Is Aldi or Lidl better value for your Christmas wine?

Just as UKIP has shaken up the political landscape so Aldi and Lidl have changed the face of retailing in the UK. You might not have considered buying your wine there before but you certainly should this Christmas.

Which is the better shop to go to? Each has its strengths and weaknesses. I’d say Aldi had the better offers across the board - I’ll be posting some of their best wines for everyday drinking in the next few days - but Lidl has some real highspots too. Be aware that both operate on a WIGIG (when it’s gone, it’s gone) basis so you might find some lines - e.g. the 30 y.o. tawny port - are already sold out.

Here’s my pick of what each has to offer.

PARTY FIZZ

ALDI Philippe Michel Crémant du Jura 2012 £7.29 ****

Aldi consistently sells one of the best value sparkling wines in the country. Surprisingly it comes from the obscure Jura region in the east of France but is an elegant bottle of bubbly that’s just as enjoyable as champagne.

LIDL Cava Gran Cuvée 11.5% **** £7.49

Cava gets overlooked these days but this delivers the goods in a great-looking bottle. Fresh, clean and drier than prosecco.

CHAMPAGNE

ALDI Leon Launois Grand Cru Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2006 £22.99 *****

Champagne is the big battleground this Christmas and Aldi does of course have a budget line (the perfectly decent Veuve Monsigny at £11.99 ***) but if you feel like spoiling yourself this gorgeous blanc de blancs is a great price for a vintage fizz. Save it for seafood - maybe an Aldi lobster!

LIDL Champagne Grand Cru Brut £17.99 *****

Same message. Lidl’s basic Bissinger is decent but this is a significant step up. A really elegant, classy champagne - great for the price.

CHRISTMAS DAY WHITE

ALDI - Henri de Lorgère Macon Chardonnay 2013 £6.99 ****

A lovely creamy white burgundy that could pass for a much more expensive bottle. Would go with the Christmas turkey, if you prefer white to red. Better still with salmon or a festive fish pie.

LIDL - Muscadet Sèvre et Maine sur lie 2012 12% £6.29 ****

You might not think Muscadet quite posh enough for the Christmas table but this good-looking bottle would be perfect with seafood or smoked salmon

CHRISTMAS DAY RED

LIDL - Gigondas, Calade des Eveques 13.5% £9.99 *****

I was tempted to pick the smooth, mellow Chateau Roylland Saint-Emilion Grand Cru **** 2008 but at £12.99 it’s a little more than you might want to spend especially at Lidl but this Gigondas - a Chateauneuf-du-Pape drinkalike - is a real bargain. Definitely one for the turkey.

ALDI - The Exquisite Collection Crozes Hermitage 2012 £8.99 12.5% *****

Aldi’s Exquisite Collection Gigondas, also at £9.99 is good too **** but this big, generous spicy Crozes Hermitage is even better, a pound cheaper and only 12.5%. Would go with turkey but better still with beef.

SWEET WINES

LIDL - Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh 2011 £7.99 *****

You may not be able to pronounce it (it’s pash-er-anc dew vic beel) but this tiny region of south-west France is one of the country’s hidden treasures. Locally they would drink it with foie gras but it’s also perfect with Christmas pudding.

ALDI - Selection Beerenauslese 11% £5.99 ****

From the best wine region in Austria for sweet wine, this lush beerenauslese is a fantastic buy. Delicious with a light fruity trifle or a festive pavlova. Or sip it with stollen

PORT

LIDL - 10 year old tawny £9.99 ****

A lovely rich nutty tawny - perfect for the Christmas cheeseboard. The best 10 y.o. tawny for the price I've tasted.

ALDI - Maynard’s 30 year old tawny port £29.99 ****

I’m not a big fan of Aldi’ Maynard’s ports as a rule but this deeply nutty 30 y.o. version is a bargain for a port of this age and would make a splendid present. Sip with dark chocolate and nuts. Or some aged parmesan.

My best buys at Waitrose this summer

Although I’m deeply sceptical about ‘half price’ offers, the periodical 25% off promotions if you buy six bottles that the supermarkets put on are a great opportunity to buy your favourite wine at a bargain price. Waitrose is the latest to do it and here’s my pick of the wines I’ve tasted recently.

By the way the offer only runs until next Tuesday June 17th and doesn’t apply in Scotland. Note some wines are only available in a limited number of stores and that some might not have come into stock at the time of writing though they were all supposed to be in by early June. The offer excludes Fine & Rare, Wine Gifts and the En Primeur Service.

RED

Calmel & Joseph Villa Blanche Pinot Noir 2013 Pays d’Oc £8.99 down to £6.74 230 branches

A delicate pretty pinot from the Limoux region - not too alcoholic or too sweet. Would be good with duck or, chilled, with seared tuna or salmon.

Bijou Cuvée Sophie Valrose Rouge 2012 Cabrières £7.99 down to £5.99 69 branches

A Syrah Grenache blend from the Languedoc in an unusual flute-shaped bottle. A bit funky at first but rather delicious. The rosé under the same label (£8.49 down to £6.37) is also really good. Both would make good barbecue drinking.

