I spent much of the start of this week at the London Wine Fair, so you’d think that I’d probably be well over the wine tasting thing by this stage of the week. Nevertheless, I girded my loins this morning and set off to the Paddington Basin HQ of Marks and Spencer for one of their biannual tastings.

Now, supermarket wine tastings can be (often are) short on excitement, but M&S usually delivers – or at least puts in a good show of trying to do something a little bit different to the mainstream. Today, though, there wasn’t a whole lot I could get excited about – there were some well-made wines, but little that seemed to be singing – until I came across this bottle.

Sicily is off most people’s wine radar, which is a bit of a shame as there’s an increasing number of truly excellent, idiosyncratic wines being made on the island. The good news is that because most people haven’t really heard of Sicily in terms of classy winemaking, there are some real bargains to be had.

And you won’t get much more of a bargain than eight quid (yes, £8!) for a bottle of this divine red. It’s got lovely smoky dark currant fruit and a whiff of the herbs that grow wild on the Sicilian hillsides, as well as deliciously bracing acidity and just enough tannic crunch to make this a match for those steaks that I’m hoping to chuck on the barbecue this weekend – if the weather holds. I’m tempted to sling this in the fridge for an hour or so while Mark wrangles the barbecue (what is it about cooking over an open fire that seems to bring out the he-cook in most men?) as I reckon this is one of those reds that benefits from being served slightly chilled.

Rating: (or possibly , just because it’s such great value). (What does this mean? See here for a guide to my rating system.)