I've discovered two wines recently:

On a cold, grey night like this, treat yourself to a bottle of Errazuriz Wild Ferment Pinot Noir 2000. It's autumn in a glass, all fallen leaves and forest floor and wild mushrooms and over-ripe plums. It's a mellow wine, with a taste strangely remniscent of black cherry yoghurt. It goes down beautifully right now, but if you're able to resist the temptation, hide a couple of bottles somewhere - it will really come into its own in a few years. Malcolm Gluck awarded it 18 points out of twenty - but that was when it cost £9.99 a bottle. It must be worth an extra point or two at Sainsbury's current reduced price of £7.99.

The other wine is an oddity - a sparkling red wine. Banrock Station Sparkling Shiraz is bloody weird. It's a gorgeous deep crimson, with all the bubbles of a champagne. Don't open this over your nice new white carpet! Smells like a red wine, tastes like Ribena. You couldn't drink a lot of this, the flavours are too intense, but fortunately it comes in dinky little half-bottles.

Right, that's my Thursday night sorted, then.