THE DRINKER
EAT - DRINK - BE MERRY
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2024 Past Drinks of The Week
DRINK OF THE WEEK
11th November 2024
Finca Miguel Cava
Marks and Spencer/Ocado £7.00
Drinker Rating 89
In the vids I do on my socials and over on YouTube I often recommend Cava for a couple of very good reasons - and these are the reasons you should be returning to this wonderous Spansih fizz.
First up, it's really affordable, this week's wine is an amazing £7, extremely reasonable for such a fab drop.
Second, Cava is back. It was hugely popular in the 90s and consequently the demand drove a huge increase in production and the standards really dropped. The wines became over acidic, characterless, more focussed on a cheap fizz that a lovely taste.
Suitably chastened the winemakers realised the error of their ways and now produce sparklers lie this week's offering. Light, green, fresh, grassy and bready.
Cava is back baby!
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
4th November 2024
Azul Marinho Alvarinho
Asda £8.50
Drinker Rating 90
Am I allowed to say that I am very happy with people who buy wine based on pretty labels? Many of my friends do this - the order is 1. Whatever's on offer, 2. What they usually buy 3. What's got the nicest picture on the front of the bottle. And why not.
So this week's offering has a lovely pic of an octopus on it, the bottle looks great and the wine is fab too, I'm loving these affordable whites from Portugal right now, very reliable and really well priced.
This is very much a wine in Asda's wheelhouse, do check out my long list by clicking on the Asda logo to the left of this page.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
21st October 2024
Domaine des Tourelles
Majestic £11.99 (mix 6 price)
Drinker Rating 90
Throwing a bit more love toward the great winemakers of Lebanon, this is a fab Bekaa Valley red, bramble and blackcurrant with road tar and spice.
Bekaa has a wine tradition reaching back centuries and the amazing producers there keep managing to turn out the next vintage despite years of turmoil, hardship and struggle.
Hats off to these amazing people at a time when things are clearly becoming life threatening to them and their communities.
Do the right thing, go and seek some Lebanese wine out.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
30th September 2024
Specially Selected Ventoux Rouge
Aldi £7.69
Drinker Rating 90
I'm beginning to think about bonfire wines as we reach tat time of the year. Wines that do really well sipped outdoors with a hint of woodsmoke in the air and this red from Aldi is just the ticket.
This has a generous and powerful base of black fruit and supporting alcohol (14.5%) with a lovely warming undercurrent of Mediterranean herbs.
Really well made and down in price right now to an amazing £7.69, buy lots of this and stock up for the coming darker, wetter, colder nights.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
16th September 2024
Finest Colchagua Merlot
Tesco £8.50
Drinker Rating 89
Sometimes the wine we need isn't a stunner, sometimes we need a good old reliable workhorse of a wine, a decent easygoing Wednesday night drop.
Well this wine from the Finest range at Tesco is just that. Good old merlot - wrongly derided, the grape provides easy drinking, fruit driven reds with silky tannins and it's so well priced it's all we need to do the job.
Big fruit character combines with big alcohol (14.5%) lovely tannic structure and a progression of flavour from forward black fruit into bitter chocolate and coffee.
Top work Tesco.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
9th September 2024
Tilimiqui Fairtrade Sparkling
Co-op offer price £5.85
Drinker Rating 89
Kicking off a series of reviews of Fiartrade wines as it's the start of Fairtade Fortnight. This wonderful light fragranced fizz from Argentina comes from the Co-op and is currently nearly half price, down from £9.
I want to celebrate the Co-op in these vids, as not all the wines I'm reviewing are from there but they were the ones who really championed Fairtrade in the early days before everyone got on the bandwagon.
I really don't give the Co-op enough attention on here - and it's partly due to time and partly due to them being more a convenience store than a supermarket which is my real bread and butter.
It's very well worth checking out their range, they do great things with such small shelves!
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
2nd September 2024
Finest Colchagua Valley Merlot
Tesco £8.50
Drinker Rating 90
As we move into the transition time, end of summer and into autumn and we don't know what the weather's doing from one day to the next we need an adaptable wine.
This one is perfect BBQ fodder, big and hearty just a match for a burnt sausage. Equally it's great if the day get a little colder and you're forced to hunker down because at 14.5% it's a real warmer.
But the high percentage is matched by some very expressive black fruit notes, some oak and a good tannic structure.
A really well made wine and proof that merlot as a single varietal can really hold its own.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
26th August 2024
The Best Bordeaux Superieur
Morrisons £8.75
Drinker Rating 89
In the olden days, when I first started all this, when I went to a tasting and cheaper reds from Bordeaux were on the list they were usually wines to avoid. They were often stalky and unripe with overly angular tannins - not pleasing at all. But in the last few years the affordable end of Bordeaux has improved immeasurably.
As a classic wine region all the good stuff is generally very good and totally unaffordable, our supermarkets got the leftovers. But in the last five years the wines have becomemuch more refines - sure there's still a lot of poor stuff out there but this week's selection highlights the improvements.
It may be down to better practices in the winery but my suspicion is the improvement has been driven by warmer summers and riper grapes.This Bordeaux Superieur is full on fruit, some lovely structure and a background of tarry smokiness.
