I’m no more a fan of the so-called Glorious 12th than your average grouse served trussed-up in haste on dinner and restaurant tables throughout the land. It seems as unseasonally early for game as the increasingly premature kick-off to the football season. October on the other hand is true autumn and for me that means game of the pheasant, guinea fowl and partridge variety. So this week I’m celebrating autumn with some deliciously autumnal reds to go with our feathered friends.

First thoughts drift to pinot noir and though France is not normally the first country I’d look at good value pinot noir, the distinctive 2011 Puy de Dôme Pinot Noir from Cave de Saint Verny, £11.99, buy two = £8.99, Majestic is a pleasurable exception, spicily fragrant, juicily raspberryish with the mouthwatering freshness of France’s Lake District in the Auvergne.

Further afield by some distance, literally, I find the fragrantly strawberryish and delicate 2011 De Bortoli Gulf Station Pinot Noir, Yarra Valley, £11.99, Sainsbury’s hard to beat for price. Following a visit to Bodega Chacra in Patagonia earlier in the year, I was impressed by their 2011 Barda Pinot Noir, £18.95, Lea & Sandeman (02072440522), beautifully perfumed with fraise du bois and redolent of liquid mulberries with a lively, savoury aftertaste.

Next stop Tuscany, with the requisite savoury freshness that complements game and poultry so effortlessly. For chianti on a budget, try the spicy herb and sour cherryish quality of the 2009 The Exquisite Collection Chianti Classico Riserva, £8.99, Aldi, due on shelf on Monday and the succulent sweet and sour cherry fruity 2009 Lavacchio Chianti Rufina ‘Cedro’, £13.95, Harvey Nichols, swig.co.uk (02089957060), For sheer liquid joy, the 2010 Isole e Olena Chianti Classico, £21.50, Worth Brothers (01534262051), is an exquisite red of subtle fragrance and seamless cherry and mulberry fruitiness that finishes mouthwateringly dry.

To linger in Tuscany would be a disservice to Piedmont, land of the mouthwatering barbera grape and great barolo. Barbera’s sea-change in quality makes particularly suited to game and poultry in wines such as the wonderful 2010 G.D.Vajra Barbera d’Alba, £23, Hedonism Wines (02079890085), a wine whose delicate oak rounding out its clarity of red berry fruits is cut by such incisive freshness that it finishes appetisingly dry.

The same goes for the finely oaked, loganberry-fruity 2011 Sottimano Barbera d’Alba Pairolero, £22.95, Lea & Sandeman. Game birds around the country may be temporarily relieved to know that I’ll keep most of my barolo powder dry for closer to the festive season, but if you need something exceptional to salivate over in the meantime, the 2008 Massolino Barolo Parafada, £46, Laithwaites (08451947720), is classic nebbiolo, full of the scent of spice and dried violets with a succulent spicy red-fruited quality that’s all about class and finesse.

Something for the Weekend 5 October 2013

Night In

2009 Wakefield Promised Land Shiraz Cabernet.

Reeking of blackcurrant and mint and moreishly juicy with crunchy blackcurrant flavours and a juicy soft texture that it melts in the mouth with its juicy fresh acidity. £8.99 - £9.77, Bon Coeur (01765 688200), Spirited Wines (0208973 2413).

Dinner Party

2012 Royal Tokaji Furmint Special Reserve

Made from the Furmint grape that goes into Tokaji’s sweet wines, this appetising Hungarian dry white displays ripe apple and pear aromas with an opulent peachy quality of fruit that’s honeyed yet refreshing on the aftertaste. £9.99, Laithwaites (08451947720).

Splash Out

2008 Marqués de Vargas, Rioja Reserva.

New wave Rioja witha veneer of stylish vanilla oak and a succulent quality of dark red and black fruit flavours supported by plump flesh and a firm backbone of tannins and juicy freshness. £18.674, buy two = £14.99. Majestic.