If it’s Monday, then it must be time for our regular search in High Street stores for great value Top Tips that are available right now.
Once again, Chile provides today’s featured red with kindly priced, understandably simple, cabernet sauvignon ideal for informal drinking.
Its partner white stays that side of the Atlantic but is more of a surprise with a Californian chardonnay at only £6 that displays the judicious balance between oak and fruit influences more often seen at higher price points.
I hope you enjoy them both.
As normal, pictures (and, where possible, hyperlinks) help to guide you straight to the right wine on shelf or web page.
Straightforward red at a bargain price
Given Tesco’s stated aim to “keep the cost of the weekly shop in check”, they are prominently highlighting their “under £5” wines – where, predictably, overall quality can vary appreciably,
However, 2021 Lateral Cabernet Sauvignon (£3.89 at Tesco) is a sound, easy drinking, party-time Chilean red with smooth, medium bodied plum and blackcurrant flavours, firm acidity and subtle tannin.
Modern Californian chardonnay offers great value
Once, richly oaked chardonnay was king in California, but, nowadays, the careful and measured use of oak is much more common (but – and here’s the big plus – most often when prices get into the teens).
In 2019 Pacific Mountain Vineyard Chardonnay (£6.00 – instead of £7.00 until 7 June – at the Co-op), for instance, the central melon and orchard fruit flavours are given verve by lime acidity with oak merely smoothing out the wine’s texture and adding subtle toffee elements to its otherwise savoury background.
Call in again on Thursday when I run the rule over the current Lidl promotion in the latest of MidWeek Wines Discounter Discoveries series.
