Best red wines: supermarket reds that impressed

Want to know the best red wines you can buy from the supermarkets, including Aldi, Asda, Tesco and Waitrose?

For our independent expert taste test, we asked a panel of wine experts to blind-taste and rate 20 supermarket red wines, costing between £6 and £16. 

We found four brilliant Best Buy bottles and one Great Value option worth snapping up this winter.

Our experts' verdicts and tasting notes will help you find the right wine for you, including what goes best with Christmas dinner.

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Best red wines

Only logged in Which? members can view our full taste test results and expert verdicts on the best supermarket red wines below.

If you’re not yet a member, you’ll see an alphabetically ordered list of the red wine we’ve tested. To get instant access to these and thousands of other independent product reviews, join Which? today.

Aldi Cru Bourgeois Château Les Trois Manoirs Médoc 2022 

£8.99 for 75cl, France

Is this the bottle to buy for a festive celebration?

Join Which? to see how it scored.

Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Aldi. 

Aldi Specially Selected Cairanne 2022 

£9.99 for 75cl, France

Is this a top-scoring red to serve to guests this Christmas?

Join Which? to unlock our test results.

Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Aldi. 

Asda Extra Special North Canterbury Pinot Noir 2020

£11.25 for 75cl, New Zealand

Asda says this pinot noir will complement your Christmas dinner. But do our experts agree?

Join Which? to find out what they made of it.

Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Asda.

Asda Extra Special Plan de Dieu Côtes du Rhône Villages 2021

£9 for 75cl, France

Is this something special to enjoy on a winter's evening?

Join Which? to find out how it scored against the other red wines in our test. 

Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Asda.

Co-op Irresistible Casablanca Pinot Noir 2022

£8.50 for 75cl, Chile

Pinot noir can vary enormously depending on where its grapes are grown. What did our experts think? 

Join Which? to discover where it ranked.

Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Co-op.

Co-op Irresistible Fairtrade Organic Malbec 2022

£9 for 75cl, Argentina

One of four malbecs in our test, did our panel love this Co-op red?

Join Which? to unlock our test results and find out where this wine ranked overall.

Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Co-op.

Iceland Malbec 2022

£6.25 for 75cl, South Africa

Does this red, one of the cheapest in our test, win over our experts?

Join Which? to see if it’s a good choice for Christmas.

Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Iceland.

Iceland Marqués del Bravo Tempranillo Bobal 2022

£6.25 for 75cl, Spain

What did our experts think of this Spanish red in our blind taste test? 

Join Which? to find out if it’s worthy of a Best Buy.

Want to buy without reading our results? Available at Iceland. 

Lidl Corte alle Mura Chianti Riserva 2020

£6.99 for 75cl, Italy

Lidl says Italians are justifiably proud of chianti, but what did our experts make of this red wine?

Join Which? to unlock our test results.  

Want to buy without reading our results? Only available in-store from Lidl.

Lidl Deluxe Argentinian Malbec Uco Valley 2023

£6.29 for 75cl, Argentina

Malbec usually goes well with meat, especially beef. So is this bottle worth buying?

Join Which? to find out what our experts thought.

Want to buy without reading our results? Only available in-store at Lidl.

M&S Classics Beaujolais-Villages 2023

£9 for 75cl, France

M&S says this red is a fruity, juicy and silky red with flavours of raspberries, spice and violets. 

Join Which? to see if our panel of experts agreed.

Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Ocado.

M&S Collection Crozes-Hermitage 2022 

£16 for 75cl, France

The most expensive red in our test, is it worth splashing out on this Christmas?

Join Which? to discover how it scored.

Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Ocado.

Morrisons The Best Chinon 2023

£8 for 75cl, France

This red comes from the heart of the Loire valley, but did it win over our panel?

Join Which? to discover how it scored.

Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Morrisons.

Morrisons The Best Primitivo 2021

£7.50 for 75cl, Italy

Produced in the region of Puglia, did this Morrisons red impress our panel?

Join Which? to discover how it scored.

Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Morrisons.

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Maipo Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

£10.50 for 75cl, Chile

Chile's Maipo Valley is famous for its cabernet sauvignon, so does this red score highly?

Join Which? to find out how it compared with the other wines we tested.

Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Sainsbury’s.

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Saint-Chinian 2020

£9.50 for 75cl, France

Is this a great red to enjoy with friends and family this Christmas?

Join Which? to unlock our test results and find out.

Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Sainsbury’s.

Tesco Finest Primitivo Terre di Chieti 2022

£8 for 75cl, Italy

Grown in the vineyards of the Abruzzo overlooking the Adriatic coast, is this red a Best Buy?

Join Which? to find out what our experts made of it.

Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Tesco.

Tesco Finest Wrattonbully Cabernet Sauvignon 2022

£10 for 75cl, Australia

Tesco claims this red from South Australia is a deep, rich cabernet sauvignon. 

Join Which? to find out if what our panel thought of it.

Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Tesco.

Waitrose ED Edmundo Malbec 2023

£11.99 for 75cl, Argentina

Is this malbec, one of four in our test, the best to serve to guests this Christmas?

Join Which? to unlock our results.

Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Waitrose.

Waitrose Ventoux Rémy Ferbras Rhône 2022

£9.99 for 75cl, France

Waitrose claims this bottle is the perfect accompaniment to a cheeseboard. But is it a Best Buy?

Join Which? to find out how it compares with other supermarket reds.

Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Waitrose.

Stocking up? See our picks of the best sparkling wines and best champagne

All prices and availability information correct as of October 2024.

