Sainsbury’s is offering a 25% discount on six bottles of wine until midnight on 1st November, both online and in store. This includes fine wines, Ports and Champagnes. There is also a separate buy four bottles get 10% off deal running alongside the main promotion.
Given that Sainsbury’s wine range is the best it’s been for years, there are some really good deals here. One caveat: if you order online, Sainsbury’s will collect your wines from your nearest store, which may not stock some of the fine wines. (As an aside, I find the website very difficult to navigate.) So if you really want one of the 24 wines I’ve selected, your best bet may be to visit your nearest large store.
WHITE
2010 Ascheri Gavi di
Gavi (£9.99, down to £7.49, 13%)
Reduced from £12.99
(because it’s on a separate fine wine deal), this high altitude Cortese is
fresh and tangy with notes of green olive and citrus.
89 points
2010 Taste the Difference
Pouilly-Fumé (£12.79 down to £9.59, 13.5%)
André Figeat makes the
best Pouily-Fumés on the high street. This is a very classy Sauvignon Blanc
with chalky minerality and a taut, bone dry finish.
92 points
2010 Chablis, La
Chablisienne (£9.99 down to £7.49, 12%)
From an ever-reliable
co-op, this is a delicious unoaked Chardonnay, with some lees contact adding
fatness and texture to a fine-boned frame.
90 points
2010 Taste the Difference
Alsace Gewurztraminer, Cave de Turckheim (£7.99 down to £5.99, 13.5%)
Another great co-op, but a very different style of wine: off-dry Gewürz with
restrained rose petal aromas and flavours of fresh ginger and peach.
89 points
2011 Taste the
Difference Chilean Sauvignon Blanc (£5.59 down to £4.49, 13.5%)
Proof that Chile is now
a major contender in the Sauvignon world, this smoky, dry, grapefruit and
gooseberry-scented white is a total bargain.
88 points
2011 The Ned Pinot
Grigio, Marlborough (£9.99 down to £7.49, 14%)
It says Grigio, but this
is more of a Pinot Gris style from Kiwi Brent Marris. Soft, attractive and
musky with a touch of pear and melon sweetness.
89 points
2011 Taste the Difference
Awatere Riesling, Yealands (£8.99 down to £6.74, 11.5%)
The cooler climate of
the Awatere Valley produces steelier whites than the rest of Marlborough:
tight, refreshing and limey with tangy acidity.
89 points
2006 Taste the Difference
Hunter Valley Semillon, McWilliams (£8.99 down to £6.74. 10.5%)
A typically brilliant,
value-for-money Hunter Semillon from McWilliams: unoaked, citrus, honeysuckle
and toast-like flavours with complex bottle age.
91 points
2010 D’Arenberg The
Hermit Crab Viognier/Marsanne, McLaren Vale (£8.99 down £6.74, 13%)
Chester Osborn is better
known for his reds than his whites, but this apricot and herbal spicy white is
excellent value, with subtle oak and a zingy finish.
89 points
FIZZ
2010 Taste the Difference
Prosecco Conegliano, Cantine Maschi (£10.49 down to £7.87, 11%)
This is a great party
fizz: balanced, spicy, floral and refreshing, with less sugar than a lot of
supermarket examples of Italy’s most popular bubbly.
90 points
RED
2010 Pasico Old Vine
Monastrell/Shiraz, Jumilla (£5.99 down to £4.49, 13.5%)
Jumilla is making some
of Spain’s best quaffing reds at the moment. This is smoky, plummy and unoaked
with attractive pepper spice. Bargain.
88 points
2010 Marquesa de la
Cruz, Campo de Borja (£6.99 down to £5.24, 14.5%)
Made by a Scottish Master of Wine no less, this Garnacha-based blend is ripe
and unoaked, with sweet bramble and blackberry fruit and fresh acidity.
89 points
2008 Taste the Difference
Priorat, Cellers Unió (£9.99 down to £7.49, 14.5%)
It’s hard to find
Priorat under £10, let alone £7.50, especially of this quality: savoury,
refreshing and tantalisingly oaked with lovely balance.
91 points
2010 Château David
Bordeaux Superieur (£6.49 down to £5.24, 13.5%)
Cheap claret is often
mean and nasty, but this Merlot-based number is a revelation: supple, grassy,
aromatic and unoaked, with fine-grained tannins.
90 points
2010 Taste the Difference
Côtes du Rhône Villages, Michel Chapoutier (£6.99 down to £5.24, 14%)
Sainsbury’s work with
Michel Chapoutier is really paying off. This Grenache-dominated Rhône blend is
perfumed and clove spicy with great length.
90 points
2009 Crozes Hermitage,
Les Trois Lys, Cave de Tain (£9.99 down to £7.49, 12.5%)
Classic northern Rhône
Syrah at a bargain price, this is light, aromatic and spicy, with notes of
woodsmoke and grilled meat and crisp acidity.
92 points
2009 Taste the
Difference Gigondas, Gabriel Meffre (£12.99 down to £9.74, 14%)
This is as good as many
Châteauneufs: rich, savoury and powerful with brown sugar and vanilla sweetness
and spicy, herby depth. (Some stores may still be on the 2008, which is less
good.)
91 points
2008 Mayu Syrah Reserva,
Elqui Valley (£9.99 down to £7.49, 14%)
Made by an Italian
moonlighting in Chile, this oak-aged Syrah has Rhône like flavours of
blackberry, cracked pepper and black olive. One of Chile’s best.
91 points
2010 Viñalba Cabernet/Malbec/Merlot,
Mendoza (£9.99 down to £7.49, 14.5%)
Nice to taste an
Argentinean blend for once. Richly coloured, smoky and textured with sweet
blackcurrant and bramble fruit and smooth tannins.
91 points
2010 Taste the
Difference Hawkes Bay Gimblett Gravels Syrah, Crossroads Winery (£11.99 down to
£8.99, 13%)
There isn’t a lot of Syrah in New Zealand, but what’s there is of high quality.
This needs some time in bottle, but it’s spicy, peppery and well structured.
90 points
2009 Taste the
Difference Barosssa Shiraz, St Hallett (£8.99 down to £6.74, 14.5%)
Essence of Barossa Shiraz and at a very appealing price: broad, ripe and
sweetly alcoholic, with toasty US oak and rich blackberry and liquorice fruit.
88 points
2009 Châteauneuf du
Pape, La Bernardine, Michel Chapoutier (£24.99 down to £18.74, 15%)
The alcohol here makes
this CNDP sound like a blockbuster, but it’s actually very subtle with lovely,
spicy perfume, great depth and youthful red and black fruits. The wine will
definitely benefit from 3-10 years bottle age.
93 points
FORTIFIED
Taste the Difference
12-year-old Amontillado, Emilio Lustau (£7.99 down to £5.99 per 50cl, 19%)
Sherry heaven for less than £6! People should be storming the aisles to buy
this complex, toasty, savoury, bone dry fortified wine.
93 points
2003 Taste the
Difference Vintage Port, Symington Family (£34.99 down to £26.24, 20%)
This would bring a touch of class to the Christmas Stilton: fiery, peppery and
intense with notes of blackberry, chocolate and fig and rich, heady aromas.
This will develop over the next decade but is delicious now.
92 points