Les Coteaux Côtes du Rhône Villages, Boutinot 2024

Côtes du Rhône reds are great value, ever popular, and the use of different varieties in the blends gives them quite a range of styles. The blend used for Les Coteaux means it's basically Grenache with about 20% Syrah added as seasoning. That gives it a plush bramble character, soft tannins, a hint of warm garrigue herbs leavened with black pepper spice courtesy of the Syrah. It's proved to be a winning combination since it's always one that flies off our shelves.

Supremely versatile with everything from barbecues to pizza, pasta and stews - the soft tannins and easy, ripe fruit see to that.

Domaine Boutinot Rhône may only date back to 2010, but the team behind it has been sourcing and making wine in the southern Rhône for more than thirty years. Their home is now in the hills above Cairanne, where old-vine Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Carignan are planted across a patchwork of clay-limestone slopes, stony terraces and sandy, saffre-rich soils. Low-intervention is their style, with native yeasts, long periods of cuvaison and gentle handling in the cellar, and a focus on blends that capture the character of the Côtes du Rhône, its villages and the Cairanne cru.