Shuffling through the gloaming like an extra in a particularly bad L.S. Lowry painting, and the reality is no longer escapable - the fell hand of winter lays heavy upon my shoulder.

The best cure would probably be a world cruise starting, say, next Tuesday and returning around the end of April. But funds are a little tight and you'd never forgive me absconding from my wine-writerly responsibilities. How about a UV lamp in the cupboard under the stairs - said to be sovereign in the relief of symptoms of SAD? Sounds a bit on the sad side itself, if you ask me. In the end there's nothing for it but to chuck another log or two on the fire, open a few rich and rather exotic reds and pretend we're researching what'll go down well with a plump and moist Christmas bird.

The economy's shot to pieces and their best footy players keep running away to Europe, so it's just as well that Argentina can still rely on its wine to cheer its careworn citizenry. Its Malbecs are still one of the high points on the price-quality curve of the world's wine bargains and, if you don't know the grape but you like big reds, then you're in for a treat.

There's been a little slippage down that curve at Bodegas Norton in the past couple of years as prices have inched up and the 'Salmon label' reservas have disappeared from view, but the 'basic' Malbec 2003 (£4.99 at Oddbins) is still a steal. It's packed with plummy fruit kept in check with some judicious oak, and has a length and depth of flavour that you don't often get for a fiver. If you like it, and you're still in Oddbins, then the next step is Catena Malbec Lunlunta 2001 - OK, it's double the price, but if it was claret they'd justifiably want 20 quid-plus for this level of quality. Although primarily used in small quantities in blending in Bordeaux, Malbec can be very claret-y in style when used on its own, and this has some of the cigar-box nose and violet-tinted black fruit flavours of serious Crû Classé wines.

Now Graciano is not a grape you come across every day (OK, I admit it - I'd never heard of it either) and its reputation as low-yielding and susceptible to disease almost led to its disappearance as a constituent of the best Riojas. Never ones to be put off by such lily-livered behaviour on the part of a grape vine, Brown Brothers have knocked theirs into shape with a regime of five-mile runs at the crack of dawn followed by brisk cold showers. The 2000 vintage is now on parade at Majestic (£7.49), scrubbed and polished and beaming with health. The low yield means less grapes but with more flavour, and this has fabulously saturated depth of colour and flavours, which are of damsons and something like licorice and a headily perfumed, aromatic nose of mulberries and toasty oak - definitely not a candidate for the sick bay.

It's not only the scorching sun that has made harvest time at Chateau Musar in Lebanon troublesome on occasion, as the grapes were collected during lulls in the shelling in the Bekaa Valley during the worst of the civil war. Hochar Pere et Fils 2000 (£7.99 at Majestic) is the 'second wine' of the Chateau, and it's rich and full and very grown-up with some cedar notes to offset the slightly baked fruit flavours.

If you really must know, then Touriga Nacional, Touriga Frances, Tinta Roriz and Tinta Barroca are the constituents of Quinta do Crasto 2001 (Clissold Wines: £8.69) from Portugal's Douro region. Could be useful in a pub quiz, I suppose, but more edifying is the knowledge that it's a seriously characterful, mo u t h - filling mix of spicy, brambly fruit and well-bred oak.

Similarly spicy, with a hint of cloves and tobacco on the nose and lots of round, super-ripe black fruit is Escudo Rojo 2001 from Maipo, Chile (Clissold Wines: £7.99). It's made by an offshoot of the Rothschilds of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild fame and has Carmenere and Cabernet Franc blended with Cabernet Sauvignon. It would hold its end up on any Yuletide table.