Well worth checking out at under a tenner
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
19th August 2024
Chosen by Majestic Merlot
Majestic £7.99
Drinker Rating 90
Sometimes from a wine we just need a reliable old stager. Something easy and comforting that simply won't let us down. The wine I've gone with this week is from the Chosen By range at Majestic and as such ticks all the boxes for a comfort wine.
Merlot gets a bad and undeserved press. The film Sideways didn't help, castigating the grape and worse still, the people who buy it. But i can see no good reason why, possible it's seen as too inoffensive, too soft and velvety - but as in all things it's much more complex and varied once you scratch the surface.
This one is from Colchagua Valley in Chile and is big and ripe, 14.5% alcohol carries big forward black fruit character and this is backed up with some wonderfully complex pencil shaving and rubber tyre notes - there's a lot to like here.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
12th August 2024
Taste the Difference Chilean Sauvignon Blanc
Sainsbury's £8.75
Drinker Rating 89
Sales of sauvignon blanc continue to go from strength to strength regardless of where the wine is made. The mainstay is New Zealand, particularly Marlborough which produces aromatic expressive wines and just behind the Kiwis are South Africa and Chile where the wine is generally a touch cheaper and a little more restrained.
The success of sauvignon is due to the fact that it tastes of something, it's not light, dry neutral pinot grigio style white.You'll get a good dose of grapey charachter, usually some tropical fruit and flowery blossom, fresh and clean on the palate.
This wine is exactly that, clear, precise and characterful. Pleasing melon, lychee and stasuma notes accompanied by a dry, fresh finish. Interesting yet restrained for sauvignon blanc. Perfect for summer sipping.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
5th August 2024
Vineyard Pinot Grigio
Lidl £3.89
Drinker Rating 88
Whenever I write about decent wines that are unexpectedly affordable (let's not say cheap), i get the most sniffy comments on my socials. I think in part it's people not believing that you can find decent stuffat, in this case, £3.89, and in part it's people trying to make a statement about the sort of wines that they buy and more importantly, don't buy.
Well as we always do on The Drinker, let's put snobbery aside and judge the wine for what it is, the liquid in the glass.
In this case there's a really pleasing peach skin and nectarine nose, unusually characterful for entry level pinot grigio, accompanied with a wonderful, dry, fruit driven approachable palate.
Trust me and chance the £3,89 and I promise you'll have yourself a perfect fridge filler for the summer.
DRINK OF THE WEEK
29th July 2024
Found Lucido
Marks and Spencer £7.50
Drinker Rating 90
There's a whole bunch of these exciting 'dicovery' wine ranges out there at the moment and we're all the better for it. Asda have Wine Atlas, Waitrose have Loved and Found and here M&S have Found. These are designed to expose us to unfamiliar grape varieties or wine regions and broaden our palates a little.
So if your a curious explorer and want to find new and exciting things these are the right pace to begin.
I love this Lucido (pronounced loo-chow-dough) a bright and zippy white from Sicily, enough character to keep you interested and a talking point to be enjoyed in company. The whole fo the M&S Found range is great and super value too, well worth chancing your arm.
DRINK OF THE WEEK
22nd July 2024
The Best Garganega/Pinot Grigio Rosé
Morrisons £7.75 (on offer this week)
Drinker Rating 90
The rise and rise of rosé - sales continue to climb and now not only in the summer but right across the year. You might be aware that I'm on a bit of a crusade on the pink stuff, simply because it need not be expensive - I would go as far as to say if you pay more than £9 for a bottle you are very much a silly sausage.
Winemakers really don't take rosé seriously, apart from the very top end Tavel producers, and then it's massively overrated for quite mediocre and expensive wine.
Instead I recommend finding some bottles like this week's pick, simple, pretty, straightforward and perfectly acceptable.
DRINK OF THE WEEK
15th July 2024
Baron Amarillo Rueda Verdejo
Aldi £3.99
Drinker Rating 90
As luck would have it this weeks Drink of the Week is Aldi's Wine of the Week. They currently have this wondferful little drop on offer down from £5.99 to £3.99.
This Verdejo is has all the peachy fruit character coupled with vibrant acidity to make it a perfect patio wine as, at last the sun is coming out.
Buy lots and chill well and then, well, chill well.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
8th July 2024
The Wolftrap Grenache Blanc
Majestic £8.99
Drinker Rating 90
I love it that I sometimes find a wine that I really love and didn't realise that it is made by a favourite producer. When doing the research for my TikTok vid of this wine (yes, I do a lot of research!), I discovered that the maker of this wine also makes Porcupine Ridge, wines that have featured heavily on here for some time. They also make Chocolate Block, not a [particular favourite of mine but a wine that's widely known and liked.
The maker is Boerkenhoutskloof (what's that worth at Scrabble?), in South Africa's beautiful Franschhoek Valley and they are a serious player. Founded in 1776 they are one of the nation's very top producers - so do look out their wines.
This one is all peach and mineral character and an absolute steal at under £9 from Majestic.
DRINK OF THE WEEK
1st July 2024
Loved and Found Ribolla Gialla
Waitrose £8.99
Drinker Rating 89
What's happening this week I wonder? Will you have cause to celebrate? Of course you will as we wave goodbye to the most abhorrent, self serving, venal cruel government of our lifetime. So we'll need some fizz right?
