Domaine de Pialentou, Les Gentilles Pierres Gaillac, 2009, £8.50, The Wine Society

A TASTY French country red if ever there was one – bags of ripe, rather savoury fruit - spicy brambles and damsons, juicy and chewy with enough tannin to cut through fatty meat. Try it with roast pork with crackling.

Wine Extras

The Wine Society also offers an older vintage, the 2005 Domaine de Pialentou Gaillac red, and very fairly don't charge any more for it – just £8.50.It was made before the conversion to organic began and though more complex, with more red fruit flavours, it is also a tad more rustic, with chunky tannins. I like it, but get the impression that winemaking at the estate has improved in recent years. The dry white version, Domaine de Pialentou, Les Gentilles Pierres Gaillac, 2010, (£7.95), is cast much more in the role of a funky, low-sulphur, slightly cidery, self-consciously beard and sandals, ‘natural wine’. It would be good with a really good dried sausage or ham.

Majestic also have a couple of good Gaillac wines – Saint Michel Perlé 2010, a very light, slightly fizzy dry white, typical of the region, and a chunky, satisfying red, Saint Michel 2009. Both are £7.99 or £6.99 if you buy two – fine value.