Picture yourself snuggled on the sofa by the fire at the end of a long busy day or imagine yourself sitting down to delicious home-cooked dinner with friends and family. All that’s missing is a nice glass of red. Here's our pick of the best offerings of the season, from high street bargains to luxury buys for the festive season and beyond. 1. Domaine de Montval Syrah 2013 IGP Pays du Gard: £9.99, majestic.co.uk This easy-drinking and softly textured red wine, which Majestic has bought 30,000 bottles of, is outstanding value. It’s made from Syrah grown around Nîme and is full of blackcurrant and cherry fruit, bolstered by hints of dark cocoa and pepper. A great one for the festive season, this delicious and extremely classy Bordeaux is a fine accompaniment to any festive meat, from game to turkey to beef. A long-standing favourite among Society members, it’s fragrant and ripe with great balance and a long, velvety finish. 3. Casillero del Diablo Carmenère 2012: £5.99, co-operativefood.co.uk

A bargain for a great carmenère that works particularly well with casseroles and spicy meat dishes like Chilli con Carne at festive dinner parties, this wine is bursting with berry flavours and mocha notes and rounded off with subtle spiciness.This smooth and silky wine from vineyards in Oregon, has aromas of raspberry and red cherry, which unfold on the palate. Tesco bought a batch as a one-off special package, hence the very reasonable price tag. 5. Rust en Vrede Stellenbosch Ridge 2010: £24.13, amazon.co.uk This intense ruby coloured wine hails from Stellenbosch, one of the premier wine regions in South Africa, but as the estate was established in the 17th century, it’s often considered more “classic” than “New World.” Boasting aromas of ripe plum and fresh cherry, it has damson and redcurrant on the  palate and a long, velvety finish. 6. The Exquisite Collection Minarete Ribera del Duero 2013: £5.99, aldi.co.uk This full-bodied, fruity wine comes from Ribera del Duero region, home to some of Spain’s grandest producers of bold reds.

But unlike many wines from this region, Aldi is offering this one with a bargain price tag. 7. Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Côtes du Rhône Villages 2013: £7, sainsburys.co.uk Vines are planted on a soil composed of shingle, chalk and clay, the grapes are hand-harvested and the wine is vinified in cement vats for two to three weeks after fermentation. The result is a classic Rhône red blend that goes a treat with roast beef. This textbook Australian Shiraz is exceptionally well balanced. best wines of parisIt has a nose full of ripe blackberry, plum and a hint of spice, whilst the palate has a rich blackberry character, underlying chocolate notes and a sweet-oak spiciness, with a fresh acidity.best wines of paris This rich, full-bodied wine has great depth of flavour and a fabulous finish. where to buy wine in md

It’s crafted by a boutique winery in the Alentejo region and good news for the entertaining season is that it goes well with everything from beef to cheese to chocolate. Expect notes of dark chocolate, violet flowers and an edge of spice. The Celler de Capçanes cooperative was formed by five families in the 1930s in the village of Capçanes in northeast Spain. This Merlot-based blend is ripe yet elegant, with aromas of ripe dark fruit, wild herbs and berries. best wines released in 2015On the palate, it’s spicy and intense, with vanilla and dark exotic fruit flavours.best wine for painting 11. Chateau Brassac Bordeaux Superieur 2012: £6.99, co-operativefood.co.ukgood wine from 2010 This is a real crowd-pleaser of a Bordeaux that particularly complements red meat dishes.

It has aromas of blackcurrant and blackberry and spicy notes, while being fresh, concentrated and well balanced on the palate. Snap up a few if you can – this is great value. This is a winner for Christmas Day as it goes a treat with turkey. This soft, silky, purple-hued Pinot Noir was produced by Romaric Chavy, the seventh generation of his family to tend the vines of Chavy-Chouet, Burgundy. It has cherry, berry and spice flavours. If you’re able to splash out, we think the Château Beaumont Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux 2010 is exceptional. For something cheaper, Aldi’s The Exquisite Collection Minarete Ribera del Duero 2013 is astonishingly good value. IndyBest product reviews are unbiased, independent advice you can trust. On some occasions, we earn revenue if you click the links and buy the products, but we never allow this to bias our coverage. The reviews are compiled through a mix of expert opinion and real-world testingRed wine contains a number of compounds called flavonoids, antioxidants and polyphenols, including one called resveratrol, that may have health benefits.

However, drinking alcohol to excess can be detrimental to your health, so balance the possible benefits with the possible risks to determine how much to drink. The resveratrol in red wine may help lower your risk for heart disease, cancer, diabetes and age-related degenerative diseases, according to an article published in 2009 in "Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research." Resveratrol may lower your risk for blood clots and inflammation and lower your cholesterol. Red wine can help increase your beneficial HDL cholesterol and reduce your risk for blood clots and artery damage, notes a study in the October -- December 2010 issue of the "Journal of Cardiovascular Disease Research." If you don't already drink alcohol, you shouldn't start, according to the American Heart Association. To get the possible health benefits from red wine, drink in moderation. This means one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men, or less; 5 ounces of wine is considered one drink.

Just four to seven glasses of wine per week can lower your risk for prostate cancer, according to the Harvard Medical School. Drinking alcohol can lead to alcohol abuse in some people. Excessive alcohol consumption is also associated with an increased risk of cancer, high triglycerides, obesity, liver disease, car accidents, high blood pressure, heart failure, stroke, physical abuse, irregular heart rhythms, suicide and swelling of the pancreas, according to MedlinePlus. Pregnant women should not consume wine or other types of alcohol since this increases the risk of birth defects. You can get similar benefits to those from drinking red wine by making other healthy choices, including consuming lots of fruits and vegetables and getting plenty of exercise. Resveratrol is also found in blueberries, grapes, peanuts, cranberries and raspberries. Gain 2 pounds per week Gain 1.5 pounds per week Gain 1 pound per week Gain 0.5 pound per week Maintain my current weight