When I put together a red wine case that truly feels personal, I want it to have warmth, depth, and character — but also wines you genuinely look forward to opening again. Rasch Wine Recommends: Red Wine Favourites is therefore a collection of bottles that each have a clear identity of their own, yet together create exactly that feeling of true favourite wines: generous, food-friendly, and full of personality. Here you get everything from velvety Primitivo and deep Châteauneuf-du-Pape to alpine finesse and South African power — a case for anyone who loves red wine with both soul and flavour.
Schola Sarmenti – Cubardi Primitivo
This is a dark, generous, and highly charming Primitivo with plenty of southern Italian warmth. The palate offers ripe fruit, plums, and dark berries, followed by soft notes of chocolate, coffee, and gentle spice that give the wine extra depth. It pairs beautifully with grilled meats, lamb, rustic pasta dishes, and aged cheeses, but also works wonderfully on its own when you want something soft and enveloping. The wine is made from 100 percent Primitivo from around 65-year-old alberello vines, the grapes are hand-harvested in ventilated crates, and the wine is then aged for 6 months in French tonneaux followed by 8 months in bottle.
Mas de Boislauzon – Châteauneuf-du-Pape
A classic and powerful Châteauneuf-du-Pape with both weight and elegance. Dark fruit, plums, liquorice, herbs, bay leaf, lavender, and a light touch of raspberry come together in a wine that feels deep, structured, and beautifully composed. It is especially well suited to grilled meat, game, and flavourful cheeses — dishes that can match the wine’s intensity without overpowering it. The wine is made from 70 percent Grenache and 30 percent Mourvèdre from organically farmed, low-yielding vines planted in clay soils and classic galets roulés. The grapes are harvested by hand, sorted in the vineyard, destemmed, and fermented without cultured yeast using traditional temperature-controlled vinification, before ageing mainly in tank and partly in older oak.
Nabal Crianza Ribera del Duero
This is a Ribera del Duero with both power and precision. The palate is dense and expressive, with ripe red fruit, dark berries, sweet spices, anise, cocoa, coffee, and a fine smoky oak note that adds depth without losing the fruit. It pairs very well with roasts, slow-cooked dishes, game, charcuterie, and aged cheeses, but also performs beautifully with grilled meats and rustic dishes packed with flavour. The wine is made from 100 percent Tempranillo from 50- to 80-year-old bush vines in the cooler parts of Ribera del Duero. The grapes are hand-harvested in small crates, carefully selected, cold-macerated, and fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. Malolactic fermentation takes place partly in tank and partly in new barrels, and the wine is then aged for 14 to 16 months in 80 percent new French oak and 20 percent new American oak.
Plani Arche – Montefalco Sagrantino APOCA
APOCA is a wine with clear personality and plenty of cellar-worthy structure. The palate is full and long, with intense red berries, dark fruit, a light flinty minerality, and a powerful yet velvety tannic structure that gives the wine both energy and seriousness. It is an excellent match for grilled or roasted meats, beef, game, mushrooms, truffle, and aged cheeses — in other words, food that can meet a wine with real backbone. The wine is made from Sagrantino sourced from several organically farmed vineyards in Sant’Enea in Montefalco, on limestone and clay soils. After green harvesting and manual harvesting in early October, the grapes go through double selection, followed by fermentation with 25 days of skin contact in stainless steel. The wine is then aged for 24 months in barrique and tonneaux and for at least one year in bottle before release.
Terrazzi Alti Valtellina Sassella Riserva Chiavennasca
This is the most refined and mountain-driven wine in the case — an elegant yet serious expression of Chiavennasca, the local name for Nebbiolo in Valtellina. The flavour profile leans toward cherry, raspberry, dried flowers, tea, liquorice, herbs, and stony minerality, with high acidity, firm structure, and a long, precise finish. This makes it highly food-friendly and especially well suited to mushroom dishes, veal, lamb, duck breast, polenta, and aged hard cheeses. The Riserva comes from carefully selected terraced vineyard sites in Sassella at elevations of 420 to 600 metres and is made with spontaneous fermentation and extended maceration. It is aged longer than the estate’s regular Sassella, including time in wood and extended bottle ageing, giving it more depth, structure, and ageing potential while preserving its alpine freshness.
Redhill Pinotage Simonsig
A powerful yet surprisingly elegant Pinotage with clear Stellenbosch character. The palate moves through wild berries, raspberries, cherries, plums, dark chocolate, mocha, liquorice, cedar, and dark spices, with fresh acidity and velvety tannins that hold everything together beautifully. It pairs extremely well with lamb, game, grilled beef, duck, and other richly flavoured meat dishes where the wine can show both power and finesse. The wine comes from a specific vineyard on Simonsig’s famous red hills in Stellenbosch and is made from 100 percent Pinotage. A small proportion of whole bunches is used during fermentation, the fruit undergoes cold maceration and ferments in open tanks with regular punch-downs, before malolactic fermentation takes place in barrel. The wine is then aged for around 19 months in French oak, adding structure and spice without taking away the grape’s distinctive fruit.
