Wines of the month from a selection at Marks & Spencer

Marques del Romeral Reserve Rioja 1994 , Medium bodied Spanish red, 75cl Alc vol 12.5% £7.99

This could be one of the best vintages for great Rioja wines, with an ideal summer, despite slow growth early on. A few rainy days just before harvesting increased quantity of the grapes with harming the quality and the reserve promises to be splendid.

Reserve means the wine has been stored for at least one year in an oak barrel, and two years in a bottle, producing a garnet red wine with a long, rich flavour reflecting the blend of the fruit and oak.

Wine makers Cruz Garcia and Elena Adell at Age, one of the largest bodegas in the region use a blend of Tempranillo, Mazuelo and Graciano grapes.

Serve at room temperature, but best opened at least an hour before serving. Best with red meats like lamb, roast beef or cheese.

Best stored horizontal but don't lay it down for more than four years.

Classic Claret Bordeaux 2000 Medium bodied French red , 75 cl Alc vol 12.5% , £3.99

Soft juicy ripe-fruited red Bordeaux. There's an overtone of ripe melon, as well as blackberry, raspberry and red currant flavour.

Serve at room temperature and good with beef or lamb but quite a treat with coq au vin, or steak and kidney pie.

Ready to drink now, but can be laid down for a year. But no more.

I know I will never totally master Bordeaux because with 57 appellations, more than 9,000 wine-producing chteaux, and 13,000 wine growers in the Bordeaux region, it will take me a long time to work through everything from sophisticated wines, to refreshing wines, or aged wines not to mention the younger wines..

This one prepared for Marks & Spencer reveals the softer Merlot grape is more predominant, but blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc grapes as well, the result is well balanced and rounded. It comes from the Entre-Deux-Mers region better known for its dry white wines, but the source of an increasing number of supple, fruity reds

Bordeaux is the largest fine wine-making region in the world, as well as the most legendary and this one is a satisfying claret.

By Michael Ford

February 14, 2002 13:38