Joelle Thomson's Amazing Value Picks: Summer reds

Summertime calls for light refreshing wines, which usually leads us to white wines and rosés but here’s a bunch of red beauties that also tick the summer drinking list, thanks to being soft, smooth and super tasty. Star wine of the week - 2017 Miliasso Rosso Passito Appassimento 18.5/20, 4.5 stars It’s no coincidence that Italy specialises in great summer reds – it has an outstandingly temperate climate; warm days, balmy nights and red grapes that thrive in these conditions. This red is big, dark and juicy and lives up to its name ‘appassimento’, which means it has a portion of dried grapes (extra ripe from longer than usual time on the vines, ripening), which give it soft, juicy and rich plum fruit flavours. It comes from Piemonte DOC in the north west. A stunner. 2017 Marques de Verdellano Vino Tinto 16.5/20, 3.5 stars Utiel Requena is a Spanish wine region in Valencia, which specialises in the Bobal red grape, which is blended here with Tempranillo (Spain’s most planted grape overall). Bobal and Tempranillo may not be the first two grapes to spring to mind but they work wonders together, thanks to one’s rustic fruity charms married to the other’s soft, smooth, spicy flavours. This is a winning smooth red combo – drinks brilliantly well now, especially with summer BBQs. 2018 Henri de Floret Cotes du Rhone 16.5/20, 3.5 stars This cheeky little southern French red is an ideal summery red thanks to being light bodied, soft and smooth with red berry flavours in every sip. Cotes du Rhone reds are typically 60% Grenache, 40% Syrah and this wine tastes spot on with its red fruit aromas from Grenache, which are nicely supported by the spice from Syrah in the background. This wine’s light body make it a great entry for those new to reds. 2017 Grand Maestro Governo All’Uso Toscano 17/20, 4 stars This big dark Italian red from Tuscany is a chocolate lover’s dream red, thanks to its juicy core of rich mocha and cocoa aromas, which come from a portion of dried grapes used to add colour, richness and depth to this beautiful full bodied, smooth dry red. It’s super flavoursome with notes of intense dark rich plum and cherry fruit flavours supported by intense smooth tannins, a soft core and a lingering chocolatey finish. Signore Giuseppe Lambrusco Dell’Emilia Rosso Amabile Vino Frizzante 15.5/20, 3 stars What could be more fitting for summer than a light, bright, chilled fizzy red? It may be something of a rarity in this country but reds like this lightly sparkling frizzante rule the roost in the warmth of Emilia Romagna in central Italy, which is where this lightly sparkling Lambrusco comes from. It’s medium ruby in colour with medium intensity of dark fruity flavours in an off dry style with a light spritzy fizz. Fun and affordable. 2015 The Crater Rim Pinot Noir Waipara Valley 19/20, 5 stars A winning wine, year round from Waipara, the heart of North Canterbury. This Pinot Noirs is outrageously good value. It was fermented with indigenous yeasts, aged in French oak for 13 months and bottled unfined and unfiltered, which means it’s full of tasty savoury flavours which linger in every delicious sip. Joelle Thomson is a wine writer, journalist and author. She’s an avid lover of wine and currently writes for Capital magazine, Good magazine, NZ Winegrower, Drinksbiz, and her own site, www.joellethomson.com. She also teaches, works in radio, and more, so we've enlisted her help to sniff out our amazing value wines!