Two packets of three, for the holidays.

We are off on our jollies soon and where we are heading in Ireland is not a Mecca of good wine (I think, and I hope to be proved wrong). But just in case I figured I'd get a half dozen red as emergency wines in case no decent affordable wine can be found in the locality. Tesco Dundrum normally has a few wines on special, some own-brand, some random wines from across the globe.

I picked up three of each today, The non-Tesco wines are...

Bastide de Garille Cabardes 2007 - €5-99. Regular readers will know I recently found a lovely Cabardes in Dunnes at the modest price of €6-95. Hopefully this one will be as successful.

Castillo de Montearagon Gran Reserva Carinena 2002 - €6-39. I recently had another bargain Carinena Gran Reserva from Tesco, a 2001, which was a bit tired. Worth a punt at this price, I reckon.

St Hallett Barossa Gamekeeper's Reserve 2008 - €9-35. When I saw this on the shelf it rang a bell and I grabbed a bottle. When I checked my archive I saw that I had tried it as part of a tasting back in November, John Wilson's Favourite Australians. I very much liked it then so kudos to my memory, for once.

The Tesco wines are...

Tesco Valpolicella Ripasso 2008 - €8-99. I have written about this wine on several occasions. I love it. It needs a couple of hours in the decanter but it's so worth it.

Tesco Nero D'Avola 2008 - €5-99. I had forgotten that I quite liked this the last time I tried it (unlike the 2007 which was not great). Solid but unremarkable but attractive at this price.

Tesco Cotes du Rhone Villages Reserve 2008 - €7-49. I had this once before last November, when it was the 2007 and it went well with the lamb we were having. It will be interesting to see if there is much variety between vintages.

Speaking of which I recently picked up a couple of Tesco Vacqueyras 2008, I loved the 2007 but the 2008 left both myself and Herself a little disappointed. It wasn't as full and flavoursome as the 2007. That was the first bottle, so perhaps the second one will prove the the first was an anomaly.