Wine buffs ahoy

[LadyG]

I bought a Montes Reserva 2021 Chardonnay fron Tesco £7 instead of £9.00.

So, I had two glasses yesterday, and it was OK. I mean it is from Chile, and has been aged.

Today there seems to be only two small glasses left, I think it is fridge chilled though not as cold as I would drink a Sauvignon

Blanc.

I'm disappointed to be honest, in a blind tasting I could identify it as white, maybe a blend.

Reading the label it states "is made from a selection of grapes" I won't be buying any more wine from Tesco, but surely a Chardonnay should only be derived from Chardonnay grapes?

 

 

Edited September 5, 2022 by LadyG

[Tony Brooks]

10 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I bought a Montes Reserva 2021 Chardonnay fron Tesco £7 instead of £9.00.

So, I had two glasses yesterday, and it was OK. I mean it is from Chile, and has been aged.

Today there seems to be only two small glasses left, I think it is fridge chilled though not as cold as I would drink a Sauvignon

Blanc.

I'm disappointed to be honest, in a blind tasting I could identify it as white, maybe a blend.

Reading the label it states "is made from a selection of grapes" I won't be buying any more wine from Tesco, but surely a Chardonnay should only be derived from Chardonnay grapes?

 

 

 

They might mean it is made from Chardonnay grapes from a variety of vineyards. I understand the taste of a wine varies from vineyard to vineyard and year to year so for a consistent product at a  sensible price I would expect a blend.

[BEngo]

Yes, but a selection of grapes could mean anything.  As it is not very expensive Chardonnay from Chile it probably means " made from the Chardonnay  grapes from an assortment of vineyards which were left over after we had sorted out the absolute best for our more expensive named vineyard bottlings". 

 

 

If it is a 2021 wine it has hardly been aged.  Picked early last year,  vinified immediately and probably bulk shipped to UK in a tank then bottled early this year.

 I accept that needs must for many, and some half decent wine is better than no wine, but if you can there is much better wine in a 'real'  £9 bottle than in a £9 reduced to £7 supermarket wine.  The costs of bottling, tax, transport, VAT on these costs are the same for all bottles at the moment.  So a £5 bottle contains at most a quid's worth of wine whereas a £9 bottle contains a fivers worth.  Five times or more in value for an extra £4.

N

 

 

 

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

I ain’t no wine Buff but this week I’ll mostly be drinking Rioja. 
£6 something instead of £8 something    
from the coop. 
(Campo Viejo) 

[LadyG]

Anyway, ill be giving up on wine after this one, back to gin with premium mixers from Feverteee.

[ditchcrawler]

You could always read the labels before you buy them to see what you are paying for

[Tam & Di]

1 hour ago, BEngo said:

So a £5 bottle contains at most a quid's worth of wine whereas a £9 bottle contains a fivers worth.  Five times or more in value for an extra £4.

 

BEngo's point is spot on. When we first took the boat to France others were saying how cheap the wine was, but we decided to spend the same money as in the UK and up the quality instead. Never regretted it 🍷🥂.

 

Our French base is now in Burgundy, so for us there is no other chardonnay that comes near to what we get locally - and buying direct from the vignerons means the price is as reasonable as it can be too. Even the village of Chardonnay is just down the road, so no Chilean bottles for us  😁

 

Tam

[LadyG]

20 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

You could always read the labels before you buy them to see what you are paying for

I did glance at label, and in the past I've had nice crisp white wines from Chile, but unfortunately this one lacked the buttery character desired. The Reserva name obviously means nothing.

If you don't try you'll miss a nice wine.

In France I used to buy red from the butcher, it was perfectly drinkable, fruity, vin ordinaire,. but it was what the locals drank every day.

Just paying a tenner or more does not guarantee a decent wine.

Edited September 5, 2022 by LadyG

[mrsmelly]

5 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I did glance at label, and in the past I've had nice crisp white wines from Chile, but unfortunately this one lacked the buttery character desired.

If you want a half decent cheap plonk at the moment. Try the 19 crimes range, its plonk like many others but a cut above most at the price.

