I have been desperate for this change of season and the switch from skinny whites to warming winter reds. Those made from my favourite red grape, syrah, get my autumn vote.

Syrah is the most seductive of all the red varieties, with a patrician purple-black hue, irresistible, exotic black pepper spice, and mouthwatering, sweet blackberry fruit.

Ampelographers have never doubted syrah’s noble qualities, or its pedigree.

While romantic theories linked the grape’s origins to Shiraz in Iran and elsewhere, the truth is that the grape was born of mixed parents in southeastern France.

Yet so impressive is syrah’s dark colour and rich perfume that, a few centuries back, even fancy red Bordeaux châteaux saw no problem in “hermitageing” their wines in thin, pale, lacklustre years. Some would say it’s a pity that they’ve stopped.

The syrah grape’s original home on the steep granite hillsides of the northern Rhône valley in expensive strongholds such as Hermitage, Cornas and Côte-Rôtie, plus more modest northern sites such as Crozes-Hermitage, has expanded hugely.

In the warmer climate and more mixed soils of the southern Rhône, the grape continues to be a vital component in leading southern Rhône appellations such as Gigondas and Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Southern Rhône satellite syrahs have long provided great value-for-money reds. Farther south, Languedoc is increasingly following suit.

Syrah-based Côtes du Rhônes make keenly priced reds, too. Now grape growers in other parts of the world are starting to feel as passionate about this seductive red grape as I do.

Outside its new world stronghold of Australia, the modish syrah is enjoying success in South Africa, California, Chile and even New Zealand.

Kick off with a delicious, inky, peppery, one-third syrah-based Waitrose own-label 2007 Côtes du Rhône Villages, from a good vintage and producer, for £5.99. One pound more brings you the superb, fat, spicy 2007 Domaine de la Grande Bellane (Tesco and Co-op, £6.99).

Trade up to a syrah-based Midi, 2007 Château Maris Minervois whose robust, inky, herby fruit is yours for £11.99 at Waitrose.

Decent leading domaine Crozes dges towards £20, but pluck one from a good northern Rhône vintage such as 2007 and a producer such as Domaine Haut-Chassis and select the best blend and it is money well spent, as all tasting the 2007 Crozes-Hermitage Les Galets (Berry Bros, £15.95), with its seductive, spicy, plum and blackberry fruit, will testify. A winter-warming red if ever there was one.

This week’s best buys

2008 Alamos Chardonnay, Mendoza, Argentina Majestic, £6.99, or buy two for £5.49 each. Lots of mouthwatering apple and peach wrapped in fine spicy French oak.

2008 Gestos Malbec, Mendoza, Finca Flichman, Argentina Majestic £6.99, or buy two for £5.49 each. Two different parcels of malbec make this a bold, spicy, curranty mouthful.

2008 Domaine Wachau Grüner Veltliner, Terraces, Austria Waitrose down £2 to £5.99 until tomorrow. Don’t miss this superb floral, lemon-zest and white- pepper-spiked grüner.

2007 Wither Hills Pinot Noir, Marlborough, New Zealand Waitrose down £4 to £11.99 until tomorrow. Terrific Kiwi pinot noir oozing exotic, squishy damson plum spice.

The keeper

2007 Château La Garde, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux, France Berry Bros & Rudd 0800 2802440 £20.55. The star at a recent Berry’s line-up was this white Bordeaux from a dinky plot of a well-regarded Graves property planted principally to sauvignon blanc and a row or two of sémillon and the rare sauvignon gris. Together the grapes have produced a thrilling citrus, aniseed and angelica- layered white whose steely, herby fruit makes a zingy apéritif now but will fatten up with a few years in the cellar. Drink now until 2012.

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