Fancy some fine wine?

[Vladimir]

Maybe a Barolo, perhaps a Grand Cru St Emillion? Maybe a light but very palatable Valpolicella?
Maybe try a local wine merchant?

Nope, try Lidl! Their red wine selection is awesome! Terrible whites but for the red wine drinker, even their cheapish Bordeaux Superiore is more than drinkable.

[jogon]

I prefer Asda myself as they have a wider selection. Their own brand extra special Australian Shiraz, Languedoc Chardonnay and Bordeaux Superior all currently £5 punch well above their price range.

[Vladimir]

jogon said:

I prefer Asda myself as they have a wider selection. Their own brand extra special Australian Shiraz, Languedoc Chardonnay and Bordeaux Superior all currently £5 punch well above their price range.

You won't find high end wines like the ones I listed in Asda though.

[LooneyTunes]

Vladimir said:

You won't find high end wines like the ones I listed in Asda though.

Bet you could: the "wines" you've listed are really just production regions. For example: St Emilion "Grand Cru" is pretty meaningless (it's just region + some basic production restrictions). It's when you get into "Grand Cru Classe" that you're getting closer to top of the tree (although these still sit below the "Premiere Grand Cru Classe") as there is also a quality judgement here.

It's pretty common for supermarkets to buy in at the more basic levels hoping that the sight of something like "Grand Cru" will draw in the punters. That isn't to say they're bad wines but "high end", in absolute wine terms, they are almost certainly not.

[Vladimir]

Yes I know the French wine hierarchy rather well but a very nice St Emillion (we visited the region last year as well as Chateauneuf du Pape and others) for £9.99 is pretty good. And a nicely aged Barolo? Pretty impressive for a budget supermarket. Much more so than the big supermarkets whose current wine offerings are diabolical.

Your post is a bit like saying a Fiesta ST isn't a good car just because it doesn't cost £100k. For the vast majority, anything over £6 is a fair whack. Even £10 is a lot - and you won't find a Barolo or similar in 95% of supermarkets at the moment.

Lidl's white wine selection is useless but for everyday reds and the odd special wine, they are brilliant. Their £4.99 Bordeaux is very good too. You can't get ANY Bordeaux for under £8 in any supermarket at the moment (bar the odd awful low end "Claret.")

Edited by Vladimir on Sunday 6th April 10:36

[LooneyTunes]

Vladimir said:

Your post is a bit like saying a Fiesta ST isn't a good car just because it doesn't cost £100k.

No it isn't. It's like disagreeing when someone says a Fiesta ST is a high end car.

Perhaps you could point out where I said Lidl's wine wasn't any good?

[897sma]

Vladimir said:

try Lidl! Their red wine selection is awesome! .

I'm with Vladimir on this, had some pretty good reds (& whites) from there.

[Davey S2]

Vladimir said:

And a nicely aged Barolo? Pretty impressive for a budget supermarket.

Will have to give it a try although at this sort of price Barbaresco is a better bet. Same grape but better to drink young than Barolo.

God I love red wine. Can't drink much at the moment as the wife is about to give birth at any time so I'm on call for driving duties. It does provide a great opportunity to open something really nice to celebrate soon though.

[Mobile Chicane]

I'm a tad underwhelmed with the Lidl 'premium' reds. I thought the St Emilion was a tad thin and sour, the Cotes du Rhone and Vacqueyras lacking the flavour punch I'd expect. The £4.49 Aussie merlot all the way for me in preference.

Whites are mostly gash I agree now they've run out of the £7.49 Chablis, but the £5.99 NZ sauvignon blanc is more than acceptable.

[Vladimir]

LooneyTunes said:

No it isn't. It's like disagreeing when someone says a Fiesta ST is a high end car.

Perhaps you could point out where I said Lidl's wine wasn't any good?

Okay, fair enough. We have a different idea of what makes something high end though.

[whoami]

Vladimir said:

Much more so than the big supermarkets whose current wine offerings are diabolical.

Edited by Vladimir on Sunday 6th April 10:36

That's a ridiculous generalisation.

[Vladimir]

whoami said:

That's a ridiculous generalisation.

I have checked Morrisons, Sainsburys, Asda and Tesco many times recently; none have had anything decent for months.
So it's not.

[whoami]

Vladimir said:

whoami said:

That's a ridiculous generalisation.

I have checked Morrisons, Sainsburys, Asda and Tesco many times recently; none have had anything decent for months.
So it's not.

[zygalski]

whoami said:

Vladimir said:

Much more so than the big supermarkets whose current wine offerings are diabolical.

Edited by Vladimir on Sunday 6th April 10:36

That's a ridiculous generalisation.

Supermarket French Whites are usually terrible.

[Bullett]

I read an article (some time ago now) but it was focused on the fact that the wine buying power of these budget supermarkets exceeds that of some of the major brands mainly because of the european connection. They are more switched on to what is good so even if it's cheap it needs to be good and of course in many areas of France/Spain etc local wines are cheap and available in vats.

I think you are better getting European especially French reds in Aldi/Lidl and new world stuff in the other supermarkets.

[tomw2000]

I'd be half-tempted to try the '08 brunello.

Brunello is arguably ones of the longest lived red wines. I'm not convinced that it being an '08 makes it 'fully mature'.

£14.99 is not cheap for an average supermarket red wine. But it is if it proves to be a good brunello.

I'll try and pick some up and feedback

[Alex]

Because of tax, when you buy a £5 bottle of wine, around 50p goes on the product, whereas for a £10 wine it's around £2.85 on the product. This means that when you buy a £10 bottle, the wine is actually 5x more expensive. Doesn't mean it's 5x better, but I have found that spending £10+ usually gets you a much nicer wine.



http://www.bibendum-wine.co.uk/content/news/view/d...

Edited by Alex on Monday 7th April 17:24

[Rude-boy]

Bullett said:

I read an article (some time ago now) but it was focused on the fact that the wine buying power of these budget supermarkets exceeds that of some of the major brands mainly because of the european connection. They are more switched on to what is good so even if it's cheap it needs to be good and of course in many areas of France/Spain etc local wines are cheap and available in vats.

I think you are better getting European especially French reds in Aldi/Lidl and new world stuff in the other supermarkets.

This.

I am not a big fan of the new world wines but buy a lot of European ones.

Even the worst 'gut rot' special Carrefor 3Euro red is, as a rule, better than most you will get in the UK for under £10.