Mirabeau Rouge 2013 Côtes de Provence £8.99 down to £6.74, 69 branches

A bright fragrant stalky blend of 80% Syrah and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon blended by former M & S wine buyer Jo Ahearne. The rosé isn't quite as good.

Esprit des Trois Pierres 2013 Costières de Nîmes £7.79 down to £5.84, 240 branches

The classic southern French Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre blend. Juicy, easy to drink - perfect for the great outdoors.

Telmo Rodriguez Al-muvedre Old Bush Vine Monastrell 2013 Alicante £8.99 down to £6.74 13.5% 187 branches

Vibrant, bright, juicy, spicy characterful red. Made for grilled meat.

Pablo The Cubist Old Vine Garnacha 2012 Calatayud £9.99 down to £7.49

Exotic rich, full-bodied and spicy. Think steak.

Haughton The Bandit Cabernet Shiraz 2011 £8.99 down to £6.74 159 branches

Deep rich cassis-like red from Western Australia but with a good balancing freshness. Another good BBQ wine

ROSE

Waitrose Provence Rosé 2013 Cotes du Provence 13% £9.29 down to £6.97, 240 branches.

If you’re a fan of pale dry Provencal rosés you’ll love this crisp, fresh example, a really good buy at the price. Salade niçoise, this has your name all over it.

WHITES

Domaine de Felines Jourdan Picpoul de Pinet 2013 £8.99 down to £6.74

One of my favourite Picpouls - really well made, crisp, clean and fruity. The perfect seafood white.

Louis Latour Chardonnay 2013 Ardèche £8.99 down to £6.74

I’m not usually a big fan of Louis Latour but this is a really pukka Burgundian-style chardonnay in a posh bottle that looks - and tastes - as if you’ve paid a great deal more for it. Pair with rich seafood like scallops and crab.

Laurent Miquel Nocturnes Viognier 2013 £8.99 down to £6.74, 260 branches

A rich lush style of viognier made from vineyards that are cultivated by the lutte raisonée - sustainable viticulture - philosophy. Lovely with mildly spiced chicken dishes.

Triade Fiano/Falanghina/Greco 2013 £8.99 down to £6.74, 258 branches

A crisp fresh fruity white from Campania. Great for Southern-Italian style seafood dishes like swordfish or grilled squid

Seifried Estate Grüner Veltliner 2013 Nelson £11.99 down to £8.99. 60 branches

A real curiosity - an Austrian grape variety, grown in New Zealand producing a really intense fruity style of Grüner with bags of personality. Fantastic for Asian salads, noodles and seafood dishes. Well worth snapping up at this price.

For other good buys see this post I wrote last November though bear in mind that they might not be showing quite as well now and that the initial prices may have changed.

Why is wine still so snobby?

The other day I went to an Asda wine tasting. It was held not as you might imagine in a well-lit modern tasting room but in the chandeliered splendour of Dartmouth House in Mayfair. Some of their wines were displayed in wooden Pomerol cases.

They were certainly unlikely to persuade the journalists present that they had suddenly morphed into an old style wine merchant but even the most traditional wine merchants have a more contemporary image these days. So is it their customers they want to impress - and why?

They’re not the only ones. Morrisons has just launched a new website called The Morrisons Cellar while Lidl is advertising its Wine Cellar under the strapline ‘fine wines exclusively at Lidl”. Leaving aside for the moment whether Sancerre actually constitutes a ‘fine wine’ - unless you define fine wine as French what on earth are these cost-cutting retailers talking about cellars for? How many of their customer has a cellar for heaven’s sake? I don’t.

I find it quite sad that you have to talk about fine wine and cellars to encourage people to engage with wine. That’s certainly the reverse of what is happening with beer at the moment and craft beer is booming. I was watching the TV documentary Chateau Chunder the other day about the rise of Australian wine in the '90s. Why did it do so well? Because it offered an unstuffy alternative to the staid world of unpronounceable names and condescending wine service. Have we moved on from then? Doesn’t seem like it at times.

As usual I suspect it comes down to money. Average spend is still low in the supermarkets and lower still in the likes of Asda, Morrisons and Lidl. If they could persuade their customers that the only way to impress their friends is by trading up and taking about cellars then they’d be on to a winner.

(Incidentally Morrisons is charging a fair bit more for its new ‘cellar’ range than you’d pay elsewhere online*. Even allowing for the fact they don’t appear to pay UK tax Vinissimus is charging way less for the Honoro Vera Garnacha 2011 (£4.28) than Morrisons' £14.99 while you can buy the Abanico Boca do Monte for which Morrisons is charging £10.99 for £8.77 in thedrinkshop.com)

In his recent excellent address to the European Wine Bloggers conference Andrew Jefford said 'when you consider that 95% of wine drinkers take it for granted that wine is inseparable from hilarity, I suspect that almost all of us take it too seriously, too earnestly, too reverently".

I couldn’t agree more. It’s time supermarkets projected a different image of wine, encouraging their customers to feel more at ease with wine instead of pandering to our insecurities and prejudices.

What do you think? Is wine marketing still stuck in the dark ages and what do you think supermarkets should do to change it?

*although it does, at the time of writing, have a 25% off a case deal. That doesn't mean the wines aren't generally overpriced.