THE Italian Job was shown on the telly during the recent festivities. The original version that is, not the awful remake.

Anyway I didn’t get to see much of it as the other occupants of Tipping Towers snatched the remote and changed channels.

Apparently they were concerned I would start doing my Michael Caine impersonation.

I sulked off into another room and wrote this instead, giving it an Italian theme to make up for missing the TV highlight of the holidays.

I think you often get better value for money by picking wines from lesser known regions. This applies just as much to Italy as it does to France. In other words I would, by and large, expect my £10 wine from Puglia to be a better bet than a bottle of Chianti at a similar price.

So I’ve picked three Italian wines this week, two whites and a red, from lesser known regions.

On offer at Waitrose until the 21st of the month is a flavoursome Sardinian white that would work well with seafood pasta or as an aperitif.

Le Stelle Vermentino di Sardegna 2012 is from the east coast of the island. Clean tasting and refreshing, it has pronounced lemon flavours, hints of pear also and some mineral notes on the finish.

The grillo grape, used to make Sicily’s sweet Marsala wine, produces a very decent dry white too.

Try Rallo Grillo 2010, from Virgin Wines, which has subtle flavours of orchard fruit, ripe melon and some floral notes, with a slightly creamy mouthfeel.

My choice of red is from the Puglia, the ‘heel’ of Italy’s ‘boot’ and made from the negroamaro grape.

Agricole Vallone Vereto Salice Salentino 2010, which is a new listing at Majestic, is velvety smooth and slips down very easily. It is packed with black cherry fruit and violets, without being jammy, spicy notes and some fine tannins. It would be a good pairing with a hearty, winter warmer, casserole.

Le Stelle Vermentino di Sardegna 2012, £6.74 on offer at Waitrose 17/20

Rallo Grillo 2010, Sicilia, £8.49 from Virgin Wines 17/20

Agricole Vallone Vereto Salice Salentino 2010, £8.99 each when you buy two at Majestic 18/20

Twitter: @tippingstipples