Decent wine thread

rze99

greejn said:

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

Echo this. Been a Naked Wines "angel" for a couple of years and never had anything we didn't like. And a few we regularly re-order they are so good. High quality good value as opposed to cheap. I've been to Portugal a  few times and always enjoyed wine there and it's nice that Naked Wines stocks Portuguese wines as well as other origins.

rze99

Simonh said:

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.

I like this. But the nearest proper Vintner to us is very expensive indeed. It's a shame they don't do some lower level stuff  rarely anything under 15 quid is just too much for regular meal and tv watching purposes. 

mudslide73

Sassafras said:

Blue Nun.
Lambrusco.

Alterlifeson

Big fan of Porto 6. The tapas bar in my town have it as their special and it's very nice.
19 Crimes is a goodun from the supermarket too. 
Diablo is also a favourite
And Sainsburys to a great own brand Crianza

Springywheel

Simonh said:

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.

Maybe so, but this was about 20 years ago when they weren't as big as they are now and the whole anti climax to the story had everyone in stitches after he'd hyped it up for a good while   

hywelg

Logie said:

I go straight to Aldi now for wine. Their Argentinian Buenavista Vides Malbec is a lovely bottle as is their Toco Loco Superior organic and Baron Amarillo Rioja ( I’m sifting through my empties as I type ) All for under £6. As a few people here have mentioned, 19 Crimes is very nice and I quite like the Campo Viejo Rioja that often comes up for sale at £6.50 in Sainsbury’s. 

For white I’d definitely recommend The Ned Sauvignon Blanc and also Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc. They come down to around £7-£8 occasionally.
I don’t find any of them complex. They’re dead easy to open

I can remember that Campo Viejo first appearing in Aldi about 10+ years ago before anyone else had it. It was 3.99 and lovely.  Back when they used to do German TrockenBeerenAuslese at Christmas for £3.99 a 50cl bottle!!

If you like that try the Aldi Aussie Kooliburra Red, the one with the Purple label (there are two others , ones a red label) Very good if you like heavy reds.

russpm

Throwback to Thunderbird wine, red and blue label! 

zepp76

Stay away from Yellow tail Jammy red roo, it’s bloomin awful unless you like drinking sugar syrup!

If you can find a bottle, it used to be sold in Tesco. An Australian red blend called “rule breaker” was a great wine for around £5.99 just can’t find it anymore though. The description on the label was very funny.

Logie

@hywelg ;

If you like that try the Aldi Aussie Kooliburra Red, the one with the Purple label (there are two others , ones a red label) Very good if you like heavy reds.

I'll give that a try. Thanks for the tip

JCA2550

hywelg said:

Logie said:

I go straight to Aldi now for wine. Their Argentinian Buenavista Vides Malbec is a lovely bottle as is their Toco Loco Superior organic and Baron Amarillo Rioja ( I’m sifting through my empties as I type ) All for under £6. As a few people here have mentioned, 19 Crimes is very nice and I quite like the Campo Viejo Rioja that often comes up for sale at £6.50 in Sainsbury’s. 

For white I’d definitely recommend The Ned Sauvignon Blanc and also Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc. They come down to around £7-£8 occasionally.
I don’t find any of them complex. They’re dead easy to open

I can remember that Campo Viejo first appearing in Aldi about 10+ years ago before anyone else had it. It was 3.99 and lovely.  Back when they used to do German TrockenBeerenAuslese at Christmas for £3.99 a 50cl bottle!!

Ooh, I do like a good TBA, delicious honey in a glass...

munckee

russpm said:

Throwback to Thunderbird wine, red and blue label! 

We were so classy when we were at college we used to get Thunderbird ad you could drink it all down on the way to the pub. 

ThePrettyDamned

Simonh said:

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.

There is a definite sweet spot between about £8 and £15 where things get good. You might find the odd bottle that's decent for less (like I said, I enjoy mateus! And a couple of others) but you can get truly delicious wines with fantastic flavours if you spend a bit more.

I really do enjoy my naked subscription. £20 per month added to the account means I get two or three pretty amazing crates per year. 

munckee

Currently thoroughly enjoying a bottle of Camino del Angel which was £6.50 from sainsburys. 

sev112

munckee said:

Currently thoroughly enjoying a bottle of Camino del Angel which was £6.50 from sainsburys. 

That’s not a bad call actually

strumjoughlamps

Agree with @sev112 re Co Op, anything Chilean and the excellent Argentinian Organic red is superb in the £8-12 range 

slacker

JCA2550 said:

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

I've bought online and from Stevenage and always had good service. There's a chap in the shop who knows his rums and helped me out with the children's Christmas presents. All over 30 so no corruption of minors involved.

JerkMoans

Currently celebrating the end of Mothering Sunday with a suitably refreshing schooner of 'The Ned' NZ Sauv B.  Which, frankly, probably makes up about 40% of my bloodstream, year on year.

Anyway, cracking stuff, and frequently on offer at Majestic/Tesco and (I presume) other dens of iniquity at c.£6.99 a pop.

notanon

Does anybody bother decanting?

I use an aerator into a carafe, leave for an hour. It amazes me the difference.

munckee

notanon said:

Does anybody bother decanting?

I use an aerator into a carafe, leave for an hour. It amazes me the difference.

We’ve never had an open bottle last an hour. 

goldtop

notanon said:

Does anybody bother decanting?

I use an aerator into a carafe, leave for an hour. It amazes me the difference.

Isn't there a clip of some celebrity chef decanting red wine with a food mixer?

We don't do that - Ms Goldtop would kick me out. As it is she's a stickler for having the right wine glass. We've got about 6 types - all Riedel - and I'm in the dog house if I get it wrong.