Decent wine thread

Logie

I've been working half hours since last March so I've had a lot of free time to kill.

I totted up my units per week just before Xmas after I missed a fortnightly recycling day and saw a months worth spilling out of the black bin. It worked out at 60 units a week just drinking in the house!

Thank god the pubs were closed!

I'm down to under half that now due to filling my fridge with alcohol free beer. It's a bit more manageable for my kidneys and now a nice red is a treat rather than a binge opportunity.

Simonh

I do enjoy a nice drop of vino and have a reasonable cellar. The best vintner I have ever come across was of the opinion that the best wine was the wine that you liked. If it cost a tenner a bottle or ten thousand doesn’t actually make much difference if it doesn’t sit right on your palate. 

Generally speaking you like what you are used too, I have bought £70-80 bottles on the advice of a seller and tbh hated them and been disappointed and annoyed at the waste of money.

**nothing to see here, I didn't change a thing...

steveledzep

Simonh said:

I do enjoy a nice drop of vino and have a reasonable cellar. The best vintner I have ever come across was of the opinion that the best wine was the wine that you liked. If it cost a tenner a bottle or ten thousand doesn’t actually make much difference if it doesn’t sit right on your pallet. 

Generally speaking you like what you are used too, I have bought £70-80 bottles on the advice of a seller and tbh hated them and been disappointed and annoyed at the waste of money.

Blimey, I couldn't afford a full pallet at those prices per bottle. 

ToneControl

I had to stop drinking beer due to coeliac disease, so had to move more to wine

Sadly I can taste/smell things a bit more than most, so wine-buying got expensive ;-)

Naked wines was good for me for a while, but after a few year missed the spot more often than hitting it. The whole thing more about activism (great) supporting new wine makers, but not so much focus on reliability, and my favourite Naked wine grower dropped in quality sadly. The tastings are brilliant though, I haven't written them off

So: where/what to buy? Sadly I've found that it's best to follow the posh shoppers: Waitrose and Booths. Just as with good bitter, it's best to follow the most devoted fans, and in the case of wine, AFAIK fussy wine drinkers don't go to cheap shops. Therefore the Chateau neuf du pape in Aldi and Lidl has been a disappointment for me every time I try some, I assume they get the duff batch and no one complains? Whereas buy it in Waitrose or Booths when there is a multi-buy 25% or 33% off sale for 6 bottles or more, and you get the year's decent stuff. I'm no snob, I buy most of my food in Aldi, their aged steaks are better than all the top supermarkets, and their chicken is as good as the best. For me in Aldi, and Lidl, stick to the recommended stuff: medal winners, etc. Install Vivino on your phone and get reviews whilst in the store.
I reckon that the best deals there are things like unknown Argentinian Malbecs that have been overlooked, rather than duff batches of famous French appellations 

For me, the best trick is to spot the bargains, and buy in for the long term.
Latest purchase is campo viejo rioja gran reserva, £15 at most places, under £10 this month in Costco. Last time it was this cheap was 3 years ago, lovely stuff 

Usually nowadays, I buy via the Sunday Times wine club, it's rebadged Laithwaites 
I accept that relatively posh & wealthy Sunday Times readers are on average fussier about wine than your average Lidl shopper, so there is less risk of being send rubbish, and as always with mail order wine, you get a refund on anything you are not happy with

ToneControl

Simonh said:

I do enjoy a nice drop of vino and have a reasonable cellar. The best vintner I have ever come across was of the opinion that the best wine was the wine that you liked. If it cost a tenner a bottle or ten thousand doesn’t actually make much difference if it doesn’t sit right on your pallet. 

Generally speaking you like what you are used too, I have bought £70-80 bottles on the advice of a seller and tbh hated them and been disappointed and annoyed at the waste of money.

I reckon that beyond £15 a bottle, you are into the equivalent of £3k+ guitars, they should all be very very good, and it's into diminishing returns

I used to laugh years ago about the fact that the ISWC international world champion rum was ~£22 at Oddbins, but the champion wine was many times that price, even though it only contained 4 or 5 glasses, compared with the 20-30 in the bottle of rum. It's all about supply and demand, and the depth of pockets of those wanting something

usedtobe

We used to buy from Laithwaites, years ago. It was called Bordeaux Direct, before that. 

I seem to remember they were linked to the Radio Times, back then..? I think they have tie ups with various papers and magazines, or have had..

russpm

Aldi do a good Shiraz, it’s got a gecko on the label. It’s about a fiver or just over.

thermionic

Simonh said:

I do enjoy a nice drop of vino and have a reasonable cellar. The best vintner I have ever come across was of the opinion that the best wine was the wine that you liked. If it cost a tenner a bottle or ten thousand doesn’t actually make much difference if it doesn’t sit right on your pallet.