[LadyG]

Just now, mrsmelly said:

If you want a half decent cheap plonk at the moment. Try the 19 crimes range, its plonk like many others but a cut above most at the price.

I tried one a few months ago, I used it for coking, just did not like it.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

7 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I did glance at label, and in the past I've had nice crisp white wines from Chile, but unfortunately this one lacked the buttery character desired. The Reserva name obviously means nothing.

If you don't try you'll miss a nice wine.

In France I used to buy red from the butcher, it was perfectly drinkable, fruity, vin ordinaire,. but it was what the locals drank every day.

Just paying a tenner or more does not guarantee a decent wine.

Absolutely 👍

one must look first at the strength,

if it’s less than 13.5% forget it. 
maybe 12.5% at a push. 
 

and if you buy wine in a bag, there’s a nice little trick to getting the last bit out. 

 

[peterboat]

13 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

If you want a half decent cheap plonk at the moment. Try the 19 crimes range, its plonk like many others but a cut above most at the price.

I agree Tim great stuff

[Athy]

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

I tried one a few months ago, I used it for coking, 

Surely de-coking?

 

As others have suggested, "selection of grapes" means that it's not a single-vineyard wine but was made in a cave cooperative.

Don't tar all Tesco wines with the same brush. We often drink their J.P. Cnenet Merlot which is a well balanced red (i.e.m not too bland and not too acidic) at a very reasonable price. We have been buying their Cotes du Rhone Villages which they get from Michel Chapoutier, whop is a top bod in the world of Rhone wines, and this one reflects that, for only about nine pounds a bottle.

   It is some years since I drank any white wine so I can't comment on Tesco's range.

[DaveR]

I really can not drink white wine, it is just acid in a glass.

 

Now a red from Aldi at £7 or £8 a bottle is a good deal. Which reminds me, need one out for supper tonight.

[David Schweizer]

2 hours ago, Tam & Di said:

 

BEngo's point is spot on. When we first took the boat to France others were saying how cheap the wine was, but we decided to spend the same money as in the UK and up the quality instead. Never regretted it 🍷🥂.

 

Our French base is now in Burgundy, so for us there is no other chardonnay that comes near to what we get locally - and buying direct from the vignerons means the price is as reasonable as it can be too. Even the village of Chardonnay is just down the road, so no Chilean bottles for us  😁

 

Tam

 

A few years ago we in a French Supermarket and were pondering the vast choice of wines from the same regions, and trying to decide which price band would secure a decent wine for a modest price.  A French lady came up to us and gave us some advice. She suggested that we ignore the wine on the bottom two shelves, as that was cheap lower grade everyday wine, instead to make our choice from the middle two rows. When we asked about the top two rows, she suggested that was the best wine, but unless we were connoisseurs, we would probably not notice the difference. Whether we would have noticed went untested, but the middle two rows produced wines which were far superior to higher priced French wines available in UK Supermarkets.

[ditchcrawler]

4 hours ago, LadyG said:

I did glance at label, and in the past I've had nice crisp white wines from Chile, but unfortunately this one lacked the buttery character desired. The Reserva name obviously means nothing.

If you don't try you'll miss a nice wine.

In France I used to buy red from the butcher, it was perfectly drinkable, fruity, vin ordinaire,. but it was what the locals drank every day.

Just paying a tenner or more does not guarantee a decent wine.

Maybe you should go to Aldi

4 hours ago, Tam & Di said:

 

BEngo's point is spot on. When we first took the boat to France others were saying how cheap the wine was, but we decided to spend the same money as in the UK and up the quality instead. Never regretted it 🍷🥂.

 

Tam

I did the same on the way home after visiting you, didn't have a clue so filled the trolley with wine at the same price as UK wine. That was the only time we went over with the car

[Ex Brummie]

Many years ago whilst on holiday in France, we used a restaurant that greeted us with an aperitif of Cassis topped up with white wine. The maitre told us that any old wine will do as the cassis would overpower it. in the supermarket on the way home, we bought a couple of bottles oc cassis and picked up a case of Bergerac for 9 francs, about £6 at the time. 

