Marks & Spencer, Found Alicante Bouschet, Alentejo, Portugal 2021

Joining M&S's successful Found range of wine gems is this tasty Alicante Bouschet – a teinturier grape which has red flesh as well as skin. It's vibrant and lifted, boasting grippy tannins, dense blackberry and mulberry flavours and bright acidity. Has real character and chew, and is a recommended partner for lamb shanks.

Plush round fruit with a warming core and contrasting tang in the tail, this red is good value and great fun from Portugal. Hand and machine harvested from limestone and schist soil in the Alentejo, this is mostly fermented in stainless steel with a small portion in marble lagares. The result is a deftly constructed modern wine with a certain heartiness built in. Steak sandwich territory for a pairing and with attractive pricing like this, it’s good to see Alicante Bouschet getting a bit of high street exposure. The grape’s pigmented flesh (‘teinturier’) has historically been used for boosting colour in blends, but here as a varietal wine it more than holds its own. Bravo M&S.