But naturally because these vile bastards have fucked the economy for the last fourteen years we're all skint - so some affordable fizz will have to do. This is a real beauty, it's Ribolla Gialla from Italy and has just the right level of orchard character to carry the dry and pleasing bubbles.
Get this down you come the exit poll on Thursday night and let's raise a glass to a brighter, kinder more prosperous future.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
18th June 2024
Fronton Negrette Rosé
Sainsbury's £6.00 on offer now
Drinker Rating 90
Fronton, the place where this wine comese from. Negrette, the grape variety that makes this wine.
Negrette is a really rare grape, pretty much only grown around Fronton in south west france but it delivers a wonderfully elegant rosé in a blend with syrah and cabernet franc.
You'll get raspberry supported by lovely red grape structure, it's refined and fuller bodied than is absolutely fashionable but great easy drinking pink for the summer.
Now all we need is the sunshine!
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
20th May 2024
La Vita Spumante
Marks and Spencer £6.50
Drinker Rating 90
When putting my TikTok review together for this wine I mistakenly thought the main grape variety for this wine would be Glera - which is the Prosecco grape - I was wrong it's in fact Trebbiano.
Trebbiano is an amazing grape, known as Ugni Blanc in France it's one of the most widely planted varieties in the world, however not all for wine, most of it is used in the production of cognac and in Italy it's often used to make balsamic vinegar.
So it's a good workhorse, if a little unremarkable and that suits this light M&S fizz to a tee! This wine is fresh and bright and at £6.50 a perfect party fizz - also a great base for a sparkling cocktail.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
13th May 2024
Extra Special Viognier
Asda £9.50
Drinker Rating 90
It's becoming apparent that viognier is the new trendy grape of choice. There are several criteria that you need to achieve this accolade, first, you need to be widely available yet still a little unknown, second you need to sound exotic but still be pronounceable a nd alstly you need to be easy to drink yet characterful.
Well in the right hands viogner is just that, dry, bright and easy with enough peach and stone fruit notes to keep you interested. This one comes from France but there are fab examples from all across the wine world - particularly South Africa.
Treat yourself, you won't regret it and you'll soon be sounding exotic like all the trendies!
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
15th April 2024
Pierre Jaurant Viognier
Aldi £5.49
Drinker Rating 90
Viognier seems to be getting more and more popular and this has to be a good thing. Probably best known for it's role in fuller bodied wines this versatile white grape is capable of producing a really interesting array of wine styles. It's low yielding and takes some care to grow well, but when it is it produces wines with amazing aromatics and depth. In short viognier is the new chardonnay!
This one from Aldi is perfectly crafted and had bundles of fruit on the nose, peach, apricot and banana balanced by a fresh racy acidity on the palate.
Great quality at a fabulous price.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
8th April 2024
Extra Special Sicilian Reserve Red
ASDA £7.75
Drinker Rating 90
Siciliy continues to astonish me with the quality and value of the wines it's producing. Not so very long ago the wines from this special little island were fearsome old brutes but there's a modernity to them these days. Expertise in the winery is matched by a focus on some key grape varieties attuned to the volcanic soil.
This rich and intense reserve (aged at least a year in bottle before release) is intense morello cherry, woodsmoke, vanilla and thyme. It's really well integrated, easy tannins and high alcohol work well in matching the full on fruit.
At only £7.75 it's a superb house red and who knows you might even get a BBQ in soon and this will work a treat!
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
1st April 2024 - no joke!
Extra Special Old Vine Garnacha
ASDA £7.00
Drinker Rating 90
Sometimes on wine labels you get a load of old cobblers that means absolutely nothing, words such as 'reserve' and 'select' are very common and have absolutley no real meaning at all but lull you into thinking the wine is something exclusive.
Well with this wine the phrase 'old vine' really does mean something. The vines for this wine are decades old and consequently the roots go very deep - really imporant here as the climate can be extremely hot and this enables the vines to acces enough water to survive. But not only for the survival of the plant is this term important, it also means that the roots come into contact with all sorts of interesting soils as they descend and this means complex wines.
This is rich and intense 14.5%, a really generous wine, fruity and smoky and excellent value for money.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
25th March 2024
Irresistible Viognier Pays D'Oc
Co-op £9.00
Drinker Rating 90
Sadly due to time I don't have the chance to review as many wines from the Co-op as I should and this is doubly annoying as whenever I get to taste them they are invariable of a really high quality. The reasoning behind this is that the Coop is a convenience store so the smaller wine shelf means that every wine that gets onto their list has to be spot on. There is also a downside and that's the fact that their wines tend to be a pound or two pricier than many of the supermarkets.
Nonetheless this French viognier is an absolute belter, juts the right side of refreshing and with enough lemon and mineral character to keep your interest.
Get don the Co-op and get your divvy!
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
18th March 2024
Taste the Difference Conegliano Prosecco
Sainsbury's On offer £8.00
Drinker Rating 90
There's still no end to the popularity of Prosecco - and why not? Lighter and more approachable than Cava and cheaper than Champagne what's not to like?
Well there are some very average Proseccos out there and the trick is to find the good ones, one excellent piece of advice is to look for one of the Prosecco sub zones. Look for names like Valdobiadene or in this case Conegliano - takes a few goes to get the pronunciation right but worth it to sound like a pro.
