Autumn is well and truly here - the days are shorter, the house is colder, and each week the kids bring a new rare and exotic disease home from school.

This time of year also calls for food with a bit more oomph - whether that’s hearty Sunday roasts, big bowls of pasta, or slow-cooked stews brimming with rich and comforting flavour.

If this is how the next few months look for you, you’ll need the right wines to match.

So I’ve put together a 6-pack of my favourite autumn wines.

In the case you’ll get a bottle each of:

• Cordero Hica Barbera d'Alba 2022 - Serena's pet project, this is a Barbera Superiore, a classification given to the top 20% of grapes in the region. It’s unmistakably Italian on the nose, with flavours of dark fruit, herbs and tea leaves, while on the palate it’s rich, creamy and powerful
• Chiara Condello Predappio Sangiovese 2022 - a classic Italian red from one of Italy’s rising star winemakers in Emilia-Romagna - it’s savoury and leathery, with lovely bright red fruit and peppery notes
• Domaine Nicolas Hautes-Côtes de Beaune Blanc 2023 - wine experts view the Hautes-Côtes as the best value white appellation in Burgundy and John Wilson agrees, listing a previous vintage in his wines of the year in The Irish Times
• Nomades Faino Fiano 2023 - a serious and complex white, with a mineral and almost smoky nose. On the palate it’s layered and tropical, with a very fine and very long finish. This one will age for years - if you like a good Riesling from someone like Gerd Stepp or Tim Smith, you’ll love this
• Virgile Rouge Saint-Saturnin 2022 - my big red discovery of last year - all the power and punch of a southern Rhône, with the smoothness and finesse of a good Bordeaux
• Lorca Poético Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 - a powerful red from two of Mauricio’s vineyards high up in Mendoza. It spends 12 months in French and American oak - its inky-dark and smooth character reminds me of a great Napa Cab.