Today’s post is really about trends – one long term and one recent.
The one taking time concerns today’s selected white wine.
When wine’s popularity started to climb, Portugal’s Vinho Verde was perfectly placed.
It was light, carbonated, undemanding and in a distinctive flask shaped bottle.
When tastes changed, though, that wine (and others like it) quickly lost traction.
As the main piece below discusses, years of marketing effort went into reversing that trajectory.
That it is now doing so is testament to persistence and adherence to answers to two questions.
One is what do we do well and the other is how can our local expertise make it better.
The other story is more recent and over a reduced time frame.
Rising grocery prices from 2021 saw a boost in cheaper supermarket own-label products and especially in sales at Aldi and Lidl.
According to the BBC website, Aldi boss in the UK, Giles Hurley, now suggests that “It’s still tough out there for millions of families but inflationary pressures are easing for some”.
Where times are less hard, Aldi notices that shoppers are treating themselves to more of the retailer’s premium products.
To meet that shift, there are noticeable changes in some Aldi wine ranges, and these are reflected on this site.
A few weeks ago, a Top Tip was their £10 Specially Selected Cigales Crianza which is followed today by another red over the usual £8 limit.
See how well you enjoy it.
Adopting my traditional format, images and, where possible, hyperlinks accompany the assessments of the wines.
Let’s consider that red first
2022 Specially Selected Cab-err-nay Fronk (£8.49 at Aldi and 14% abv):
I have been after this brilliant cabernet franc from South Australia all summer and only caught up with it now – as stocks started to diminish.
It is a great example of this versatile but too often overlooked grape variety.
Medium bodied with savoury edges, it is centred on smooth cherry, loganberry and red currant flavours.
These are partnered by good acidity (but limited tannin) and suggestions of aniseed, tomato, coffee and violets.
And then to Portugal
2023 Best Vinho Verde (£8 at Morrisons and 10%):
In its early days, Vinho Verde could be (for that, read “usually was”) bland and excessively spritzy.
Extensive re-inventing work there put the spotlight on the almost unique lightness and freshness of the region’s white wines.
It was right to do so, and to back up that marketing with winemaking that drew the best from the local grape varieties – which include the aromatic loureiro used here.
Only very gently effervescent, the result exhibits clean nectarine and evolving orange flavours and ensures any “fizz” simply adds a refreshing dimension
Additional support takes the form of fresh grapefruit acidity embellished by subtle floral influences.
No post this coming Thursday but I shall be back with the usual Top Tip choices next Monday
14 responses
“Vinho Verde” seems to be an adaptable term. I noticed that some of the Alvarinhos discussed here a week or two back were marked “Vinho Verde,” despite not being at all effervescent or light textured. Does the term have a specific meaning?
Many thanks to all of you responding to Jerry’s question. As those responses suggest, the region has moved towards putting a sharper focus on to its specific grape varieties reserving the name of the region for light and fresh options like the one praised here. Alvarinho is in a class of its own but other varieties are quickly catching up.
Hi Jerry
Literally translates to ‘Green Wine’, also the name of the small northern Portuguese region. The term also relates to young, fresh wines that are grown in humid and moist conditions with lush greenery and usually lightish in alcohol. That’s my understanding, Brian may well expand.
Standard vinho verde is made from a variety of grapes, and is 8.5-11.5% abv. However, if the bottle mentions a specific grape or sub-region, then it can be up to 14%
The most highly regarded region is Moncao E Melgaco
Looking online, a number of specialist wine merchants sell Alvarinho Vinho Verde from this area, but they are £15 – £20 a bottle. This is not standard vinho verde
In the last year or two, Aldi have sold 13% VV made from the Avesso or Loureiro grape, at about £7.99. Worth looking out for
My apologies, it was not Aldi, it was Lidl. The wines were part of their regular Wine Tours, which Brian often comments on
You are not as far out as you feared, Dave., Aldi did sell a (very pleasant) Avesso at one stage.
Morning Brian
I’ve had this Morrisons Vinho Verde and enjoyed it very much.