These areas have tighter controls on the methods and amount of production and this ensures higher quality. This one has all the peach and stone fruit you need and is an exceptional example of a refined and poised bottle of fizz.
Cheers!
No DRINK OF THE WEEK 11th March 2024 Cheltenham week you berk!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
4th March 2024
Loved and Found Treixadura
Waitrose £8.99
Drinker Rating 91
There are a lot of these 'new and interesting' wine ranges about right now, M&S have Found, Asda have Wine Atlas and Waitrose have the lumpily named Loved and Found. They're all pretty good and do a really good job of exposing the curious wine drinker to grapes or regions that we might not have come across before.
One of the big issues is that they are so unfamiliar that we don;t know how to pronounce them - check out my TikTok vid, I make a right meal of this one!
It's from nothern Spain and is wonderfully nutty with unripe peach notes, a really interesting drop. Check it out.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
26th February 2024
Chosen by Majestic Chardonnay
Majestic £8.99
Drinker Rating 90
The wine buyers at Mejstic do a magnificent job and it's always difficult when new ranges get developed and the old gets filtered out - it can be really frustrating for us us consumers as we can sometimes lose wines that we've come to love. But finer minds than I develop these ranges and range changes.
And so the the new-ish Chosen By range from Majestic. I'm not quite sure where it sits with the existing exellent Majestic Definition range but the wines are wonderful noneltheless.
This Chardonnay comes from the South of France and is a precise expression of the grape - there is no oak here so it's all wonderful apple and almond in character. Classy!
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
19th February 2024
Taste the Difference Bio Bio Viognier
Sainsbury's £9.50
Drinker Rating 90
You might have noticed a pattern in my recommendations - I really love cool climate wines, give me a Chablis or a Tasmanian Pinot Noir and I'm your man. Why is this? Well when grapes grow in cooler climate it takes a little longer for them to ripen and therefore they produces slightly more complex wines.
So here's one from the Bio Bio valley in Chile, it's in the south of the southern hemisphere and gets cool clear evenings, refreshing pacific breezes and produces wonderfully tropical and mineral wines like this one - a little more expensive but certainly worth every penny.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
12th February 2024
Italiano Vino Rosso
Tesco £4.50
Drinker Rating 89
There is still some good value decent wine out there if you know where to look - luckily you have Big Pete from The Drinker in your corner and I've found this amazing drop.
It's not amazing as in life changing amazing but it certainly fits the bill if you're after a solid red crowd pleaser for under five pounds. There are VERY FEW wines I'd entertain at that price but this really does the job.
Quite light for an Italian red, it's fruit driven and easy drinking and certainly well worth the money. Don't be a wine snob, trust Big Pete and get yourself off down to Tesco.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
5th February 2024
Loved and Found Touriga Nacional
Waitrose £8.99
Drinker Rating 91
You know there is a definite link between the wine styles folk drink and the weather. Obviously pinks and whites in summer and deeper darker reds in Winter (save the Beajolais and Pinot Noir for spring and autumn).
So this week it's a real hearty winter wine, that doesn't mean it has to be rough and rustic, this is big and powerful but with poise too.
Touriga Nacional is most used as a grape in the making of Port so think of those intense fruity fortifieds but dialled down just a touch with some herbal tobacco and tar notes too.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
29th January 2024
Specially Selected Gamay
Aldi £8.69
Drinker Rating 89
I always say that Gamay is the red grape variety for people who think they don't like red wines. The main grape used in Beaujolais it has lighter body and tannin, it's often fresh, easy and fruit driven, producing red wines that work really well chilled.
But it's not only Beaujolais where it works - this example comes from Tolosan in the south of France, near the border with Spain. As such it gets a little more sunshine don there and the grapes ripen a bit more fully, so this Gamay has a little more depth, body and alcohol - but still very drinkable nonetheless.
Do give Gamay a go - it's not all about the Beajolais you know!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
22nd January 2024
This is Light and Fresh
Marks and Spencer £5.50
Drinker Rating 89
Anyone know about Appasimento wines? Usually Northern Italian in origin and produced using dried or partially dried grapes, this really intensifies the sugars and flavour compunds, producing higher alcohol, full. Opulent, generous wines.
This is a proper winter warmer, it's rich and spicy, black and red fruit compote with black pepper and cinnamon, a real full bodied mouthful and I'd say an absolute bargain at £9.50. First class.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
15th January 2024
This is Light and Fresh
Marks and Spencer £5.50
Drinker Rating 89
We all have a ranking system in our heads for supermarkets right? A little league table that changes over time, but whatever the weather Marks and Spencer are always going to be in the top three right? Certainly our perception of the quality of their goods will always be up there and then we have to factor in the price as M&S will also always be in the top htree for price too.
Well this doesn't mean they can't do affordable wines and this funny little 'this is...' range is case in point.
This wine is their Pinot Grigio which at £5.50 is remarkably good value showing good lime zest and grass notes, it's exactly what an entry level PG should be.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
8th January 2024
Baron St Jean
Aldi £3.45
Drinker Rating 89
Here's another January budget saver of a wine - it's only £3.45 but please don't think it's rotten - it isn't. It's fairly basic, entry level stuff but is clean, bright and fresh with a good degree of grassy and apple freshness.
Sometimes you have to leave your prejudice at the door, so please give this wine a go - what have you got to lose - well, £3.45 - but that's a risk I'd be happy to take!
