Image supplied by Zachariah Hagy on Unsplash
It’s that time again when I review the year’s wines and pronounce my Top Ten lists. This week it’s the Top Ten Wines of 2019 Under £6. There’s been lots of changes in this category from last year – not least the increase in wines under £5. There has been so many this column was almost labelled the Top Ten Under £5 – but not quite enough made the final cut. Perhaps next year?
All the supermarkets are here with no one name is dominating, which is change on the last few years where the Co-op, Aldi and Lidl have been strong. Now SPAR is flexing its muscles with new ranges (including a vegan range Vine & Bloom) and there’s a new entrant with Iceland supermarket. Iceland may only have a small wine range of just a few hundred wines but these are well priced and a match to their food range.
Marks and Spencer is here too with its own-label Vino de Tavola wines at £5 a bottle. These wines are of variable enjoyability but are good stand-bys if you find yourself wondering what to match with M&S pizza or M&S lasagne. If this range is to survive then M&S need to pull their socks up a bit to compete with the choices of the all the other supermarket wine buyers.
Top 10 wines under £6 2019 (in ascending order of price)
1 Grapevine Spanish Cabernet Sauvignon
£3.79 Aldi
Flavours of black cherry, black pepper and liquorice
2 Tesco Spanish Tempranillo 2017
£4.15 Tesco
Cherries and choc.
3 M&S Italian Vino de Tavola Bianco
£5 M&S
Pear, melon, bit of honey and a grassy tinge. Sophisticated.
4 Sullivan’s Creek Australian Shiraz 2018
£5.25 Sainsbury’s
Not as overly fruity as many Aussie Shiraz. This one has flavours of nutmeg and cherry.
5 SPAR Vine & Bloom vegan Italian Merlot 2018
£5.50 SPAR
Lightly fruity with flavours of damsons. Rather like a French Pinot Noir.
6 SPAR Vine & Bloom vegan Italian Pinot Grigio 2018
£5.50 SPAR
A pleasant wine with a floral tinge to the apple flavours.
7 Rabo de Galo Portuguese red
£5.95 Iceland
Smooth and fruity. A nice wine with flavours of cherry and bramble.
8 Val de Salis French Grenache Noir 2018
£5.99 Lidl
Spicy blackberry. Warming.
9 O Grande Chilean red
£5.99 Aldi
Blackberry jam at one end and a meat filling at the other. It’s a traditional Cornish pasty!
10 Sentador Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
£6 Co-op
Spicy raspberry, plum, cherry and choc. There’s a lot going on.
