A great piece of wine related advice I was once given was to prioritise entry level wines made by a major region’s top producers.
Often those guys have access to especially high quality fruit or to carefully cultivated young vines which regulations rule out for their premium offerings.
Similarly, they have lifetimes of experience to pinpoint exactly what makes their region’s wines so spectacular.
Putting both aspects together, several respected and long-standing producers create “junior” and sympathetically priced offerings.
These ably reflect their region’s signature characteristics without trying to match the dizzy heights much more expensive versions can scale.
I have one such wine for you today.
Another good plan can be to try “going back to Square One”.
As increased numbers of regions try out different grape varieties, you should circle back to see how the original “early adopter” regions are responding.
This post also has an example where doing exactly that has paid off well.
The result (today’s white selection) is significantly better than neighbours on their shelves a pound or less cheaper.
Adopting my traditional format, images and, where possible, hyperlinks accompany the assessments of the wines.
First, though, to the red
2023 Les Dauphins Côte du Rhône (£7.75 – instead of £8.75 until 25 February – with a Nectar card at Sainsbury’s and 14.5% abv):
Cellier des Dauphins is a major Rhône Valley producer created 60 years ago to showcase the region’s varieties, terroir and winemaking skills.
It now unites 2,000 wine families cultivating 12,000 hectares of vines in various appellations including prestigious ones.
Dark and lingering, this is one of its “everyday versions” and centres itself around soft cherry and strawberry flavours.
These are accompanied by sharp acidity with nutmeg, cocoa and mint touches but the tannin involved is limited and soft.
And then a change of continent.
2023 Specially Selected Estevez Sauvignon Blanc Reserva (£6.49 at Aldi and 12%):
As a nation’s wine industries develop, other regions try their hands at what works well in other parts of that country.
That is certainly so with cooler parts of Chile and sauvignon blanc.
Here however, Casablanca – a pioneer region with the variety – shows that they have not lost their magic touch and, in this case, do so at a great price.
Clear and bright, this example contains tangy grapefruit, pear and crunchy apple flavours.
Supplementary components include lemon peel acidity and a depth that attractively incorporates herbal and grassy elements.
Remember that Burns Night Whisky?
Last month I recommended a Burns Night Highland whisky that would work with haggis – but also has much more to offer.
Well, its stablemate. Lidl’s Ben Bracken Islay Single Malt Scotch, has just been awarded both Gold and Category Winner in the World Whisky Awards 2025.
It was declared the best Single Malt within its Islay region in the “12 years and under” category.
That is a remarkable achievement for a whisky priced at a mere £18.49.
It has been described as possessing “aromas of tangy sea spray, bonfire smoke, salted bananas and baked apples” with candied orange influences to contrast with that smokiness.
Something, then to delight lovers of peaty whisky -a legion that starts, I believe, with royalty.
The next post (on Thursday) examines some of the medical evidence about alcohol and takes a more optimistic tone than many of today’s doomsayers.
10 responses
Hello Brian,
Just wondered if you or any of your readers have ever tried the ‘Winedrops’ company?
It promises big discounts for an annual membership fee.
Cheers,
James
Hi James and welcome to the Comments section. I have not tried Winedrops myself but can anyone in the MidWeekers tribe help with this?
I always refer to Trustpilot when considering whether a new-to-me company suits my needs and then largely ignore the 5* reviews and focus on comments from reviewers who are less impressed. Are there common themes emerging that I am not happy about? Here’s the relevant link for Winedrops – https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/winedrops.com
Hi Brian,
Great advice.
I always judge a winemaker by their entry level offering.The best apply the same care and attention to their bread and butter wines as they do to their stellar offerings.*
Take Guigal as an example.
Their top wines sell for over £300 a bottle,yet you can buy into that expertise for a bargain £10 reduced from £13 for clubcard holders until 24 th Feb.2025
Guigal Cotes Du Rhone Red Wine Tesco SGM blend 14.5%
*Part of their success is that they buy grapes at three times the market price so always get the best of the crop.
Morning Brian
Les Dauphins always got a positive shout on Clair Hearnden’s excellent cuveereserve group chat site a few years back, and rightly so. In the same vein I have always championed Calvet that I used to regularly buy 40 odd years ago from the bottom shelf of French supermarkets, three bottles of vin de table for 15FF! It was way better than its price point suggested it might be.
Now if it could still be found somewhere, the Calvet Cité de Carcassonne Rouge that Morrisons seem to have abandoned, has been a regular go-to for me. Morrisons have both the Les Dauphins and Calvet CduRs. No longer found available as ”cheap as chips” all these wines are nevertheless available at a reasonable price especially when bought as part of a 25%-off deal. They all seem to work well as MWWs drunk with pasta and pizza fayre and the like, and are not to be sniffed at!