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
11th November 2024
Finca Miguel Cava
Marks and Spencer/Ocado £7.00
Drinker Rating 89
In the vids I do on my socials and over on YouTube I often recommend Cava for a couple of very good reasons - and these are the reasons you should be returning to this wonderous Spansih fizz.
First up, it's really affordable, this week's wine is an amazing £7, extremely reasonable for such a fab drop.
Second, Cava is back. It was hugely popular in the 90s and consequently the demand drove a huge increase in production and the standards really dropped. The wines became over acidic, characterless, more focussed on a cheap fizz that a lovely taste.
Suitably chastened the winemakers realised the error of their ways and now produce sparklers lie this week's offering. Light, green, fresh, grassy and bready.
Cava is back baby!
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
4th November 2024
Azul Marinho Alvarinho
Asda £8.50
Drinker Rating 90
Am I allowed to say that I am very happy with people who buy wine based on pretty labels? Many of my friends do this - the order is 1. Whatever's on offer, 2. What they usually buy 3. What's got the nicest picture on the front of the bottle. And why not.
So this week's offering has a lovely pic of an octopus on it, the bottle looks great and the wine is fab too, I'm loving these affordable whites from Portugal right now, very reliable and really well priced.
This is very much a wine in Asda's wheelhouse, do check out my long list by clicking on the Asda logo to the left of this page.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
21st October 2024
Domaine des Tourelles
Majestic £11.99 (mix 6 price)
Drinker Rating 90
Throwing a bit more love toward the great winemakers of Lebanon, this is a fab Bekaa Valley red, bramble and blackcurrant with road tar and spice.
Bekaa has a wine tradition reaching back centuries and the amazing producers there keep managing to turn out the next vintage despite years of turmoil, hardship and struggle.
Hats off to these amazing people at a time when things are clearly becoming life threatening to them and their communities.
Do the right thing, go and seek some Lebanese wine out.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
30th September 2024
Specially Selected Ventoux Rouge
Aldi £7.69
Drinker Rating 90
I'm beginning to think about bonfire wines as we reach tat time of the year. Wines that do really well sipped outdoors with a hint of woodsmoke in the air and this red from Aldi is just the ticket.
This has a generous and powerful base of black fruit and supporting alcohol (14.5%) with a lovely warming undercurrent of Mediterranean herbs.
Really well made and down in price right now to an amazing £7.69, buy lots of this and stock up for the coming darker, wetter, colder nights.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
16th September 2024
Finest Colchagua Merlot
Tesco £8.50
Drinker Rating 89
Sometimes the wine we need isn't a stunner, sometimes we need a good old reliable workhorse of a wine, a decent easygoing Wednesday night drop.
Well this wine from the Finest range at Tesco is just that. Good old merlot - wrongly derided, the grape provides easy drinking, fruit driven reds with silky tannins and it's so well priced it's all we need to do the job.
Big fruit character combines with big alcohol (14.5%) lovely tannic structure and a progression of flavour from forward black fruit into bitter chocolate and coffee.
Top work Tesco.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
9th September 2024
Tilimiqui Fairtrade Sparkling
Co-op offer price £5.85
Drinker Rating 89
Kicking off a series of reviews of Fiartrade wines as it's the start of Fairtade Fortnight. This wonderful light fragranced fizz from Argentina comes from the Co-op and is currently nearly half price, down from £9.
I want to celebrate the Co-op in these vids, as not all the wines I'm reviewing are from there but they were the ones who really championed Fairtrade in the early days before everyone got on the bandwagon.
I really don't give the Co-op enough attention on here - and it's partly due to time and partly due to them being more a convenience store than a supermarket which is my real bread and butter.
It's very well worth checking out their range, they do great things with such small shelves!
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
2nd September 2024
Finest Colchagua Valley Merlot
Tesco £8.50
Drinker Rating 90
As we move into the transition time, end of summer and into autumn and we don't know what the weather's doing from one day to the next we need an adaptable wine.
This one is perfect BBQ fodder, big and hearty just a match for a burnt sausage. Equally it's great if the day get a little colder and you're forced to hunker down because at 14.5% it's a real warmer.
But the high percentage is matched by some very expressive black fruit notes, some oak and a good tannic structure.
A really well made wine and proof that merlot as a single varietal can really hold its own.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
26th August 2024
The Best Bordeaux Superieur
Morrisons £8.75
Drinker Rating 89
In the olden days, when I first started all this, when I went to a tasting and cheaper reds from Bordeaux were on the list they were usually wines to avoid. They were often stalky and unripe with overly angular tannins - not pleasing at all. But in the last few years the affordable end of Bordeaux has improved immeasurably.
As a classic wine region all the good stuff is generally very good and totally unaffordable, our supermarkets got the leftovers. But in the last five years the wines have becomemuch more refines - sure there's still a lot of poor stuff out there but this week's selection highlights the improvements.
It may be down to better practices in the winery but my suspicion is the improvement has been driven by warmer summers and riper grapes.This Bordeaux Superieur is full on fruit, some lovely structure and a background of tarry smokiness.
Well worth checking out at under a tenner
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
19th August 2024
Chosen by Majestic Merlot
Majestic £7.99
Drinker Rating 90
Sometimes from a wine we just need a reliable old stager. Something easy and comforting that simply won't let us down. The wine I've gone with this week is from the Chosen By range at Majestic and as such ticks all the boxes for a comfort wine.
