The new year sales trundle on, not least at M & S which is knocking a couple of quid off a number of wines that are moving on to their next vintage. As I've said before you need to watch out as some of them are 2-3 years old now but here are six I'd take a punt on (former price in brackets):
Pirque Chardonnay 2008 £5.99 (£7.99)
Classy Chilean Chardonnay of the full-on buttery kind from a boutique estate I visited earlier this year. Their Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 at the same price is also well worth the price
Corriente del Bio Pinot Noir £5.99 (£7.99)
Pretty good at its full price of £7.99. A snip to find a really quite elegant pinot for £5.99
Kaituna Hills Cabernet Merlot 2008 £6.49 (£8.49)
Haven't tasted this for a while but a normally reliable minty blackcurranty Cab from giant NZ producer Brancott (formerly Montana)
Minervois 2008 Gerard Bertrand £4.99 (£6.99)
A good gutsy blend of Syrah, Grenache and Carignan. Just what you need for the last couple of months of winter drinking.
Torre Scalza Montepulciano 2007 £5.99 (£7.99)
Possibly the best bargain of the lot: a rich spicy southern Italian red that could pass for a posh Tuscan. Would be lovely with lamb and baked pasta dishes.
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Thanks for the recommendations – the Montepulciano especially sounds good.
ReplyDeleteAlways generally found M&S wines pretty good quality but lately I've been slightly disappointed with what I've had; maybe just bad luck (or poor choices!) rather than a drop in quality?
I bought an introductory wine club case (which worked out at just £3 a bottle when bought through Quidco) hoping it might be a bargain, but didn't actually find it to be very good value (suppose you can't expect miracles at that price). A reminder that cheap doesn't always = value. Also recently bought a bottle of Nord Sud Rhone red at £15 in the M&S sale (down from £20) and I didn't think that was brilliant for the price, so thanks for these tips.
I think the problem is that wines are generally priced for discount nowadays which may mean the reductions are not as generous as they seem. I'm always a bit sceptical about mixed cases especially 'pot luck' which generally contain wines the retailer wants to shift for one reason or another.
ReplyDeleteThe ideal thing is to buy one bottle of any reduced wine, see if you like it then snap up more if you do but there's always a risk they'll be cleaned out if the wine is good.
Will keep posting though not quite as frequently as usual as I'm trying to finish a book!