation wine” that – only released in small quantities – is one to move quickly on.

Best: Elegant chianti

Rating: 8/10

Special occasions call for special wines and this classy chianti classico (a title denoting the use of at least 80 per cent sangiovese grape) fits that bill – a lively, versatile wine that, beautifully aged in oak barrels, offers a well-priced wow factor. Produced by the Villa Antinori, a Tuscan winemaking stalwart with centuries of experience to its name, bold tobacco and woody notes – a little like opening a well-loved violin case – are offset by accents of cherry and raspberry. Grippy tannins provide structure and – beyond its bold, dark-fruit flavours – there’s plenty of finesse on the finish.

Best: For pairing with cheese

Rating: 9/10

From what’s been one of the region’s best vintages of the 21st century, this bright, bold blend of merlot and cabernet sauvignon from Listrac-Médoc on Bordeaux’s left bank is a special-occasion wine to savour. Allowed to breath for an hour, its delicate nose of blackberry, cherry and oak grows in stature, joined by more nuanced, spicy accents, while a warm palate of cherry and earthy notes and firm tannins gives way to well-rounded, lengthy finish, making it a hugely enjoyable, big-hitting wine to hunker down with this winter.

Best: Silky partner for steak

Rating: 9/10

Characterised by its big, bold flavours and tannin-heavy structure, Argentine malbec has always been a classic choice to pair with steak and ​​this charismatic high-altitude blend from Mendoza’s Escorihuela Gascon winery is a particularly elegant companion. Offsetting 85 per cent malbec with a touch of syrah and cabernet sauvignon has resulted in a harmonious, well-balanced wine with aromatic intensity – think cassis, herbs, pepper and ripe plums – a super silky texture and bold oaky accents that we found stood up beautifully to charcoal-grilled sirloin.