Merlot gets a bad and undeserved press. The film Sideways didn't help, castigating the grape and worse still, the people who buy it. But i can see no good reason why, possible it's seen as too inoffensive, too soft and velvety - but as in all things it's much more complex and varied once you scratch the surface.
This one is from Colchagua Valley in Chile and is big and ripe, 14.5% alcohol carries big forward black fruit character and this is backed up with some wonderfully complex pencil shaving and rubber tyre notes - there's a lot to like here.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
12th August 2024
Taste the Difference Chilean Sauvignon Blanc
Sainsbury's £8.75
Drinker Rating 89
Sales of sauvignon blanc continue to go from strength to strength regardless of where the wine is made. The mainstay is New Zealand, particularly Marlborough which produces aromatic expressive wines and just behind the Kiwis are South Africa and Chile where the wine is generally a touch cheaper and a little more restrained.
The success of sauvignon is due to the fact that it tastes of something, it's not light, dry neutral pinot grigio style white.You'll get a good dose of grapey charachter, usually some tropical fruit and flowery blossom, fresh and clean on the palate.
This wine is exactly that, clear, precise and characterful. Pleasing melon, lychee and stasuma notes accompanied by a dry, fresh finish. Interesting yet restrained for sauvignon blanc. Perfect for summer sipping.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
5th August 2024
Vineyard Pinot Grigio
Lidl £3.89
Drinker Rating 88
Whenever I write about decent wines that are unexpectedly affordable (let's not say cheap), i get the most sniffy comments on my socials. I think in part it's people not believing that you can find decent stuffat, in this case, £3.89, and in part it's people trying to make a statement about the sort of wines that they buy and more importantly, don't buy.
Well as we always do on The Drinker, let's put snobbery aside and judge the wine for what it is, the liquid in the glass.
In this case there's a really pleasing peach skin and nectarine nose, unusually characterful for entry level pinot grigio, accompanied with a wonderful, dry, fruit driven approachable palate.
Trust me and chance the £3,89 and I promise you'll have yourself a perfect fridge filler for the summer.
DRINK OF THE WEEK
29th July 2024
Found Lucido
Marks and Spencer £7.50
Drinker Rating 90
There's a whole bunch of these exciting 'dicovery' wine ranges out there at the moment and we're all the better for it. Asda have Wine Atlas, Waitrose have Loved and Found and here M&S have Found. These are designed to expose us to unfamiliar grape varieties or wine regions and broaden our palates a little.
So if your a curious explorer and want to find new and exciting things these are the right pace to begin.
I love this Lucido (pronounced loo-chow-dough) a bright and zippy white from Sicily, enough character to keep you interested and a talking point to be enjoyed in company. The whole fo the M&S Found range is great and super value too, well worth chancing your arm.
DRINK OF THE WEEK
22nd July 2024
The Best Garganega/Pinot Grigio Rosé
Morrisons £7.75 (on offer this week)
Drinker Rating 90
The rise and rise of rosé - sales continue to climb and now not only in the summer but right across the year. You might be aware that I'm on a bit of a crusade on the pink stuff, simply because it need not be expensive - I would go as far as to say if you pay more than £9 for a bottle you are very much a silly sausage.
Winemakers really don't take rosé seriously, apart from the very top end Tavel producers, and then it's massively overrated for quite mediocre and expensive wine.
Instead I recommend finding some bottles like this week's pick, simple, pretty, straightforward and perfectly acceptable.
DRINK OF THE WEEK
15th July 2024
Baron Amarillo Rueda Verdejo
Aldi £3.99
Drinker Rating 90
As luck would have it this weeks Drink of the Week is Aldi's Wine of the Week. They currently have this wondferful little drop on offer down from £5.99 to £3.99.
This Verdejo is has all the peachy fruit character coupled with vibrant acidity to make it a perfect patio wine as, at last the sun is coming out.
Buy lots and chill well and then, well, chill well.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
8th July 2024
The Wolftrap Grenache Blanc
Majestic £8.99
Drinker Rating 90
I love it that I sometimes find a wine that I really love and didn't realise that it is made by a favourite producer. When doing the research for my TikTok vid of this wine (yes, I do a lot of research!), I discovered that the maker of this wine also makes Porcupine Ridge, wines that have featured heavily on here for some time. They also make Chocolate Block, not a [particular favourite of mine but a wine that's widely known and liked.
The maker is Boerkenhoutskloof (what's that worth at Scrabble?), in South Africa's beautiful Franschhoek Valley and they are a serious player. Founded in 1776 they are one of the nation's very top producers - so do look out their wines.
This one is all peach and mineral character and an absolute steal at under £9 from Majestic.
DRINK OF THE WEEK
1st July 2024
Loved and Found Ribolla Gialla
Waitrose £8.99
Drinker Rating 89
What's happening this week I wonder? Will you have cause to celebrate? Of course you will as we wave goodbye to the most abhorrent, self serving, venal cruel government of our lifetime. So we'll need some fizz right?
But naturally because these vile bastards have fucked the economy for the last fourteen years we're all skint - so some affordable fizz will have to do. This is a real beauty, it's Ribolla Gialla from Italy and has just the right level of orchard character to carry the dry and pleasing bubbles.
