You're Unbelievable

I've mentioned this wine before but fear it may have been undersold. Just to make sure I don't make the same mistake again: this is UNBELIEVABLE value for money.

As the label says, morello cherries, if you don't like them, don't buy it. If you do, or even if you're indifferent, buy it. In fact buy loads of it, because just now M&S are offering 25% off any 6, bringing this one in at the frankly incredible price of £2.99 a bottle.

Tonight it went with Caponata, however, as a result of extensive testing, I can also confirm it goes with: pizza, pasta, crisps, dips, cottage pie, chilli con carne, stuffed vegetables, roast chicken, duck, and mystery fridge stuff on crackers. Cin cin.

One word of caution. M&S do other wines in this range with similar labels. They are definitely NOT in this league.

It's pronounced 'B-A-R-G-A-I-N'

There's a great scene in the one of the Harry Palmer spy films where Harry opens a bottle of Portugese Dao and announces, in his best Micheal Caine voice, "It's pronounced Down". Until that scene, I think it's fair to say, not a lot of people knew that.

Rioja never seemed to cause pronunciation problems. It may not be exactly how they say it in situ, but for English speakers a very oaky wine called 'Ree-oak-aah' makes perfect sense.

Sainsbury's have this one on sale at the moment, down from £15.99 to just £8.00 a bottle.

£8 for a quality ten year old Gran Reserva is a serious bargain. It's only available in some stores so worth calling ahead to check they have it. The store on Glasgow's Crow Road had about 10 bottles left last night. I'm planning for there to be less tonight.

At times it seems beautifully mature. All cedary sweetness. Then a few swirls later and it's back in it's youth. Stroppy, brooding, slightly out of balance. Weird, but very enjoyable. You get two phases of a wine's maturity in the same glassful. Can wines have a late 'teenage' phase? Increasingly I'm aware that many things do...

I just can't get enough..

This is a cracking wine for the money that I've been buying in dribs and drabs for weeks. Tonight I asked the woman in Oddbins how much she had left..... "Oh, funny you should ask, I had loads but a guy came in today and bought 3 cases and someone has just left with two, so I'm running low". That did it, especially since you get 20% off any 12 bottles. 

So, I popped out for a £5.99 bottle to have with dinner and struggled back carrying a case. Oops. The discount makes this wine £4.79 a bottle. A total bargain! 

It tastes to me like the best of old and new worlds, ripe but not too rich, a subtle lick of oak, licorice and I'd swear gravel too.... in a nice way, like Graves. And, it's only 12.5% alcohol.

Red Wine Bargain

Top glugger!  It was recommended by someone called 'wine expert' on those tags they attach to most supermarket wines now. No matter how lowly the wine, someone, somewhere, will have recommended it.... and the supermarkets love recommendations.

Anyhow Mr Expert is on the money.  The label says cherries and wild berries.....I'd say blackberries and cherries squished in the dusty pockets of an old boiler suit, mixed with a bit of fag ash and a soupcon of phlegm. In a good way.  Think you might notice drinking too much of this one..... in the interests of research I'll experiment asap and post the results.  Anyway, at £3.99 from Sainsbury's you can't complain.

Latest bargain!

Marks and Spencer are dumping their Christmas Claret just now. Down from £7.99 to £3.99 in my local branch. Guess it's hard to shift something associated with Xmas in bleak cold February. Anyway, it's a lovely claret for the money.....and, if you buy 6 you'll get another 10% off too.  It's pretty fruity but still has that lovely Bordeaux dryness that suits food so well.  That said,we  managed to polish off a couple of bottles last night while just nibbling some cheese.  On the cork it says this wine is actually from Chateau D'Argadens, Bordeaux Superieur 2004.