THIS week Tipping's Tipples starts with a toast to the Red Army, or York City as they are otherwise known.

Today, City does battle against Oxford - win or draw, and York will be in the play-offs.

And what more fitting toast than a glass of cabernet sauvignon, often described as the king of red grapes? It is the major component in the wines of the Médoc and Graves in Bordeaux, where it is blended usually with merlot and cabernet franc. It also makes good, terroir expressive, single varietal wines with plenty of tannic backbone and colour.

As a rule of thumb, spending seven to ten pounds on a cab' will buy you a wine with real character. The following four examples fit that description and, in keeping with the local theme, are available from York-based independent vintners.

Norfolk Rise Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, from South Australia, spends more than a year in French and American oak, but it has the quality of fruit to match up to the toasty, cedarwood influences of the wood. Juicy but dry, it is powerful with minty, blackcurrant and blackberry flavours.

The Australian Coonawarra region, and its terra rossa soils, is famed for excellent cabernet sauvignon. Burton Reserve Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 is an inky textured compote of cassis and brambles, full of spices, mint, eucalyptus and good firm tannins.

Don David Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2005 is a smooth number from the Cafatate Valley in Argentina. It is approachable and easy, as cabernet sauvignon goes, with dark fruit, smoky coffee, sweet vanilla oak and fine tannins.

Perhaps the wild card in the bunch is from Spain's Navarra region. Senorio de Sarria Vinedo No.9 Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 is powerful and spicy with spiky tannins, cassis fruit to the fore, rich coconut oak and a nice texture. A great example of a modern Spanish wine.

  • Norfolk Rise Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, £7.45 from HC Wines 17/20
  • Burton Reserve Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, £8.50 from Vinpromo 17/20
  • Don David Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2005, £8 from Vinpromo 17/20
  • Senorio de Sarria Vinedo No.9 Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, £7.25 from HC Wines 18/20

HC Wines: www.hcwines.co.uk, email john@hcwines.co.uk, telephone 01904 421345

Vinpromo: www.vinpromo.co.uk, email bill@vinpromo.co.uk, telephone 01904 491403