Once home, we tried said wine before mixing it and it was some of the best we had tasted.

This goes to show, I think, that taste is subjective, natural products can never be totally consistent, borne out by the relevance of vintage batches.

[Momac]

I  am no expert but have found wines that are cheap and very palatable while paying a little more has been disappointing.

Asda are my present source , especially when they have the offer of  buy 6 and get 25% off 

 

I drink red and  particularly like this 

 

They do a white of the same label

 

I have had some Cotes Du Rhone from Asda at under £5 that has been very good and disappointed it has  sold out .

 

 

 

[BEngo]

The classic Kir is cassis into bourgogne Aligote.  Kir Royale is cassis into the local fizz; cremant de bourgogne.

 

At the lower end of the market, which is where  much Aligote is grown,  it is a  grape which easily produces pretty thin, acid wines.  These are much improved by a dollop  of sweet blackcurranty cassis.

N

 

 

[Wanderer Vagabond]

As has been said above,wines tend to be down to individual taste. I got a taste for Jacobs Creek Grenache Shiraz which was relatively cheap (about £8 as I remember) but cannot find it anywhere now. The corner shop where I was buying it (and stopped stocking it, or couldn't get it) recommended 19 Crimes but there was no real comparison. He then recommended Jam Shed which I thought was truly dire (too sweet). I've now found this little fellow, which in my view is excellent (other opinions are available). Whilst it is normally £12 a bottle it regularly comes up on offer at £9 so when I see it at it's 'proper' price I rather tend to stock up with it 🍷

[Athy]

12 hours ago, MartynG said:

 

Asda are my present source , especially when they have the offer of  buy 6 and get 25% off 

 

I drink red and  particularly like this 

 

We like Costieres de Nimes, having first drunk some while staying in Nimes about five years ago. I buy it from Waitrose when it's on special offer (at about £7 a bottle). A couple of weeks ago, during a rare visit to Asda, I spotted a bottle of it at £5, which I bought with some trepidation - it's rare these days to get anything drinkable at that price. But we were pleasantly surprised, as it was very palatable.

 

 

 

 

[Tam & Di]

For those with a reliable delivery address The Wine Society https://www.thewinesociety.com is highly recommended. They have wines from just about every wine-growing country available, red, white and pink  🍷🥂. They now say there is no minimum order and delivery is free (though I'm sure they expect people to buy a case of 6 normally). It is a co-operative, so prices don't have to make a profit for shareholders. There is a fairly small one-off joining fee.

 

Tam

[Tam & Di]

It was my birthday today, so I opened a bottle of chardonnay - a rather upmarket blanc de blancs 😁, but if you are boating on the Marne you can get it direct from the vigneron at a rather more affordable price.

 

Tam

 

Edited September 6, 2022 by Tam & Di

[Paul Charlton]

On 05/09/2022 at 16:58, David Schweizer said:

 

A few years ago we in a French Supermarket and were pondering the vast choice of wines from the same regions, and trying to decide which price band would secure a decent wine for a modest price.  A French lady came up to us and gave us some advice. She suggested that we ignore the wine on the bottom two shelves, as that was cheap lower grade everyday wine, instead to make our choice from the middle two rows. When we asked about the top two rows, she suggested that was the best wine, but unless we were connoisseurs, we would probably not notice the difference. Whether we would have noticed went untested, but the middle two rows produced wines which were far superior to higher priced French wines available in UK Supermarkets.

 

Supermarkets put the items they want you to buy on the shelves that are at your eye level - so the middle two shelves.  So they will be the products they make the most profit on or ones they have surplus stock and need to shift it.

[David Schweizer]

1 hour ago, Paul Charlton said:

 

Supermarkets put the items they want you to buy on the shelves that are at your eye level - so the middle two shelves.  So they will be the products they make the most profit on or ones they have surplus stock and need to shift it.

 

Have you ever shopped in a French Supermarket? They operate very differently to UK Supermarkets, and my experience suggests that the French are far less likely to be fooled by simple marketing tricks.