I picked this up a few months ago from Aldi when it was featured as ‘Wine of the Week’ at a tempting £4.99, though the final price was £5.75 since I happened to be visiting Wales at the time.
On a side note, Wales has some peculiar minimum pricing rules and, oddly, even the large Tesco stores seemed to offer only a fraction of the range you’d find in England.
I wasn’t entirely sure what I’d bought, though the pricing label suggested it normally retails at £19.99. A little digging revealed this 2017 vintage to be a blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon and 48% Merlot with an alcohol content of 13%. It comes from the Pessac-Léognan Appellation, situated in the northern part of the Graves region in Bordeaux. This isn’t some fictitious brand either, but a genuine estate with other vintages available through respected merchants such as Berry Bros & Rudd and Lay & Wheeler for upwards of £25. This particular vintage received a score of 91 from James Suckling.
In the glass it has a deep colour with the edges beginning to turn brown. There’s an immediate smoky aroma, rich with dark fruit and liquorice even before it’s had a chance to breathe. It’s dry with a pleasing red-fruited character, the tannins feel smooth and the texture is rounded. It is medium to full-bodied with a medium finish and after about twenty minutes of airing there’s a lovely presence of oak that really comes through. All in all, an exceedingly enjoyable wine for the price.
Unusually for a red Bordeaux, it’s drinking beautifully now with no need to age. Availability and pricing at Aldi seems to fluctuate, but if it appears again as Wine of the Week it’s absolutely worth snapping up.
