Intense, Blackcurranty Reds

These wines have a distinctive blackcurrant flavour, and are produced either entirely from Cabernet Sauvignon, or blended with Merlot and other grapes to soften the texture and enrich the fruit flavours.

The Cabernet-based red wines of Bordeaux are the best examples of this style, with a fragrance of cigar boxes and lead pencils. These Bordeaux wines can be expensive - the cheaper versions simply aren't worth buying. New World Cabernets tend to be more modest in price, and have more blackcurrant, but also a vanillary flavour and sometimes mint.

Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the most reliable wines you can get. It keeps its characteristic flavours at every price level, and wherever it's from. Expensive wines should be ripe and rich with layers of intense flavour: cheaper ones have simpler flavours that are more jammy, more earthy, or more green-pepper lean.

Australia, Bulgaria, Chile, France's Vins de Pays d'Oc and South Africa all offer good Cabernets at budget prices. Australia, South Africa and Chile also offer some more expensive versions, as does Penedes in Spain.

You'll also find this style of wine with its blackcurrant flavours in Ribera del Duero from Spain, although the grape used here is Tempranillo.

For less than £5, try:

• Tempranillo La Serrana, Vino de la Tierra (Spain): Classic Tempranillo notes of dark cherry and blackcurrant, with a hint of dried flowers and sweet spice.
• Vistasur Cabernet Sauvignon, Cachapoal Valley (Chile): A well styled wine showing obvious blackcurrant fruit, vanilla spice and soft tannins.
• Les Fontanelles Cabernet Sauvignon, Vin de Pays d'Oc (Languedoc-Roussillon): A highly concentrated wine packed with blackberry and blueberry fruits and a silky, chocolaty edge.

For around £5 to £10, try:

• Wynns Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon (Australia): A focused wine with blackberry, currant and spicy-herbal flavours, and tannin and minty finish.
• Montes Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Colchagua (Chile): A full bodied spicy wine with complex aromas of cinnamon, caramel and plenty of berry fruits.

For around £10 to £20, try:

• Esprit de Chevalier, Rouge Pessac-Léognan (Bordeaux): A full-bodied wine, with a seductive bouquet of blackcurrants and sweet tobacco.
• Château d'Angludet, Margaux (Bordeaux): A traditional style that delivers blackfruits, pencil shavings, cigar boxes with ripe tannins, and backed by firm acidity.
• Wolf Blass Heritage Release Cabernet Sauvignon (Australia): Intense aromas of blackcurrant and vanilla are lifted by a hint of eucalyptus.

To push the boat out (over £20), try:

• Chateau Haut-Bages-Averous Pauillac (Bordeaux): A classic blackcurrant and mint leaf style of Claret.