Supermarket Sweeps - Six for £60 - Sainsbury's - Part 2

Hello all!

Following on from last week's return to frugality after the festive indulgences, this week we conclude the look at Sainsbury's with the red wines we had. As I said last week, there was little of interest in the standard supermarket reds that dominated the shelves but some interesting wines presented themselves from the "Taste the Difference" range. The whites fared pretty damn well, so let's see if the reds kept up...

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Taste the Difference, Priorat, 2008

£7.49 Priorat is a Catalan wine growing area (Priorato in Spanish) where the reds are usually Grenache dominated blends, if not 100% Grenache (or Garnacha in Spanish). This one is mainly Grenache with a bit of Mazuela thrown in, and weighing in pretty heavy at 14.5%

The Look: Dark purple core to a dark cherry/violet rim.

The Smell: Great nose of black cherry, lots of spice, some raspberry and some sweet oakiness, reminiscent of a Bordeaux!

The Taste: This took me by surprise - very good indeed; velvety tannin, plenty of fresh acidity, the high alcohol was almost non-existent on the palate (served on the cool side of room temp.) The fruit profile was black cherry and something sharper - maybe raspberry, punctuated by a highly oaked vanilla and cedar note, but well-handled. Slightly bitter but not too detracting. This was superb after being open for two days - transformed to blackcurrant fruit and sweet caramel, suggesting that this will keep very well and get better with time. 7.5/10.  Recommended

VFM: Very nice for an "own label" wine and bang on the money with a VFM of 1.0!

Taste the Difference, Penguin Sands, Pinot Noir, Central Otago, 2010

£9.99. This pinot is from the much hailed Central Otago region of New Zealand's South Island. A great price point to get people to sample NZ pinot, but a much-contested market. Can it hold up? 13.5%

The Look: Dark purple core to a cherry rim.

The Smell: Very familiar - I swear we've had this before, but from the Producer (Sacred Hill I beleive?) I don't think we have. Anyway, strawberry, blueberry and oak with a floral character too.

The Taste: Fresh, vibrant acidity, tangy, plenty of cherry, raspberry and bright red fruits, quite sharp. Slight hotness and bitter tannin - feels a little over extracted.

The Score: Not the best in this price point. Better than Oyster Bay (not much praise) but search for something else (Villa Maria, Spy Valley, et al - there's plenty more to choose from) 6/10

VFM: Not horrendous, but not the best either; VFM = 0.6

Taste the Difference, Malbec, Mendoza, 2010

£7.99. Mendoza Malbec is a staple for any wine drinker on a budget. It packs a brambly, powerful, tannic and often teeth-staining punch in its inky blackness, begging for a steak. £8 is at the lower end but there's still great stuff to be had here. Is this worthy of the name...? 14.5%

The Look: The de-facto inky black-purple.

The Smell: Initially very acidic, almost vinegary but with a violet, floral backbone so I gave it some time. Not faulty, developing a nice nose of blackberry crumble, spice and a wet-stone minerality. All good so far after a shaky start.

The Taste: Again, very acidic and floral off the bat so gave it two hours in the bottle with the cork off; it remained hot, some pleasing black fruits and crushed-rocks minerality but unfortunately retained a horrible bitterness on the finish and a mouth burning hotness. Unfortunately, badly made wine, overcooked the extraction trying to get deep colour which was achieved at the cost of balance and fruit. Poured the second half down the drain...

The Score: Food did calm it down but I would avoid. There's plenty more from Mendoza and cheaper too, that gladly, aren't like this, which is frankly, pretty shit. 4.5/10

VFM: Even at £7.99, you can beat this hands down at pretty much any wine merchant. VFM = 0.56

So after a great start, and apart from the 2008 Priorat, the reds "pissed on Sainsbury's chips" to coin a phrase. So, only a few supermarkets remain; Morrisons, Asda and if I can pluck up the courage, Aldi and Liddle. Who knows, maybe a £3 Cotes du Rhone will knock my socks off! By my reckoning, Co-Op still leads, but we'll have a full summary when all is complete.