You’re buying them by the PALLET?

boogieman

I like Pinot Noirs the most. Cono Sur Bicicleta Reserve is really nice, the supermarkets usually do it for round £7.50. 

My wife likes NZ Marlborough Sauvignon Blancs. Oyster Bay is nice, usually around a tenner but often gets discounted. 

Simonh

We find the best bang for buck these days in visiting a local wine merchant, generally we are spending between £12-18 a bottle but the advantage is that having established a relationship the owner knows what we like so can point us in the direction of new stuff that has come in that will suit our palate (please note the spelling correction!!)

we are supporting local business and generally smaller producers and we find that there are less bottles that we don't like overall.

I read something years ago that said if you were paying less than £5 a bottle for wine most of the cost was actually in the glass rather than the wine.

Leiversalone

Apothic, The wanted Zin, and Lindeman's Gentleman's collection are all pretty tasty and under a tenner

sev112

A lesson I learned years ago was that my favourite bottles /brands actually differ significantly year to year.
several potential reasons :
Wines/grapes are at the mercy of the weather every year,
like many food products, some producers keep the same label and put their cheaper stuff in it once they have a large number of people buying it.
much of the stuff we drink at this price point are blends, and the balance of those blends are changed by the producer to suit “current tastes”

I don’t mind, it encourages me to try out lots of diffferent wines

JCA2550

Majestic and yes, I work for them (and Naked)

https://www.majestic.co.uk/red-wine?orderby=10

Recently on rotation in the JCA2550 wine rack sub a tenner are:

LB7, Lisbon, Portugal
Guv'nor, Spain
Finca Carelio Tempranillo, Spain
Devil's Creek Merlot, New Zealand
Nero Oro Apassimento, from Sicily
Leon Perdigal Cotes du Rhone, France
Definition Zinfandel, Lodi, California
Alain Grignon Carignan, Southern France (D'Oc)
Yellowtail Shiraz, Oz

Also had some fantastic bargains from Lidl and Asda

JerkMoans

Sassafras said:

Blue Nun.
Lambrusco.

Mateus Rosé. Hirondelle, Paul Masson! All the greats!

Simonh

Don't forget the classic "le Piot dor!"

goldtop

JCA2550 said:

Majestic and yes, I work for them (and Naked)

Excellent, and quite handy Can you recommend a Haut-Brion or Mouton-Rothschild that's moderately affordable. I've not started looking yet. I'm too scared to...

As a birthday treat for Her Indoors - bit of a wine-buff but biased against New World wines - I've bought a Stags Leap Vine cabernet and it'd be fun to re-enact the famous Spurrier blind-tasting competition.

Back at the affordable end, we always buy 6 or 12 of the Triade red that Waitrose does whenever it goes on offer. Currently at £8.99.

Springywheel

My dad was enthusiastically telling me once about a bottle of wine he bought that was created from the finest quality grapes, picked by fair maidens from the majestic vineyards of Morocco, fermented for 10 years in oak vats, bottled and blessed by Bachus himself before being transported to foreign shores via paddle boat.

”Sounds lovely, where’d you buy it from?”

“Lidl.”

westford

My husband brought a South African Sauvignon Blanc out of the wine cellar (garage) the other week. He couldn’t remember buying it, so reckoned it was a gift from someone. It was really nice and he was convinced it was something expensive. Turned out to be from Lidl, £3.89 a bottle.

McSwaggerty

greejn said:

Naked Wines are very good, subscription based and lots of bargains.

i also do the naked wines thing, lots of great wines, even an £8 bottle will wipe the floor with most similarly priced Supermarket brands.
the only downside is,  I tend to buy a box of 12, and that can be a bit of a problem.
If I'm not careful i can scud the lot in a fortnight....but usually less....haha

Simonh

Springywheel said:

My dad was enthusiastically telling me once about a bottle of wine he bought that was created from the finest quality grapes, picked by fair maidens from the majestic vineyards of Morocco, fermented for 10 years in oak vats, bottled and blessed by Bachus himself before being transported to foreign shores via paddle boat.

”Sounds lovely, where’d you buy it from?”

“Lidl.”

This might be intended as a joke but both the Lidl and Aldi wine buying teams are actually very highly regarded, they do tend to buy from smaller wineries and as a result get a higher quality product at a lower price because they are buying in quantities that the winery doesn't usually sell at.

Some great wines to be had from there if give them a try.