The San Zenone Chianti distributed in Aldi is one of the cheap reds I buy every vintage. At 4€ it’s really a basic, simple quaffer, but it is usually decent and it’s not easy to find affordable chianti in this country (Hungary) and I’m always thirsty for sangiovese. And this 2024 is something else. Continue reading
Plessis-Duval Saumur Champigny 2022
Sub 10€ Loire cabernet franc is such a reliable wine category, I almost always love what I buy. From Central Europe where I leave one of the best, easily accessible selection of such wines can be found on Vinatis – you can find many of them reviewed on this site and here is another one I enjoyed recently.
Delicious light red: Sebestyén Indigó Zweigelt 2024
How is the new release of one the most well-know Hungarian light red wines, the Sebestyén Indigó? 2024 was a heatwave vintage like no other before, at least in Hungary, but perhaps in most of Europe. It shows in the wine but it still manages to be refreshing, luckily.
Blindtasting top notch Austrian blaufrankisch wines
I collected a bunch of high-end blaufrankisch bottles in the last two years and earlier this year I was finally able to gather my friends (wine merchants, wine makers) to blindtaste this impressive line-up. The Prieler winery stole the show for me, in my view they are a benchmark when it comes to this variety. Moric is a quite different story – he is a pioneer but I must say it’s hard to like the wine style. By the way, talking about style, it’s so varied from producer to producer, from natural to New World-like, you really have to look for the estate first and foremost. I took my notes after the re-tasting.
Silvia Heinrich V-max 2018
Telmo Rodriguez Al-muvedre 2023
In my experience monastrell is one of the most reliable red grapes, often delivering great value wines under 10 Euros. The Al-muvedre from Telmo Rodriguez is usually one that can prove that point (like the superb 2018), but not the 2023 vintage, the subject of this post.
Felton Road Pinot Noir Calvert 2020
I cannot remember the last time I tasted a Felton Road pinot, it might be 10 years ago or so. Based on this 2020 bottling, not much has changed – the style is basically the same and the quality is still high. And the prices just moderately increased during the years, which is a rare thing.
Supermarket wines: the nice Vian Delle Fosse 2023 from Lidl
Interesting Greek red: Naoussa Alta 2021
This red wine is made from the xinomavro grape which is sometimes compared to nebbiolo. This example does not look like anything from Piedmont, but it’s very interesting for sure.
Another outstanding monastrell from Bodega Cerrón: La Servil 2022
A mid-tier wine from my favourite Jumilla producer, Bodega Cerrón. If you are into monastrell or pure, new wave Spanish reds, I highly recommend you to try it.Aging supermarket wines: Auchan’s Blaye Cotes de Bordeaux 2018 and 2019
Arguably the whole point of a supermarket wine is that it’s ready to drink off the shelf. Many of these are just not capable of ageing, but there are exceptions – for example the reds of Bordeaux. Even the most simple bottlings (selling for around 3€) can keep well for a few years, and for just a bit more money you get something that ages really well. Continue reading