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. wine gift sets with free shippingOn the palate, it’s spicy and intense, with vanilla and dark exotic fruit flavours.red wine gift bags 11. Chateau Brassac Bordeaux Superieur 2012: £6.99, co-operativefood.co.ukbeer and wine history This is a real crowd-pleaser of a Bordeaux that particularly complements red meat dishes. top wines of 1990It has aromas of blackcurrant and blackberry and spicy notes, while being fresh, concentrated and well balanced on the palate. top selling wine brands in usa

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. best gift bottle of wineIt 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 testingFor a country whose per capita consumption of wine is a mere 9 milliliters per annum compared to the global average of 4 litres, India has a thriving wine industry.

There is a constant refrain one hears even from Indians that our wines are not good which is a far cry from the truth. In fact a lot of Indian wines are superior in taste and are better value for money than some of the entry level low quality fare, both from the Old & New World, which is flooding the Indian market. Many Indian wineries are producing good quality premium wines and one of them is Fratelli. I got a chance to visit Fratelli Wines in Akluj, 170 kms from Pune in Solapur district of Maharashtra and see for myself the state of the art winery, beautiful vineyards and taste some of their premium wines. Fratelli Wines has come a long way within a short span of time, a little over four years to be precise, as it was only in October 2010 when its first vintage was launched in the Indian market with just three wine labels. That number has now gone up to 28 labels (of which 6 include the imported range) encompassing twelve varietals like Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Shiraz and all major international styles.

It isn’t merely a matter of numbers. Fratelli has managed to carve a niche for itself in the Indian wine industry and is now catching the attention of the world because of the quality of its wines.  An Indo-Italian collaboration, it was the first to experiment with growing the Italian varietal Sangiovese on Indian soil, under the aegis of Piero Masi, the famed Tuscan viticulturist and winemaker. Not content with making just a regular red wine Sangiovese, Piero Masi experimented with making a still white wine Sangiovese Bianco from a red grape varietal, a process which requires great expertise. Fratelli is also a pioneer in making a zero dosage sparkling wine Gran Cuvée Brut from 100% Chenin Blanc, putting to rest the general misconception that most Indian sparkling wines are excessively sweet. While zero dosage is a popular trend abroad, no winery in India has tried it before Fratelli. Dosage or “liquer d’expedition” is basically additional sugar added to champagne and sparking wines after disgorgement and before final corking to balance the acidity.

Sparkling wines sans dosage or undosed are said to have better minerality and are supposed to be more expressive of the terroir as they reveal the complexities of the wine without masking it with sugar, though the last word is still not out on this one. It is the only winery to plant Gewürztraminer in India. This and another cool climate varietal Muller-Thurgau is used along with Chenin Blanc to produce a single vineyard blend VITAE TRE. Then there is a barrel fermented Chardonnay VITAE, the usage of oak resulting in a wine with a firm structure and a creamier, rounder finish. Coming to their flagship and most prized wine SETTE,  a blend of Sangiovese & Cabernet Sauvignon with a small percentage of Cabernet Franc. It is matured in French oak for 14 months and is an Indian wine with good ageing potential. With three vintages released so far 2009, 2010 & 2011 SETTE is garnering appreciation both from customers and critics alike. Alessio Secci, one of the co-owners of Fratelli wines goes so far as calling it a “Super Indian” on the lines of a Super Tuscan on which SETTE is modelled.

One of the reasons why Fratelli is producing wines of such good quality and consistency is that all its 240 acres of vineyards at Akluj,  spread over three sites Motewadi (where the winery is located) Nimgaon & Garwad are estate owned. The advantage of using grapes sourced only from their own vineyards is that since they can directly supervise cultivation, strict quality control is maintained, harvesting is done at optimum ripeness and grapes are picked, transported and crushed in the shortest possible time. They say that “wine can be no better than the grapes from which it is made”. Hence estate wineries always produce the finest wines. In the field of wine tourism too, Fratelli Wines is making a mark as it is one of the few wineries which offers accommodation in a vineyard setting, even though it is only limited to four aesthetically decorated rooms. There are various packages like day visits, weekend getaways, Rejuvenation and Rent-a-vineyard packages. Meals are provided on prior order and guests staying at the facility can even try their hand at cooking in the open kitchen which offers a panoramic view of the vineyards.

There are two tasting rooms, one modern facing the imposing winery and the other more traditional located in the cellar room amidst oak barrels. Wines can be purchased at discounted prices and there are souvenirs like wine glasses, wine openers, carry bags and coasters which can be bought. A short 15 minute drive from the winery at Motewadi is Syrah Hut which overlooks the vineyards at Garwad. Wine tasting option is offered at this breathtakingly beautiful and serene locale. It is really encouraging  to see Indian wines making inroads into foreign markets and Fratelli is no exception. It has a presence in USA, UK, Japan, Hong Kong, Italy and Netherlands. Just last week Abhishek Haryson, Senior Manager Corporate Communication and Marketing conducted an exclusive tasting session of Fratelli wines for top Swedish business and travel community members at India Unlimited in Stockholm Sweden at the behest of Indian Ambassador in Sweden, Banashri Bose Harrison. At the end of the day it is all a question of changing the mindset about Indian wines, first among our own people and then abroad, that wines from India can match international standards in terms of quality and pricing.