If you are grilling at home any of the southern Rhones below will work well. I’ve included one white in case you are cooking fish or would like an aperitif.

Despite all the words this page has expended on a myriad of wines, the reason we are interested is because they all have one thing in common — “the power to banish care”.

Just a few days left to pick up some last minute presents and to prepare for Christmas.

I want to begin this week by offering my congratulations to Lynne Coyle MW, wine buyer at O’Briens wines.

The Dog Days are over to quote Florence and the Machine (who will be at Electric Picnic this year, as will I - of which more next week).

The dominance of New World wines in the Irish market has led many consumers to focus on particular grape varieties so this week I’m encouraging you to look at blends.

Still another full week of January to go but I recommend you cheer yourself up by checking out the line-up for the Ballymaloe Litfest which has just been announced.

Aperitif wines are always useful for when guests drop in unexpectedly, and definitely have some inexpensive prosecco in the fridge (more on fizz next week).

IT ALL comes back to France. That country’s wine sales may have fallen dramatically in recent years, but it is still the benchmark producer for most grape varieties and wine styles.

THERE was a time when around 70% of the wine we bought was from France but those days are long gone.

THE technology focus in this week’s magazine got me thinking about wine and technology.

WINE is complicated enough for many consumers to get their head around, given the number of foreign words involved, whether they be obscure wine regions or simply grape varieties. It is not surprising that the simple labelling found on the average bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or Chilean Merlot is so welcome to many of us.

From festive fizz to top tipples for turkey Leslie Williams serves up must-have holiday drinks.

Similar sounding wines can be very, very different.

TESCO’S autumn wine festival continues until Oct 2 with more than 300 wines on offer and a further 5%off when you buy any six bottles.

SUPERQUINN’s wine range has been greatly reinvigorated in recent years, and now includes some tremendous affordable wine, much of it from France.