AND now for something completely different. Well... a little bit different anyway, as this week I’ve picked three innovative reds you might like to try.

The great syrah wines of the northern Rhône often contain a special component; a small percentage of the fragrant white grape viognier is added to the blend. Syrah (shiraz)/viognier blends from the New World are widely available these days, too. This tiny addition gives the wine a juicier edge and more complexity, you might even say femininity.

Now someone in Argentina has put their thinking cap on and come up with Malbrontes, which is not a 19th-century inhabitant of the vicarage in Haworth, but a rather interesting blend of the Argentinian signature grapes malbec and torrontés. In this wine, the malbec plays the part of the beefy syrah and the perfumed white grape torrontés, stands-in for the viognier. I suspect this wine might divide opinion, but it gets the thumbs-up from me.

Malbrontes Malbec Torrontés 2009, made by winemaker Mauricio Lorca in Mendoza, is a brooding storm-cloud of a wine, touting juicy blackberry flavours, with violets, liquorice, black treacle and floral notes. This is obviously still very young, with quite grippy tannins, but I reckon it will age very nicely, if you are lucky enough to have a cellar, or suitable storage. Pair this one with a steak, or if you are feeling really adventurous, a steak.

Meanwhile, over the Andes in Chile, the Elqui Valley, to be precise, there are other Old World inspirations to the fore. Some of the grapes in Falernia Carmenère Syrah Reserva 2006 are dried, in the Amarone style, which makes for a more concentrated wine with a hint of sweetness. It is rich and opulently fruity, with blackcurrant, blueberries, dark chocolate and spicy, toasty oak notes.

Those great wine innovators, the Aussies, needed a red wine that they could drink when temperatures soared, thus tarrango was born. It is a crossing of touriga and sultana, developed in the 1960s and makes light-bodied, fruity reds, best served chilled.

Brown Bros is the best known producer over here, but try Waterstone Bridge Tarrango Reserve 2006, because I think it’s better. Soft and fruit forward, it has raspberry and cherry flavours, with a hint of tobacco and quite a long finish. Then all that is needed is an excuse to drink it, if you can’t wait for a hot summer evening, that is.

Malbrontes Malbec Torrontés 2009, £8.99 from AWOL (argentinewineonline.co.uk) 18/20.

Falernia Carmenère Syrah Reserva 2006, £8.50 from Great Western Wine (greatwesternwine.co.uk) 17/20.

Waterstone Bridge Tarrango Reserve 2006, £6.90 at Field and Fawcett (York) 18/20.