Wines of the month

WINE

Flotation plans announced last week have not deflected Majestic Wine Warehouses from its reliable nose for a good deal. Until Sunday week, Spain is the main attraction at Majestic, where the smooth-textured, strawberry- fruity 1994 Marques de Grinon Rioja Crianza, made entirely from the tempranillo grape, undercuts the pounds 4.99 high-street price, Fuller's excepted, at the reduced price of pounds 4.49.

A new star in Majestic's Spanish line-up is Guelbenzu, a Navarra family company whose immaculate, charmingly old-fashioned winery conceals a thoroughly modern approach to wine production. Reduced from pounds 5.99 to pounds 4.99 until 3 November, the 1994 Guelbenzu, combines cabernet sauvignon, merlot and tempranillo grapes in a blend of spicy soft-centred cassis fruitiness.

Still classier, more richly concentrated and with the backbone for ageing, the 1993 Guelbenzu Evo, down from pounds 9.99 to pounds 8.99, is Navarra's answer to Australia's Coonawarra, an aromatically spicy, chocolatey, Spanish new-wave recipe of mainly cabernet sauvignon with a dollop of merlot and tempranillo for suppleness.

Also on offer at Majestic until next weekend, the 1993 La Cuvee Mythique, Vin de Pays d'Oc, pounds 5.49 down from pounds 5.99 (pounds 5.99, too, at selected Safeways) is a pioneering southern French blend, made at France's largest winery, Val d'Orbieu. Using cabernet sauvignon to enhance the Mediterranean character of the region's indigenous grapes, the result is a rich, thyme and angostura bitters-style red with French oak spiciness and sweetly ripe tannins.

The festivities at Sainsbury's Wine Without Worry wine fair continue until 9 November, with a five per cent discount on any four wines bought, whether reduced already or not. pounds 1 shaved off Sainsbury's appealing, blackcurrant pastille-like 1992 Bulgarian Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon makes it a party- on-a-budget snip at pounds 2.69. The same amount is also cut from two good-value Australian-influenced reds: the deep-hued, flavoursome Sainsbury's Cuvee Prestige Claret, pounds 3.75, made by Mandy Jones at Chateau Carsin in Bordeaux, and the exuberantly juicy, raspberryish 1995 Domaine de la Baume Syrah, pounds 3.99, which hails from BRL-Hardy's Australian outpost in the Languedoc.

Somerfield has a number of promotions of its own until Tuesday week, the best of which is the 1995 Somerfield White Burgundy, down from pounds 5.49 to pounds 4.49, a buttery, serious white burgundy wannabe at an affordable price. From Argentina, the new vintage of Somerfield Argentine Country White, San Juan, pounds 2.99, is a zingy, ultra-refreshing chenin blanc with a tangy dry aftertaste, while the soft, strawberryish Argentine Country Red, San Juan, pounds 2.99, makes a good Beaujolais substitute.

Recently introduced to the Marks & Spencer wine range, the 1995 Bereich Johannisberg Riesling from Klosterhof, pounds 4.99, is a delicate, off-dry Rheingau riesling with a juicy lime and grapefruit quality, which, unlike the unfortunate Bucks Fizz from the same producer, explodes in the mouth and not the bottle. Good, too, is the 1993 Fitou, leve en Futs de Chene, Domaine du Tauch, pounds 4.99, selected stores, a typical, herby garrigue-scented Mediterranean blend of carignan, grenache and syrah with ample fleshy fruit on its big- boned body