Aldi’s Danti Pinot Grigio Spumante is the best tasting and
best value sparkling white currently around: £4.99 for a complex mix of dry gooseberry, lime, lemon and almond biscuit flavours with a final hint of fresh peas. This recent addition to the Aldi core range knocks spots of many champagnes. And red wine lovers haven’t been forgotten in this mid-season revamp with four more under-a-fiver slurpers.
A light Italian vino rosso has extended Aldi’s £2.99 range while a Bordeaux Supérieur as appeared at the ‘expensive’ end of their wine range for £4.99.
Reassuringly traditional is the message conveyed by the Bushland Australian Shiraz from the Mount Lofty Ranges - which isn’t a made-up place (although it sounds like it) but a set of mountains just north of Adelaide.
So why did this innocuous sounding place name set off my wine label alarm bells?
Because it’s not that unusual for supermarkets to camouflage cheaply sourced factory-made wines with a made-up brand so as to add extra credence to a lack lustre provenance – after all heading your label with The Mass Produced Wine Co doesn’t really add value does it?
But it turns out the Mount Lofty’s do really exist (I Googled just to be sure). Perhaps it’s time I turned down my cynical meter just a little bit.
So what do all these new wines taste like?
PG Aldi New Wine Review
Aldi Rosso Italiano
£2.99
Although it’s light-bodied with only 11% alcohol you can expect a lot of flavour – cherry, choc and Marmite.
La Tinta Spanish Shiraz
£3.49
Dessert cherry with a hint of milk chocolate and spice. Smooth.
Aldi Australian Bushland Shiraz Mount Lofty Ranges
£4.79
Leave this to stand for 15 minutes after opening to allow the flavours to smooth into plum and blackcurrant. But watch out for the 13.5% alcohol.
Aldi French Bordeaux Supérieur 2010
£4.99
A traditional Bordeaux that even comes bottled with an old-fashioned cork. Fruity, slightly sweet, blackcurrant with a slight burnt toffee edge and some cherry. But it’s still pretty good.
Aldi Italian Danti Sparkling Pinot Grigio Brut Spumante
£4.99
Bargain of the Week and a definite contender for Wine of the Year 2012. This is a spumante sparkling which means it’s only lightly fizzy as so the pleasant flavours aren’t hidden behind a whole lot of burpy bubbles. Expect flavours of dry gooseberry, lime, lemon, apple, pear, grapefruit and almond biscuit. This complex sparkling knocks spots of many champagnes selling at eight times the price.