Get this down you come the exit poll on Thursday night and let's raise a glass to a brighter, kinder more prosperous future.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
18th June 2024
Fronton Negrette Rosé
Sainsbury's £6.00 on offer now
Drinker Rating 90
Fronton, the place where this wine comese from. Negrette, the grape variety that makes this wine.
Negrette is a really rare grape, pretty much only grown around Fronton in south west france but it delivers a wonderfully elegant rosé in a blend with syrah and cabernet franc.
You'll get raspberry supported by lovely red grape structure, it's refined and fuller bodied than is absolutely fashionable but great easy drinking pink for the summer.
Now all we need is the sunshine!
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
20th May 2024
La Vita Spumante
Marks and Spencer £6.50
Drinker Rating 90
When putting my TikTok review together for this wine I mistakenly thought the main grape variety for this wine would be Glera - which is the Prosecco grape - I was wrong it's in fact Trebbiano.
Trebbiano is an amazing grape, known as Ugni Blanc in France it's one of the most widely planted varieties in the world, however not all for wine, most of it is used in the production of cognac and in Italy it's often used to make balsamic vinegar.
So it's a good workhorse, if a little unremarkable and that suits this light M&S fizz to a tee! This wine is fresh and bright and at £6.50 a perfect party fizz - also a great base for a sparkling cocktail.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
13th May 2024
Extra Special Viognier
Asda £9.50
Drinker Rating 90
It's becoming apparent that viognier is the new trendy grape of choice. There are several criteria that you need to achieve this accolade, first, you need to be widely available yet still a little unknown, second you need to sound exotic but still be pronounceable a nd alstly you need to be easy to drink yet characterful.
Well in the right hands viogner is just that, dry, bright and easy with enough peach and stone fruit notes to keep you interested. This one comes from France but there are fab examples from all across the wine world - particularly South Africa.
Treat yourself, you won't regret it and you'll soon be sounding exotic like all the trendies!
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
15th April 2024
Pierre Jaurant Viognier
Aldi £5.49
Drinker Rating 90
Viognier seems to be getting more and more popular and this has to be a good thing. Probably best known for it's role in fuller bodied wines this versatile white grape is capable of producing a really interesting array of wine styles. It's low yielding and takes some care to grow well, but when it is it produces wines with amazing aromatics and depth. In short viognier is the new chardonnay!
This one from Aldi is perfectly crafted and had bundles of fruit on the nose, peach, apricot and banana balanced by a fresh racy acidity on the palate.
Great quality at a fabulous price.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
8th April 2024
Extra Special Sicilian Reserve Red
ASDA £7.75
Drinker Rating 90
Siciliy continues to astonish me with the quality and value of the wines it's producing. Not so very long ago the wines from this special little island were fearsome old brutes but there's a modernity to them these days. Expertise in the winery is matched by a focus on some key grape varieties attuned to the volcanic soil.
This rich and intense reserve (aged at least a year in bottle before release) is intense morello cherry, woodsmoke, vanilla and thyme. It's really well integrated, easy tannins and high alcohol work well in matching the full on fruit.
At only £7.75 it's a superb house red and who knows you might even get a BBQ in soon and this will work a treat!
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
1st April 2024 - no joke!
Extra Special Old Vine Garnacha
ASDA £7.00
Drinker Rating 90
Sometimes on wine labels you get a load of old cobblers that means absolutely nothing, words such as 'reserve' and 'select' are very common and have absolutley no real meaning at all but lull you into thinking the wine is something exclusive.
Well with this wine the phrase 'old vine' really does mean something. The vines for this wine are decades old and consequently the roots go very deep - really imporant here as the climate can be extremely hot and this enables the vines to acces enough water to survive. But not only for the survival of the plant is this term important, it also means that the roots come into contact with all sorts of interesting soils as they descend and this means complex wines.
This is rich and intense 14.5%, a really generous wine, fruity and smoky and excellent value for money.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
25th March 2024
Irresistible Viognier Pays D'Oc
Co-op £9.00
Drinker Rating 90
Sadly due to time I don't have the chance to review as many wines from the Co-op as I should and this is doubly annoying as whenever I get to taste them they are invariable of a really high quality. The reasoning behind this is that the Coop is a convenience store so the smaller wine shelf means that every wine that gets onto their list has to be spot on. There is also a downside and that's the fact that their wines tend to be a pound or two pricier than many of the supermarkets.
Nonetheless this French viognier is an absolute belter, juts the right side of refreshing and with enough lemon and mineral character to keep your interest.
Get don the Co-op and get your divvy!
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
18th March 2024
Taste the Difference Conegliano Prosecco
Sainsbury's On offer £8.00
Drinker Rating 90
There's still no end to the popularity of Prosecco - and why not? Lighter and more approachable than Cava and cheaper than Champagne what's not to like?
Well there are some very average Proseccos out there and the trick is to find the good ones, one excellent piece of advice is to look for one of the Prosecco sub zones. Look for names like Valdobiadene or in this case Conegliano - takes a few goes to get the pronunciation right but worth it to sound like a pro.
These areas have tighter controls on the methods and amount of production and this ensures higher quality. This one has all the peach and stone fruit you need and is an exceptional example of a refined and poised bottle of fizz.