Thank you for the heads-up on the Lidl Ben Brachan Islay malt whisky after especially the accreditation of that range Highland single for last January 25th. Again, to me, the Aldi Glen Marnoch version of the Islay genre raises its head as a worthy contender too.
Interesting as a fan of many a Scots whisky, Speyside has gone off my radar somewhat these days in preference for Highland and Islay. And again with some interest attaching for the officiandos for more smokey/peaty malts although Johnnie Walker Red Label, cheapest in that blended range, has in the past gotten a less than complimentary press from those in-the-know, I got a bottle given to me at Xmas and was surprised that it had less of the cheap end burn it once surely did display and not a little hint of smoke there too now. The whole range of JW blends these days has a lot to be recommended.
But I am due in Lidl tomorrow latest to collect some Pluscard freebies and offers and a bottle of the Ben Brachan Islay single I shall have. Thank you and …
Slainte ….
Hi Brian,
I have enjoyed Cellier des Dauphins in the past – including in a 250ml can!
This can is a convenient size, especially as many of us are trying to drink better but less. Waitrose have a 4 for the price of 3 offer on cans, so price per can comes down from £3.65 to £2.73 i.e. £8.21 bottle equivalent. Which is not too bad.
But when there, they also do an Uncommon White Bubbly in a 250ml can. This is £5.95, but can be in the mixed 4 for price of 3 offer. This Kent fizz is 70% Bacchus & 30% Chardonnay. I enjoyed it. Very good size for a minor celebration – e.g. your car passes the MOT, but with advisories!
Always enjoyed Cellier des Dauphins and the entry levels are all fine but I especially like their excellent Vinsobres. Had the pleasure of meeting their head winemaker/director Laurent Paré at an event a few years back, very enthusiastic about his wines,
Le Dauphins Cotes Du Rhone White Morrisons – a tasty southern Rhone valley blend of Grenache Blanc and 30% Viognier, normally £8.50 was priced at £7 yesterday in my local Wrexham store- on clearance. Good value at that price.
Following recent posts about Montepolciano D’Abruzzo wines, my wife asked me to pick up a bottle of white cooking wine. So inspecting Tesco’s bottom shelves noticed a Trebbiano D’Abruzzo under the Vista Castelli branding. This is from the Citra Cooperative – they produced the Organic Montepolciano D’Abruzzo Morrisons’ The Best wine that impressed me recently. They also make an example under the Vista Castelli branding for Tesco, at £5.50. Well the Trebbiano was a citrus, nutty 11% ABV wine that was lovely – and at £4.90. I tasted the £5.50 red, a while ago, and that was a pleasant budget red. It is so pleasing that one can get decent wines at these prices!
As mentioned as I would Brian I was in Lidl and got the Ben Bracken Islay malt you suggested here.
While gin and vodka seem to be the go-to spirit mixture of choice with the masses these days … any days? … whisky is a strong liquor usually more associated with drink-it-alone yeah? So as with wine the more pure provenance of such a drink needs to be both understood and naturally well appreciated for what it offers. People who just “booze” on any alcohol seem to miss a trick in my book because every drink should have characteristics to both savour and please … not just the alcoholic strength to eventually anaesthetise!!
This Islay whisky amongst today’s crafted offerings is something of a traditional throw back. Nobody has tried to alter the typical provenance in giving us a blended peated whisky a la Black Grouse or Johnnie Walker Black Label. This Ben Bracken is the real deal. It fascinates me to know exactly from which Islay distillery it comes from. The remotely located Caol Ila often gets a mention by those who know better than I do.
No matter it is of a special grouping these days where “own label” supermarket malt and malt blends sit. There’s plenty of them out there that rarely get spoken about but then in my experience often they don’t really deserve any positive acknowledgement because they can be poor or just plain unremarkable as stand alone drams.
Not so the Lidl Ben Bracken malt trio nor the Aldi Glen Marnoch range that has even broader issue. Aldi’s sherry cask matured at £19.99 is very good and most especially because all these bottles come in at under £20. Remarkable pricing that. More than remarkable when several started out life on the shelf at £16.95 a few years back!
To finish, this Islay offering sits in a class that is not far removed from the premium 12 year malts that are Lagavulin and Laphroaig that cost way more than Lidl ask. Enjoyment really does presume we are into such strongly delineated flavours that incorporate heavy smoky peat but an element that many detractors identify as antiseptic. In short that’s a little bit like the “petrol” characteristic of a Riesling white wine. You either like it or you don’t. It’s isn’t a wrong trait but the very essence of the thing allied to chemical activity.
But compared to most other scotch whisky, (though not all Highland and Speyside malts), the peaty characteristic rules very heavily here. We pays our money …
PS just a dash of water into the dram glass is often considered an advantage where strongly flavoured malt whisky is concerned to “improve” matters even more, and release flavours!