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. It 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. This rich, full-bodied wine has great depth of flavour and a fabulous finish. 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. On the palate, it’s spicy and intense, with vanilla and dark exotic fruit flavours. 11. Chateau Brassac Bordeaux Superieur 2012: £6.99, co-operativefood.co.ukred wine case for iphone 5 This is a real crowd-pleaser of a Bordeaux that particularly complements red meat dishes. beer and wine which is healthierIt has aromas of blackcurrant and blackberry and spicy notes, while being fresh, concentrated and well balanced on the palate. fine wine gift vouchersSnap up a few if you can – this is great value.best wine bars for groups nyc

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. top wine drinkers in the worldFor something cheaper, Aldi’s The Exquisite Collection Minarete Ribera del Duero 2013 is astonishingly good value.best cheap wine parisA budget bottle of red wine costing under a fiver from Asda has been crowned the best in the world at a prestigious awards. The chain’s La Moneda Reserva Malbec from Chile for a bargain £4.37 beat stiff competition to win Platinum Best in Show at the industry’s coveted Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA).

A panel of 240 international experts awarded the modest tipple the top gong in the under £15 red wine category and hailed it “an absolute crowd pleaser”. Announcing the results on Thursday after a week of rigorous blind taste tests of 16,000 wines, judges said the supermarket Malbec was the toast of the town for quality and value for money. Describing the wine as tasting of “freshly crushed black fruit, creamy vanilla yoghurt and pepper spice” they praised its “succulent juicy berries on the palate”. It was said to have “an excellent freshness” with a zing that was “full of energy with a great price point”. Bargain hunters sent Asda's online Wine Shop into meltdown as orders for its award winning Malbec flooded in. The supermarket said as news of the best red for under £15 spread, its e-cellar crashed under the weight of demand. Normally £5.75, the top notch wine is on offer for a rock bottom, £4.37. Asda's wine buying manager Ed Betts said: “Our team of wine experts are always striving to offer our customers the very best value and our award for Best Single Varietal Red under £15 award in particular demonstrates this. "

The La Moneda Reserva Malbec is currently on rollback at £4.37, and as the perfect match to barbecued meats, we’re expecting high demand in the coming weeks." The bottle for just over £4 beat off stiff competition from other wines to win its category and was shortlisted in the overall red wine section before taking the best in the world title. Asda is now bracing itself for Malbec frenzy as red wine fans are expected clear shelves of the bargain, award winning wine by the weekend. DWWA chairman Steven Spurrier said: “Our sole purpose is to recognise and reward quality, this is what consumers all over the world are interested in. We only award medals to wines in which consumers can have the utmost confidence.” Marks & Spencer stole a march on rivals to take the best in the world award for its Finest Reserve Port and Tesco scooped five silvers in the port category. English wine had its best ever year scooping two platinums and three gold medals for the first time. Gusbourne, Pinot Noir took platinum for best UK red over £15 and Chapel Down’s Kits Coty Estate Chardonnay was best UK white for over £15.