Cheers!
No DRINK OF THE WEEK 11th March 2024 Cheltenham week you berk!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
4th March 2024
Loved and Found Treixadura
Waitrose £8.99
Drinker Rating 91
There are a lot of these 'new and interesting' wine ranges about right now, M&S have Found, Asda have Wine Atlas and Waitrose have the lumpily named Loved and Found. They're all pretty good and do a really good job of exposing the curious wine drinker to grapes or regions that we might not have come across before.
One of the big issues is that they are so unfamiliar that we don;t know how to pronounce them - check out my TikTok vid, I make a right meal of this one!
It's from nothern Spain and is wonderfully nutty with unripe peach notes, a really interesting drop. Check it out.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
26th February 2024
Chosen by Majestic Chardonnay
Majestic £8.99
Drinker Rating 90
The wine buyers at Mejstic do a magnificent job and it's always difficult when new ranges get developed and the old gets filtered out - it can be really frustrating for us us consumers as we can sometimes lose wines that we've come to love. But finer minds than I develop these ranges and range changes.
And so the the new-ish Chosen By range from Majestic. I'm not quite sure where it sits with the existing exellent Majestic Definition range but the wines are wonderful noneltheless.
This Chardonnay comes from the South of France and is a precise expression of the grape - there is no oak here so it's all wonderful apple and almond in character. Classy!
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
19th February 2024
Taste the Difference Bio Bio Viognier
Sainsbury's £9.50
Drinker Rating 90
You might have noticed a pattern in my recommendations - I really love cool climate wines, give me a Chablis or a Tasmanian Pinot Noir and I'm your man. Why is this? Well when grapes grow in cooler climate it takes a little longer for them to ripen and therefore they produces slightly more complex wines.
So here's one from the Bio Bio valley in Chile, it's in the south of the southern hemisphere and gets cool clear evenings, refreshing pacific breezes and produces wonderfully tropical and mineral wines like this one - a little more expensive but certainly worth every penny.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
12th February 2024
Italiano Vino Rosso
Tesco £4.50
Drinker Rating 89
There is still some good value decent wine out there if you know where to look - luckily you have Big Pete from The Drinker in your corner and I've found this amazing drop.
It's not amazing as in life changing amazing but it certainly fits the bill if you're after a solid red crowd pleaser for under five pounds. There are VERY FEW wines I'd entertain at that price but this really does the job.
Quite light for an Italian red, it's fruit driven and easy drinking and certainly well worth the money. Don't be a wine snob, trust Big Pete and get yourself off down to Tesco.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
5th February 2024
Loved and Found Touriga Nacional
Waitrose £8.99
Drinker Rating 91
You know there is a definite link between the wine styles folk drink and the weather. Obviously pinks and whites in summer and deeper darker reds in Winter (save the Beajolais and Pinot Noir for spring and autumn).
So this week it's a real hearty winter wine, that doesn't mean it has to be rough and rustic, this is big and powerful but with poise too.
Touriga Nacional is most used as a grape in the making of Port so think of those intense fruity fortifieds but dialled down just a touch with some herbal tobacco and tar notes too.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
29th January 2024
Specially Selected Gamay
Aldi £8.69
Drinker Rating 89
I always say that Gamay is the red grape variety for people who think they don't like red wines. The main grape used in Beaujolais it has lighter body and tannin, it's often fresh, easy and fruit driven, producing red wines that work really well chilled.
But it's not only Beaujolais where it works - this example comes from Tolosan in the south of France, near the border with Spain. As such it gets a little more sunshine don there and the grapes ripen a bit more fully, so this Gamay has a little more depth, body and alcohol - but still very drinkable nonetheless.
Do give Gamay a go - it's not all about the Beajolais you know!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
22nd January 2024
This is Light and Fresh
Marks and Spencer £5.50
Drinker Rating 89
Anyone know about Appasimento wines? Usually Northern Italian in origin and produced using dried or partially dried grapes, this really intensifies the sugars and flavour compunds, producing higher alcohol, full. Opulent, generous wines.
This is a proper winter warmer, it's rich and spicy, black and red fruit compote with black pepper and cinnamon, a real full bodied mouthful and I'd say an absolute bargain at £9.50. First class.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
15th January 2024
This is Light and Fresh
Marks and Spencer £5.50
Drinker Rating 89
We all have a ranking system in our heads for supermarkets right? A little league table that changes over time, but whatever the weather Marks and Spencer are always going to be in the top three right? Certainly our perception of the quality of their goods will always be up there and then we have to factor in the price as M&S will also always be in the top htree for price too.
Well this doesn't mean they can't do affordable wines and this funny little 'this is...' range is case in point.
This wine is their Pinot Grigio which at £5.50 is remarkably good value showing good lime zest and grass notes, it's exactly what an entry level PG should be.
Cheers!
DRINK OF THE WEEK
8th January 2024
Baron St Jean
Aldi £3.45
Drinker Rating 89
Here's another January budget saver of a wine - it's only £3.45 but please don't think it's rotten - it isn't. It's fairly basic, entry level stuff but is clean, bright and fresh with a good degree of grassy and apple freshness.
Sometimes you have to leave your prejudice at the door, so please give this wine a go - what have you got to lose - well, £3.45 - but that's a risk I'd be happy to take!
Cheers!