Lidl’s New World Wine Tour starts this Thursday 29th September in-store with 27 wines from the southern hemisphere from the so-called New World. Wines from Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand expand Lidl’s everyday wine range with specials that are available in smaller quantities - and to quote Lidl “when it’s gone... it’s gone”.
The 16 reds, 7 whites, 2 rosé and 2 sparkling wines range in price from a low £5.99 with a South African white and a Chilean red to a high of £11.99 with a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. There are a lot of interesting wines to choose from – but look out for the sparkling wines from New Zealand (a new venture for New Zealand from a country made famous for its exports of gooseberry-tasting Sauvignon Blanc still whites) and the three Australian reds labelled The Second Fleet which are doing their best to look nothing like wines from Penfolds, that rather famous Australian wine maker whose wines sell for double the price of the £10.99 that Lidl is asking for their versions.
The majority of the wines in this latest tour come from Chile (10 of the 27) with half of these coming from the same source where the use of strikingly simple labels showing mammals and birds make the bottles both eye-catching and beautiful and the same time. Try the Pinot Noir Reserva Especial (£7.49) showing a duck on the label or the Carmenere Gran Reserva (£7.49) with a mountain lion.
Argentina only rates one wine in this tour – a red made from Argentina’s signature grape variety, Malbec. At £6.49, the Signos Malbec looks the part with its heavy bottle and striking label but it has some competition from the Co-op’s Argentinean Fairtrade Bonarda Malbec which is a pound cheaper and gets a maximum 5-star rating on the wineuncorked.co.uk system.
Look out for the mysteriously-labelled New Zealand Outlook Bay Marlborough PGR at £7.99. Made from a blend of three white grape varieties – Pinot Grigio, Gerwurztraminer and Riesling – this PGR will mix the flavours of German white wines with the lighter touch of sharper Italian whites, where these three grape types pop up more often. Why the PGR acronym? Another New Zealand wine maker, Yealands, has used this three-letter shorthand on its wines but the French use of GSM for its Grenache, Syrah and Mouvedre red wine blends has made acronyms on labels more widely known and very sellable.
The Lidl New World Wine Tour starts this Thursday and there’s plenty of great wines to aim at.
Wineuncorked.co.uk recommends
Rocktail Bay Chenin Blanc Viognier 2021
£5.99 Lidl
The lowest priced wine in this latest Wine Tour, this South African white is a crowd pleaser with both sweet apricot flavours and sharper lemon. Match to a mid-week takeaway, or in these hard-pressed times the home-made version – a fakeaway.
Pinot Noir Reserva Especial 2021
£7.49 Lidl
It’s Chilean but for all the world it tastes and looks like a Pinot Noir from Burgundy – where you’re looking at prices ranging from £10 a bottle to over £50. This one from Lidl is part of their ten-strong Chilean wines in this latest Wine Tour and boasts an attractive label showing a flying duck. It looks sophisticated and the flavours should match too – light and strawberry.
£7.99 Lidl
Made from a blend of three white grape varieties – Pinot Grigio, Gerwurztraminer and Riesling – this PGR will mix the flavours of German white wines with the lighter touch of sharper Italian whites. Melon and apple flavours with a hint of spiciness from the Gerwurztraminer.
Duck Point Blanc de Blanc sparkling
£9.99 Lidl
A New Zealand sparkling wine made with white grape varieties (hence the White of White, Blanc de Blanc, label) that will give Champagne a run for its money. New Zealand’s cool climate (yes it’s cool baby, even though we think of it in the same breathe as hot Australia) means grapes will only just about ripen and give similar sharp flavours to sparkling wines from northern France in Champagne, and cool southern England. Expect lemon flavours in your fizz.
The Second Fleet McClaren Vale Shiraz 2019
£10.99 Lidl
Paying over £10 for a bottle sounds a lot until you consider that this wine is aiming its sights at the similarly labelled big-name Penfolds, whose Australian wines sell for two or three times as much (Tesco £30 for Penfolds Bin 28 Shiraz, Ocado £20 Max’s Shiraz). Expect rich flavours to match the rich price tag – spicy plum and pepper.
