Mid-week tipple: a dry white and juicy red from the south of France

Aldi Exquisite Marsanne 2015, IGP Pays d'Oc
€8.99 from Aldi

Marsanne is becoming increasingly fashionable down in the south of France. This example is made by Jean-Claude Mas, a man responsible for supplying many of our supermarkets (and a few wine importers) with good well-made and well-priced wines from the Languedoc. You will usually come across Marsanne in the Northern Rhône, where it is most often blended with Roussanne in wines such as St. Joseph, St. Péray, Crozes-Hermitage and Hermitage. It can even be blended into red Hermitage. The other main source of Marsanne is Australia, where legendary producer Tahbilk makes a superb version that seems to age forever. The Aldi Exqusitie Marsanne doesn’t quite reach these lofty heights, but this is a good light dry white with juicy peach fruits; nice summer drinking.

Le Mas 2014, Domaine Clavel, Coteaux du Languedoc
€14.70 from Wines Direct, Mullingar & Arnott's, Dublin

Both wines this week come from the Languedoc-Roussillon, a vast region covering much of the southern coastline of France. Once responsible for much of the so-called wine lake, the Languedoc now produces some really well-made wines, mainly red, at very fair prices. Given our tax rates, this means that once you spend €10-15, you should get yourself a seriously good wine. This is a perfect example of what the Languedoc does so well; a lightly fragrant medium-bodied red wine with juicy ripe red fruits, smooth and rounded with no tannins on the finish. Good value and very gluggable all-purpose wine.