When an email pops into your inbox from Aldi asking if you’d like to review their Easter alcohol offerings you’re not going to say no are you? Well I know I certainly wasn’t going to. Especially when I’d literally just been having a chat with someone about how good I’ve always found wine from Aldi.
And what a selection of drink they sent me to try! Everything you might need to get you from pre-dinner drinks, through dinner and on to a nightcap. Now, I’m no Jilly Golden (if you’re old enough to remember her!) but I know what I like when it comes to a tipple or two.
We started off with the Philippe Michel Crémant du Jura which is described as crisp and elegant green apples. Using an Chardonnay grape (always my favourite when it comes to white wine) I found that I really liked this. The bubbles were maybe slightly courser (if that makes sense) than you get in some other sparkling wines, but I found that it went down very well indeed. There was a slight acidic edge to it, but not too much so. Certainly a very nice way to start an evening before dinner.
On to the wine course… I started with the white that Aldi had sent which was a Clairette, which is not a grape that I am familiar with, and nor it seems is my spell check! This particular Clairette comes from the Languedoc region of France and is made by Jean-Claude Mas who is one of the most highly regarded winemakers in the region. This is a very dry white wine and is very floral, possibly a tad too much so for me. Whilst I liked it, I found it to be one of those wines where it took me a while to come round to the taste.
The red wine was very different in contrast. This South African Gaguedi Shiraz was a very earthy with lots of blackberry and cherry flavours going on. I could certainly see why they described this as going well with roasts as I think you need those meaty flavours to work alongside the wine. Again it took a little while to get used to, possibly as it wasn’t as smooth as most of the Shiraz that I drink, and also because I wasn’t drinking it with food, which can really change the taste of a wine.
The tasting finished off with what has to be one of my favourite liquors, an Amaretto. Now I do love an Amaretto. There’s something about the almond flavour that just makes it so smooth and luxurious and my mum had already tipped me off as to how good the Aldi Bellucci Amaretto Liqueur was, especially for the price, and I’m pleased to say that I wasn’t at all disappointed. Possibly not quite as syrupy as the branded stuff you get else where, that’s forgotten after the first couple of sips, especially if you’re someone who usually puts ice in their Amaretto.
Overall I was really impressed with all Aldi’s drinks offerings, especially when you look at how much (or little) they all cost. They’re definitely the quality of drinks that I’d expect to pay a couple of pounds a bottle more for if bought elsewhere. Also, as well as shopping in store you can now buy wine cases online via the Aldi website, either for home delivery or to collect from a Collect+ location. There’s also a special online launch offer or free standard delivery – definitely worth trying out.
Disclaimer: We were sent the featured drinks from Aldi for the purposes of this review. All opinions are my own.
Details of the drinks we tried:
Philippe Michel Crémant du Jura Case of 6 £ 43.74. Price per bottle £7.29
Exquisite Clairette de Languedoc Case of 6 £ 35.94. Price per bottle £5.99
Gaguedi South African Shiraz Case of 6 £ 29.34. Price per bottle £4.89
Bellucci Amaretto Liqueur £ 4.29 50l bottle. £8.58 per Litre
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