Pizza and red wine - the perfect night in

Cold out? Get some pizzas delivered, and with the money you’ve saved splurge on one of these stunning, warming reds.

Four excellent drops to warm a winter night.

The onset of winter chills coupled with the lure of home comforts makes pizza from your fave delivery service a compelling proposition. So, with some of the dollars saved by dining in, why not factor in a minor splurge on a delicious bottle of red? These four examples are absolute benchmarks in quality.

2014 Langhe Nebbiolo Cantina Del Pino, about $47. Along with Cru Beaujolais, Langhe (Piedmont) Nebbiolo may well be the most “on trend” style going around. Medium bodied, this wine has a slinky and suave palate of lively dark chocolate and lightly bitter red berry flavours that glide evenly across the palate to an expansive farewell of medium length. Yum; an early contender for red wine value of the year. www.heartandsoil.com.au

2009 Casanova della Spinetta Chianti riserva, about $56. This is one smooth operator. From the generously flavoured 2009 vintage, this 98 per cent sangiovese is a classic Chianti reserva that delivers a delicious level of resolution. Integrated palate, complex savoury flavours with a pleasing back palate uplift, probably from the aromatics and flavour of the addition of 2 per cent (white grape) canaiolo. Delicious. www.cellarhand.com.au

2010 Rocca di Montegrossi San Marcellino Chianti Classico gran selezione, about $100. Includes 5 per cent of the relatively obscure native Tuscan red variety pugnitello. The wine is aged 24 months in Allier oak and bottled unfined, and its colour is a dark deep red with a distinct black core. Clean, strong, complex bouquet of dark red fruit, cherries, brambleberries, salumi, leather, mineral: there’s a lot going on. Deliciously plush on entry, the multidimensional flavours are a reprise of the nose, producing a superb melange of fruits and savoury minerality. The result is a fineness and completeness that is seldom found. Outstanding. Just drink it. www.trembathandtaylor.com.au

2011 Barolo Bricco Giubellini, about $100. From the highest vineyard in Monforte d’Alba at 530m (the DOC limit ends at 550m) and the smallest single vineyard at just 0.33ha, established relatively recently in 2000 and made by Fabio Fantino of Conterno Fantino fame. This is Barolo wine in all its beauty, exhibiting a pure and complex bouquet of rose, leather, tar and cocoa. The elegant medium-weight palate is intense and complex with flavours of small red berry fruits, milk and dark chocolate, and with long, fine firm tannins to buttress the very persistent aromatics and aftertaste. Very, very good. www.trembathandtaylor. com.au

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