Our birthdays are fast approaching so we may afford ourselves a couple of indulgences before getting back to the nitty gritty of frugal drinking. Until next time...

As always, speak to you soon!

Cheers

WBFTF

Naked Again!

Hello all,

We return to Naked Wines this week, with the recent news that they are bringing the winemakers to meet the customers in a series of UK tasting tours.  They're coming to London, Brighton, Norwich, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Edinburgh so if you're nearby, pop along to sample the wines for yourselves. You'll get to meet the winemakers themselves and sample their latest offerings.

Naked kindly provided some wines as a preview (remembering that "Angels" get 33% cashback off the marked price in return for £20 a month regular payment into your Angels account). We had the first three this week and the next three will follow next week. Enjoy!

Castillo de Tafalla Angels Selection Rosé, Navarra, 2010

Winemaker Benoit Dreyer returns with his "pick of the crop" rosé made from Garnacha (Grenache) grapes grown in Navarra. We've had the standard 2009 rosé before and found it to be very good. 14%

The Look: As you can hopefully tell from the photo, this is probably the most striking-coloured wine; bright lipstick-red with orange and cerise hues. Almost fluorescent in its brightness!

The Smell: Apples, some caramel, strawberry, hints of tropical fruit and some cedary/oaky wood.

The Taste: Again, very apply, like a sweet gala apple, some caramel sweetness but balanced by nice crisp acidity, some tropical hints and decent length. Certainly better on the second glass but a bitterness on the finish let it down slightly.

The Score: A decent rosé but didn't wow as much as the 2009 7/10.

VFM: At £7.99 this is pretty good value, giving VFM = 0.88, but I'm not sure the cream of the crop is worth the extra £1 over the standard Rosé at £6.99?

Borgo dei Sassi, Prosecco DOC, NV

Winemaker Alessandro Botter crafts this fizz in the winery his grandfather set up. Extra dry in style, from about 40 miles North of Venice in the Veneto region. Non-vintage and 11%.

The Look: Pale watery-white with a slight lemon tinge.

The Smell: Very aromatic, grape-juice and peaches are evident.

The Taste: Fine bubbles and lots of them! Very fresh acidity, white fruit like grapes, peaches and apricots. Lots of fruit. Slight hint of biscuit but not a great deal of complexity.

The Score: A fresh, fruity, fragrant and accessible Prosecco. Not bad at all 7/10.

VFM: At £10.49 I would suggest that this is about 20% overpriced, it lacks the minerality and elegance that you start can find in £10+ Proseccos. VFM@ 0.67 isn't terrible and with the Angel's 33% cashback it's more in line with what you'd expect to pay.

Montaria, Vinho Regional Alentejano, 2010

From the hot region of Alentejano in the south of Portugal by winemaker Antonio Ventura. This is a blend of indigenous varieties; Trincadeira, Aragonez and Alicante Bouschet. And no, I've never heard of them either! 13%.

The Look: Dark red with purple and violet hues running through. Not quite opaque but nearly.

The Smell: Really great smells, especially after an hour open. Redcurrants, blackcurrants, blackberries and oaky spice.

The Taste: Lots of fruit, a hit of dark cherry, blackberry and brighter more acidic red fruit like redcurrants. Cedary notes as well. Good balance between fruit, acidity and tannin. Not infinitely long but a decent length. Ever-so-slight hotness on the finish. Good, solid, but generic fruity red.

The Score:  At £7.99 it places itself in a tough competitive environment. There's gallons of good wines to be had and this doesn't really stand out. It is, however, an unusual blend and it's worth a try. 7/10.

VFM: The VFM pops out at a pretty respectable 0.88. Portuguese wines are neglected by the majority of the wine-drinking public (I'm guilty) but not deservedly so. Next time I'll probably go for the Reserva 2009 @ £9.99 as I'm sure that would offer a step-up in taste.