How to choose the best red wine

Use our guide to the most common varieties to get you started:

• Cabernet sauvignon is blackcurranty, sometimes grassy, usually full-bodied and often tannic (which has a drying effect in your mouth). It’s good with lamb and goose.  
• Malbec goes well with meat, especially beef. Taste varies depending on where the grapes are grown, but plums, berries and spices are common flavours. It’s sometimes blended with other varieties, but Argentinian versions are typically single variety. 
• Merlot is versatile and soft, making it a good entry point for those new to wine. 
• Pinot noir varies enormously depending on where the grapes are grown. It goes well with lamb, duck, guinea fowl, burgers, haggis and many cheeses. 
• Primitivo from Italy is a medium-bodied red with a balanced juicy taste. The quality is fairly consistent, so it's usually a safe bet if you're unsure what to buy.

Heavier reds such as malbec or shiraz pair well with red meat such as beef or venison. Lighter reds, such as a pinot noir, work well with duck and turkey, and can lift a heavy meal.

As a rule of thumb, if something ‘grows’ together, it probably goes together. This means Italian wines work well with Italian dishes, and so on. Any wine heavy in tannins will work well with fatty food, but for items such as oily fish you’re better off with a low-tannin option such as a pinot noir.

Our experts advise looking at wine pairings as you would a sauce – think of the headline flavours in your dish, and try to match the ingredients and intensity as best as you can.

Discover the best wine pairing for your food favourites with our guide on matching food and wine

How not to waste corked wine

Corked wine refers to wine that has a damp, cardboard taste, due to contamination from fungi in the cork that can create a compound known as TCA. It's harmless but doesn't taste very nice.

Using a vacuum pump to remove air can help – you can buy one for less than £10. Just remember to bring the bottle back to room temperature before serving.

Even if a wine is corked, vinegary, oxidised or sulphury, you can almost always cook with it. As long as you cook it through to alcohol evaporation, the faults disappear with the alcohol.

Watch our video guide for more expert tips, including when to serve wines that are high in tannins (more bitter tasting) and how to revive a bottle of wine you’ve just opened that tastes a bit off.

How to store and serve red wine

You might be used to stashing leftover white wine in the fridge, but our experts recommended it for reds, too.

Cooler temperatures slow down oxidation, which otherwise gives wine an unpleasant, vinegary taste. 

What you really want to avoid is keeping your wine anywhere near a heat source. Our experts advise against storing reds where they're likely to be brought above room temperature – this can lead to them being unpleasantly jammy.

They also warn that the advice about serving red wine at room temperature is slightly dated, as homes are typically much warmer these days. So you may want to pop it briefly in the fridge before serving.

Should you decant red wine?

Decanting wine means pouring it into a decanter or jug to expose it to oxygen just before drinking. This can soften the tannins and help ‘open up’ the fruity flavours and other aromatic compounds previously masked by the tannin. It can also improve ‘reduced’ wines that have a rubbery flavour, reminiscent of hot-water bottles.

Double decanting, which is the traditional method of wine aerating, involves pouring the wine splashily into a jug and back (through a funnel) into the bottle. According to our experts, this improves the wine a little, but if you want a better result (and a faster one) you can just buy a wine aerator.

Wine aerators come in a variety of formats. Some can be expensive, though you don’t need to spend a lot. In 2020, our wine experts tried out several types of aerator and found good options from as little as £15. You can buy wine aerators from retailers such as Amazon and John Lewis, as well as other specialist retailers.

How we test red wine 

Our panel of four independent wine experts blind-tasted 20 red wines for our taste test in September 2024. 

We asked supermarkets to nominate own-label or exclusive, widely available red wines that are particularly good for drinking at Christmas and throughout the winter. They all had to cost between £5 and £17 (excluding special offers). 

We buy all the products we test. In some cases where they aren't in the shops yet we will buy them direct from the supermarket, but we always pay for test products.

Our expert tasting panel included:

• Sam Caporn MW Master of Wine, consultant, speaker, writer and co-chair of the International Wine Challenge (IWC)
• Susie Barrie MW Master of Wine, consultant, broadcaster, podcaster (Wine Blast), writer and co-chair of the WineGB Awards
• Magnavai Janjo Founder of wine importer and consultancy MJ Wine Cellars
• Helen McGinn Author, drinks writer, TV presenter and co-chair of the International Wine Challenge (IWC).

The taste test was blind, meaning we anonymised the bottles so the panellists didn’t know which wine they were trying. 

Each expert tried the red wines in a different order to avoid any bias, and after all of them had been tasted, the panel agreed on a score for each bottle and which ones deserved to be Best Buys and we checked if any qualified as Great Value (around 20% cheaper than the average price of the test selection). 

Only then did we reveal the products.

Why you can trust us: at Which? we're free from manufacturer and retailer influence. Find out more about our impartiality and how your support helps us to stay editorially independent

Recycling wine bottles: what you need to know

Glass bottles can usually go in your household recycling bin. If your council doesn’t accept them, you can take them to a local bottle bank.

The recycling process can vary depending on where you live, so make sure to check with your local area if bottles require rinsing first and whether metal screw caps should be replaced or recycled separately. 

Natural corks can’t go in your recycling bin. You can recycle natural corks through Recorked UK, either by posting them or dropping them off at your nearest collection point.

Synthetic corks, which are made of plastic, can’t be recycled. They should be disposed of in your general waste bin.

Please drink responsibly – see Drinkaware for information and advice