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This week’s top tips and current promotions
Join me this week for a look at Lidl's latest wine tour and the bottles I think are worth a look, whatever your budget. Scroll down and you'll also find details of offers at Asda and Sainsbury's, plus how to snap up one of the last few places on our Uncorking MidWeek Zoom tasting.
2018 Minervois (£5.99 at Lidl while stocks last):
Lidl’s latest Wine Tour promotion began recently and includes this Languedoc option which gets my vote for a value-for-money red.
It has medium bodied (yet bold) loganberry, plum and cherry flavours with gentle tannin and good acidity embellished by aniseed, mint and mocha touches and an edge of sweetness.
2018 Expression de Saint Mont (£5.99 at Lidl while stocks last):
Once again, South West France delights us with one of their local grape varieties that seldom appears in other parts of the world.
This minty and textured white has apple, quince and melon flavours with vibrant pithy grapefruit acidity rounded out by suggestions of green herbs and nuttiness.
Top Tips Bonus
As well as the kindly priced wines above, the Lidl Wine Tour includes the following bottles that cost a bit more money but, for me, will handsomely reward anyone who buys them:
2019 Les Aumoniers Cȏtes du Rhone Villages Seguret (£7.49)
An impressive, rounded, smoky, raspberry-centred red.
2018 Macon-Lugny (£7.99)
An aromatic but soft and delicate white, with apple-centred flavours, firm lemon acidity and creamy texture.
A de Senneval Premier Cru NV (£15.99)
A Champagne that shows off its Premier Crus class with tropical fruit and lemon flavours, brioche texture, savoury touches and silky mouthfeel.
Current promotions
At Sainsbury's
The current wine and fizz promotion ends tomorrow but be sure to check next Monday's post for details of its successor.
At Asda
The latest ‘buy six and save 25%' offer at Asda is expected to run until 1 November. (Update: Now expected to end on 8 October!) They tell me this deal is cumulative so multi-buy reductions will be on top of any discounts available through other promotions.
Remember though that legislation within devolved authorities means that this multi-buy offer is not available in all parts of the UK.
Join this week's online tasting
There are still a few seats left on Wednesday's event so do book now to secure your place. Remember, you don’t need to buy the wine to participate. Some folk use tastings like this to help them to decide which options to buy later. Be great to see you there!
We're back on Thursday when we select impressive mid-priced wines from the shelves of Asda.
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Brian Elliott
Brian Elliott is an established wine journalist, taster, judge and writer with a weekly column in Scottish newspapers.
Comments
6 Comments
Hello Brian
I was awaiting with interest your take on the new Lidl Wine Tour. I got the Seguret last week and the Macon Rouge. As much as I enjoyed the Les Aumoniers Cotes du Rhone and as you say it was impressive, further north up the Rhone got my better attention! The Collin-Bourisset Macon I thought was splendid! Vis a vis that reply I sent re your survey and me trying to find cheap Burgundy I feel at £7.99 I might have scored well in this respect with this current Lidl offering. I presume it to be the Gamay Noir grape rather than Pinot but nevertheless the characteristics were so enjoyable. I bought the Collin-Bourisset Julianas a couple of years ago in Lidl-France … €5.95 … and see the latest vintage is also part of the current Wine Tour here at home. I hope they keep stocks up over the next few weeks. I want the St Monts now and the Minervois too, now you have flagged them up. Best as ever. Eddie
Glad you liked that Rhone but I have yet to try the red Macon but the white is superb for the price. Pleased to see the Minervois on your shopping list. I thought was absolutely typical and great value with change (OK only a penny) from £6.
Hi Brian, I was passing Lidl and thought I’d give the Expression de Saint Mont a try. Really pleased, not too dry and good fruit, especially at the price point. I’ve not picked up wine from Lidl before before and was pleasantly surprised by this and a Pinot I grabbed. Thank you.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it Nigel. I thought it was a great example of what South West France does well. I find it is always worth dropping into Lidl especially when a Wine Tour has just started.
Bought the Minervois. Disappointed; there is an underlying metallic taste, I detected very little fruitiness and none of the flavours that you suggest are there. Thought it might be better after getting some air to it, but sadly, not. Don’t know if I have picked up a bad bottle, but to me this is a rather rough country wine, that I might expect to pay a couple of euros for, at most. Will stick to the Rhone for my reds although quite fond of Languedoc whites.
Sorry to hear that you were disappointed – especially if I gave you a bum steer. As you say, it may be bottle variation or it may be that our respective taste buds react differently. Other tasters have shared my enthusiasm for this wine but, on the other hand, Richard Bamfield’s view seemed more in line with yours. Be interested to hear what others think and – as you suggest – Rhone reds are usually good options. Thanks for getting in touch, though, it is important to know what subscribers discover when they try wines I recommend.
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