My High Street highlights this week include a juicy Merlot and a fresh Sauvignon Blanc, both under £6.
The pictures below should help you spot the bottles on busy supermarket shelves.
2018 Brindle Ridge Merlot (£5.50 – instead of £6.50 until 18 March – at SPAR and 13%):
After years as Asda’s wine guru, Master of Wine Philippa Carr is now helping SPAR to re-shape its offerings. In her former role she introduced several good value Eastern European wines and is doing similarly excellent work with SPAR.
This juicy Romanian red has smooth medium-bodied cherry and raspberry fruit with good acidity, a clove and bay leaf background but very gentle tannin.
2018 Chalk Bay Sauvignon Blanc (£5.32 at Majestic and 12%):
Hailing from Nelson, Marlborough’s often unheralded neighbour, this inexpensive sauvignon has a lighter texture than other New Zealand versions. However, its fresh flavours more than compensate for any lack of heartiness.
It has minty gooseberry fruit, grassy tangerine acidity and a background fusion of grapefruit pith freshness and savoury herbs.
Find it here on Majestic’s website
We’ll be back on Monday with details of new supermarket wine promotions.
2 responses
Brian:
Many thanks for telling me about the Romanian Merlot, which was a very pleasing red. While in Spar(for my first visit), I noticed a Brindle Ridge Chardonnay which was also very pleasing, with a surprisingly good balance of acidity and tropical fruit.
I developed a keen interest in the wines of Romania 3 years ago when I visited that lovely country. The wines are rarely seen in UK supermarkets and take some spotting. I will be visiting Maramures in the far north west of Romania in june 2020(virus notwithstanding!) and look forward to sampling more local wines.
Good to hear from you Tony and glad you enjoyed both the merlot and the chardonnay. That white did win an award and I fancy that Philippa Carr MW was a bit miffed that I chose the merlot rather than the chardonnay.
Eastern Europe has some great value options at the moment that are well worth seeking out. Asda has the Wine Atlas range which often has good Romanian wine and Sainsbury’s House Pinot Noir is an excellent choice too.
Enjoy your trip there which I hope goes ahead OK.