Why not make 2012 your year for discovering or rediscovering red wine?

If you have spent the last few years sticking to your tried and tested favourites then take the opportunity of a new year to kick start your adventurous side.

There are a plethora of reliable wine guides for 2012 to help you find your way. Some of the best known wine writers, including Hugh Johnson and Oz Clarke, have published their recommendations for which red wines we should be drinking through the forthcoming year. You may or may not agree with their recommendations by the end of the year but at least you will have had an interesting year trying a variety of red wines.

Most of these annual wine guides include vintage guides, information on the different wine producing regions and nations, glossaries of wine terms and tips on matching wine with food as well as advice on which red wines to try. Even if you only try a few of the recommended red wines you are bound to enjoy browsing through the listings and you may even learn something.

The original and longest established annual wine guide is Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book. Now in its 35th year, the book has evolved into an indispensable guide to what you should be drinking, from where and which vintage.

Highlighted in the book’s wine listings are around 200 of Johnson’s favourite wines. These include many red wine producers such as Bordeaux estates d’Armailhac from Pauillac and Beychevelle from St Julien and Quinta de Saes from Portugal’s Dao DOC. The book also lists some Port producers and recommendations include Andresen and Quinta do Vale D Maria.

One of 2012′s additions is a new section offering alternative red wine suggestions depending on which red wines you enjoy drinking. For example, Hugh Johnson suggests that if you like a red Burgundy then you should try an Argentinean Malbec, which is not dissimilar in style. If you are a Rioja drinker then you should give PortugueseAlentejo a go, suggests Johnson and if you favour red wines from the northern part of the Rhone Valley then you should try a big Italian Barolo.

Another extra section is a supplement on wines from the South of France. It includes a guide to the many appellations of the region and considers the divide between the large producers and the small artisan growers. It also looks at some of the key players in the region’s wine industry.

Oz Clarke produces a similar handy pocket-sized wine guide. His Pocket Wine Book 2012 includes listings for 7,500 wines and 4,000 producers. As all the wines are listed alphabetically it is easy to look up any red wine you’re considering buying and you’ll find Clarke’s thoughts on that particular red wine. Like Hugh Johnson’s annual guide, this little book has stood the test of time and this year’s book is its 20th edition. It has a useful section on which wine vintages are ready to drink during 2012 and offers suggestions on red wine and food pairings.

If you would prefer a more concise list of red wines to drink during 2012, Oz Clarke has penned a second wine guide – 250 Best Wines 2012: Wine Buying Guide. The guide lists red wines under country and producer headings and also includes a useful directory of recommended wine retailers including supermarkets as well as wine merchants.

Another 2012 wine guide to look out for is Ned Halley’s The Best Wines in the Supermarket 2012. If you are one of the many red wines drinkers who select bottles of wine from the supermarket shelf on a regular basis, then this could be the book for you. Halley accepts that supermarkets have taken on the High Street off licence stores and, in many cases, won the fight. He points out that many of the larger supermarkets are improving the range and quality of red wine available on their shelves and gives the supermarket shopper some help in picking out which wines to buy.

If you enjoy Australian red wine it may be worth purchasing a copy of James Halliday’s Wine Companion 2012. Whilst some of the wines listed may not be available in the UK, many others can be found in the supermarkets or via wine merchants or online wine stores. His guide is easy to follow, listing all the winery entries in alphabetical order and scoring individual wines.

Halliday also offers several useful lists such as his top scoring Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon red wines, best value red wines and the best wineries in each region. He lists his top 10 best new wineries including Nannup Ridge Estate from Western Australia’s Blackwood Valley region, where red wines produced include a Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Merlot. Halliday’s top 10 dark horse wineries include South Australia’s Barossa Valley winery Rocland Estate where, inevitably for the region, Shiraz is the primary red wine produced.