So there we have it. Three solid performers this time around. All good value and even more so if you're prepared to stump-up the £20 a month Angels fee. I'll review the remaining three next week, maybe there'll be a breath-taker amongst those...?

As always, speak to you soon.

Cheers

WBFTF

Icons - Torres

Hello all!

Following the overwhelming response to my poll last week, I've decided on a little shift-of-focus for a while. So may I introduce the "Icons" series. In this I will explore Iconic producers and wines that, either in my opinion, or the wider (and wiser) wine press', are considered to offer great quality to price ratio. The essence of Wine Blog for the Frugal, if you will. Some may be true beacons of value in a sea of pish, others maybe not. I'd like to find out...

So without further ado, we've recently had two stunning wines, in terms of both quality and price, from arguably the most well known Spanish producer; Torres. Situated Pacs de Penedes, in the autonomous Catalonia region (near the city of Barcelona) Miguel Torres and his family produce great value wines. Decanter's Man of the Year 2002 and fourth generation Torres runs the winery with his two youngest, Mireia and Miguel Jr. They have wineries in Chile and the Russian River Valley in the US (run by Miguel's sister Marimar) along with several in Spain, including regions such as Ribera del Duero, Rioja Alavesa and Priorat. They do, of course, produce some very fine, high-end wines such as Reserva Real, Grans Muralles and Perpetual, but for me, the value is to be had in the wines from the Pacs de Penedes winery. It's production quantities are large, hence the value, but I don't believe in labelling this a "Mega-Brand" as it still has an air of family-produced craftsmanship, rather than the Spanish version of Hardy's. Perhaps in testament to, or maybe just support for a local company, or even pandering to tourists' whims, but on a recent visit to Barcelona, Torres wines were a staple on the restaurants' and cafes' wine lists.

Anyway, two of the best we had were as follows:

Torres, Sangre de Toro, 2008, Catalunya

Literally meaning "Blood of the Bull", named after Bacchus the God of Wine (I kid you not) who was the "Son of the Bull". This is a blend of Garnacha (Grenache) and Cariñena....13.5%

The Look: A deep purple with a lipstick-red rim.

The Smell: Beautiful smell for a wine of this price. Spicy raspberries from the Garnacha plus lots of other fruit; blackberries, black cherries and plums, meaty, violets and a bit of oak.

The Taste: Loads of fruit, powerful blackberry and spice. Fresh, bright acidity and a long finish. Really good!

The Score: Punches well-above its weight. Excellent 8/10. Highly Recommended

VFM: At about £5 to £8 depending on where you get it (Waitrose had it for £5.21 recently and Majestic had it for £5.99) this is a real bargain. An absolutely first class VFM = 1.54 to 1.0.

Torres, Vina Esmerelda, 2010, Catalunya
There was a story about this wine, named after a family member, who would often be at tastings to serve it, but I forget...I know that's not much use! Anyway, a blend of mainly Moscatel and some Gewurztraminer (about 15%) this tips the scales at 11.5%. [Apologies for the photo on this, I've recently sold my DSLR and had to make do with a camera phone (soon to be rectified!)]

The Look: A clear, bright watery-white with a lemon tinge.

The Smell: Great nose, very powerful and aromatic. Peachy, elderflower, lots of fruit with some tropical whiffs, maybe passion fruit?

The Taste: Really peachy and smooth, bags of fruit, apricot, peach yogurt creaminess, some elderflower. Very long with a burst of zest citrus/tropical fruit right at the end. So drinkable and possibly D's new favourite White!

The Score: Cracking wine. Moreish. 8/10. Highly Recommended

VFM: Again about £7 to £8 depending on where you get it (Waitrose had it for £7.30 recently and Majestic had it for £7.99) this is again, a bargain. Great VFM at 1.14 to 1.0.

So, I hope you enjoyed the first "Icons"  installment. Plenty more on the way, stay tuned.

As always, speak to you soon!

Cheers

WBFTF