Yes, the term ”Vinho Verde” is somewhat confusing when it comes down to selecting in a style we think know and prefer but might on occasion turn out differently. See Alvarinho below …
The designation is of indigenous grape varieties of several districts of the verdant Minho area in the far north of Portugal but as already discussed by others here, it is of-the-style too, green, verde, meaning young. Released to be drunk early the fizz originally arising out of the malolactic, yeasty fermentation that continued in the bottle, eventually replaced by more careful manufacturing to stop cloudiness, it’s now artificially carbonated.
I very much enjoy these lighter, fresher, spritzy, green-young wines that features various indigenous grapes. It’s evocative especially of bar and cafe wines, less alcoholic, served well-chilled by the glass in Portuguese holiday areas, for not a lot of money, that won’t get us sleepy too early in the day! Plenty will have drunk a Vinho Verde with their grilled sardines or readily quaffed it to take the hot edge off piri-piri chicken.
I see from the blue bottle on my rack, Alvariho Cuba Azul 2022, from Morrisons, is listed also on the label Vinho Verde DOC. Spoken about enthusiastically before today on MWW this one is from a specified sub region of the Minho, and is rich, mineral, complex and heavy on tropical fruit notes with little or no discernable bubbles. Very different from a young style bottling.
Isn’t wine interesting and wonderful ….
Rosé has now become an acceptable year round drink But vinho verde ,for me, is definitely a summer drink.
At last, the forecast for this week is warm and settled and perhaps the last week to enjoy this wine.
I am a big fan – and others on this site-of Asda’s Torre de Lapela vinho verde.Very easy drinking,light on fruit,light on alcohol-9.5%,with a gentle spritz.
Still available on line and maybe in store- but not in mine.
£5.50.No,that is not an offer price,that is the regular price and great value.
PS … Just stumbled on a Tesco 25% off buy 6 bottles running alongside a few Clubcard reductions at the same time, from tomorrow 17th September until the 23rd! Not a Vinho Verde to recommend but few of our favourite reds showing the best possible price.
Mucho Mas Vino Tinto £8/£7/£5.25
Vista Castelli Montepulciano d’Abruzzo £5.50/£4.12
Campaneo Old Vines Garnacha £6.50/£5.75/£4.31
Les Terrasses St Nicolas Cabernet Franc £11/£8.25
Eglise Saint Jaques Rouge Bergerac £7.50/£5.62
Thanks for the “heads up” Eddie. Very helpful as ever.
We tried the Morrisons Vinho Verde this evening (down from £8 to £7 More Card price – they’re all at it). It was OK but it didn’t, for us, measure up to the M&S Vinho Verde, which is normally £7 but with 10% off six across their wine range. That one tastes cleaner, fresher and spritzier to our palate. More summery… While in M&S there’s the Italian unoaked red La Cascata, now down to a regular nine quid but at a ridiculously cheap £8.10 with the 10% off for six, mix ‘n’ match. Or why not two each of the aforementioned and two bottles of the lovely Feteasca Regala to make up the six… My wife told me not to mention any of this online…
It’s a brave man, Steve., that defies his wife’s instructions, but I think there should be enough of all those wines you list to go round. The M&S example blends in two other grape varieties with Loureiro and that may explain the differences you describe – but the amount of spritz is usually down to the winemaker. That we are discussing differences in competing Vinho Verde’s is testament enough to how much progress has been made there in recent years.
Hi Brian,
Just received a Waitrose email stating that (if you have a My Waitrose card) there is 20% off all Blueprint wines – for one week only.
Looking through my records I have enjoyed their Chianti, White Burgundy and Pinot Noir – but not necessarily the current vintages. I note that their Albariño is, in addition, on clearance offer, down from £11.99 to £7.99, but will no doubt be elusive! Happy hunting if any are of interest. Topically, their Vinho Verde is listed at £6.99, and has very good reviews.
Thanks Richard… Those Blueprint wines are usually pretty reliable.