This Thursday the 30th sees Lidl’s Easter selection of 41 new wines arrive in store. Wines from France, Spain and Italy predominate with the twelve chosen from Italy’s many regions designed to show consumers that there is life beyond Italian sparkling Prosecco.
And they do that magnificently with their offerings of a Brunello di Montalcino at £15.99 and the £16.99 Amarone delle Valpolicella. Both of these powerful Italian reds deserve a bit of respect and are best sipped and savoured.
The Amarone is as flavourful and alcoholic as a Spanish port – but while port wine is ‘fortified’ to its high alcohol level of 20% by the addition of a distilled grape spirit, Italian Amarone gets to 16% alcohol by adding yeast to partially dried grapes and using the greater levels of sweetness (think of the sweetness of raisins compared to fresh grapes) to ferment to alcohol levels that put it in the class of an after-dinner drink.
The Brunello di Montalcino, on the other hand, uses the old-fashioned wine making technique of leaving the crushed grapes sitting in their juice for an extended period – dissolving as much flavour, colour and mouth-drying tannin as possible before bottling the strained finished fermented liquid and leaving for at least 3 years to calm down. As the Lidl offering was made in 2010 this ink-coloured beverage should sooth rather than grip the gums.
Other wines to look out for are the two lowest priced wines at £4.99 – a Spanish red called Somontano and a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc.
But the majority of Lidl’s new wines are in the mid-price range at between £5.99 and £7.99, offering some really nice wines to have with your evening meal.
PG Wine Reviews
Pyrenne Spanish Somontano Rosado 2010
£4.99 Lidl
A light red that tastes mid way between a white and a rosé with its flavours of strawberry, raspberry and apple.
Vigneti del ole, Veneto Bianco 2015
£6.99 Lidl
A nice fruity mix of pear and melon with a bit of banana.
Vigneti del Sole, Veneto Rosso 2014
£6.99 Lidl
Flavours of plum, sloe, liquorice and coffee all behind a pretty bottle label.
Le Grand Sorbier, Mâcon-Villages Chardonnay 2015
£7.99 Lidl
A very good wine with initial flavours of honey that then turn into sharp apple and lemon. There’s a lot of structure going on without being sickly.
Promesse Château Soleil 2013, France
£9.99 Lidl
Creamy damson with a bit of coffee.
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© Paula Goddard 2017 www.paulagoddard.com
