Aldi Reds (and one white!) - The Exquisite Collection - Update**

All from "The Exquisite Collection"

Valpolicella Ripasso Superiore 2011 €9.99
Funny thing about this wine, is that I liked it less on the second day. Most inexpensive wines improve, IMHO, after being opened for a day. This wine did not. Initially it was tight, focused and tasty, but as it opened up, it exposed it's own lack of subtlety, especially in the fruit dept. Not bad but not a patch on the Malbec or the Ribera.

Minarete Ribera del Duero 2013 €7.99
I blogged on this wine (the 2011) about 18 months ago and I liked it then, Herself wasn't so keen, but I reckoned there was some serious skill to produce such a tasty Ribera for such little cash, especially in  Ireland, given the punitive duty on wine. The 2013 is probably better than the 2011, with none of the former's astringency. Really good, well worth a punt at this price.

Malbec Uco Valley 2013 €8.79
Opened this still slightly cool from the shop and straight from the bottle. I didn't decant it as Herself said that she only wanted a glass (as if). Anyhoo, I decided  to join her and was presently surprised, it was quite yummy, a bit of fruit, a pinch of spice and a lingering finish. It got even better as it warmed up. The flavours amplified and the finish got more complex and even longer. I did a quick Google and it seems that lots of people including professional critics really like this wine, so kudos to me. 

Crozes Hermitage 2012 €10.99
This was disappointing. As the most expensive of the bunch I had high hopes for it. While there wasn't anything wrong with it, there was nothing special on show. Drinkable, but nothing more.

Aldi have upped their game, it seems.Of the four, two are very good, one is good and one is OK, which is not bad at all give the prices in question. I wouldn't advise you to buy them though, especially the Malbec; more for me, you see. If only they'd get their finger out on the craft beer front...

** Update - New Purchases **
Chianti Classico Riserva 2011 €9.99
Drank this a few nights ago and didn't take notes but it was pretty decent. As almost always happens when we tried it first, straight out of the bottle, it was fine; but as it warmed up and oxidised a smidge in the decanter, it really improved. Good depth of flavour, some nice plummy fruit and a well long finish make this a bargain at less than a tenner - nice one.

Gavi DOCG 2014 €7.49
This is a decent white. A little fruit , some nice acidity and well balanced. I'd buy this again, especially as it's very good value at this price.

Dial A for Aldi - and a sort of Liveblog. *Updated

A "new" Aldi opened a couple of years ago in Sandyford and I have been meaning to check out their booze for ages, but have been continually diverted by Dunnes at the Beacon and the nearby O'Briens wines, just around the corner. So yesterday, I girded my loins, and with my conscience in the back seat (Lil Bill), sallied forth to the aforementioned Aldi.

Things didn't start well. Their trolleys only take 2 Euro coins, rather than the standard one Euro coins (or tokens if you prefer) and they don't "do" baskets. I was about to leave in disgust when I managed to collar a helpful employee who sold me a token for a mere 89c. Perhaps I am not the target audience but would putting out a few baskets kill them?

Matters didn't improve. Lil Bill refused to pick out a breakfast cereal as he didn't fancy any of their copycat brands. I was only there for the booze so that's pretty much all we got. The booze purchased is pictured below...

Not pictured is a bottle of Aldi Old Hopking Gin, €12-99 for 70cl, which is very cheap. I had heard good things about it , see this. We tried it out in a G&T later and it was perfectly decent. I intend to test against an open bottle of standard Gordon's next weekend. (I try to only drink spirits on non"school" nights)
*Update - I set up a blind test for Herself and she preferred the Gordons, just. I knew which was which and I also just favoured the Gordons; there was a little botanical extra present. Still, the Aldi gin is great value as priced, especially if you are not a gin snob, like me.

On the beer front I got some of the following:
Spaten (not pictured) €1.79. A good price for this beer which I was co-incidentally drinking on Friday night at a Harvest (Neil young tribute band) gig at the Sugar Club. Great gig, although the Spaten was €6 a pop there, ouch.

Marston's Pedigree Pale Ale - €2.09 4.5% abv, Never seen this before but as I am an IPA junkie I got some. Report on this to follow. Per the Sindo today, liking craft IPAs, the more exclusive the better is a hipster trait. I think that's my only one, unless driving a Skoda and shopping in Penney's counts?
*Update - meh, nothing to see here.

Staroslav Czech Pilsner - €1.19 Another punt here. Although at 4%, it's not off to a good start.
*Update - This wasn't too bad. Not a huge amount of flavour but what was there was pleasant enough. One for those who like cheap weak lager, methinks. 

Rheinbacher Premium Pils - €6.99 for 6. More random German beer from the budget retailers. Most of the similar beer from Lidl is piss but the Grafenwalder & Finkbrau are OK, so long as you don't drink them after a "name" beer, at which point the cheapies tend to come off second best.
*Update - Ugh. I've had two of these now just to make sure the first one wasn't a fluke. In a nutshell, it's not very nice, its watery at first and then there's an unpleasant aftertaste. I'm regretting buying six as I'm not sure I can force myself to drink the remaining four, loathe as I am to pour beer down the sink.

On the wine front I picked 2 reds.

Domaine Roussellet Pinot Noir "Vin De France" - No Vintage specified. - €6-99
We drink this last night  and it was just OK, just about drinkable. Even at this price I wouldn't recommend it, unless bargain, non-vintage, non-Burgundy, Pinot Noir is your thing.

LIVEBLOG!
Minarete Ribera del Duero Roble 2011 - €7-99
9pm: I opened and decanted this at 4pm before we headed out to our local gastropub The Wild Boar (where the service was a little random but the food was very, very good). Anyhoo, just tasted the wine and after the Pinot Noir yesterday, I wasn't hopeful. Surprise! This is quite nice. Some nice plummy fruit and a bit of depth to the flavour. Not bad for 8 notes.

10pm: It's still good. Not earth shattering, but solid. There's now the tiniest bit of astringency in the mix, along with some recently evolved tannins. All in all, its pretty decent and good value as priced.

I think I've gone on long enough, so I'll leave it at that. It's a mixed bag so far from Aldi. I'll probably blog or at least tweet on the various beers above at some stage over the next few days...

Aldi Update & Tesco Valpolicella

As predicted Aldi wine number 3 was not good. I decanted it, gave it an hour and a half and it was still nasty. I've had worse, but not by much. Well, you pay peanuts - you get monkeys.

On a brighter note we drank the Tesco Crozes Hermitage which was one of three I bought here. It was very pleasant, a little bit fruity, a little bit "Rhoney", also, the phrase "well integrated tannins" springs to mind, so I'm going with that.

As we watch the first episode of the last season of Lost, big WTF at the half-way mark (it's a "feature length" episode), we are sampling the Tesco finest Valpolicella Ripasso I picked up a couple of days ago. I was a little apprehensive about this wine as I loved it last time out and now it has been reduced to a mere €8-35, I was wondering if I had been overly generous previously.

Happily I have been vindicated altho' it took a couple of hours. Even after having been decanted for a good hour this wine was a little sharp and not what I remembered. Another hour down the road however and I'm loving it. It has all come together most triumphantly with plums and a hint of bitter cherries and is now tasting like a wine of twice the price. If you can afford the waiting time (I'd give it the full 2 hours), and you can afford the price tag, (there's not much you can buy for less that's drinkable), what are you waiting for?

BTW - As I was perusing The Gloss magazine, Herself buys it - I only read Mary Doweys wine column, and as fate would have it, what wine is she recommending? The Tesco Valpolicella Ripasso, she says "finding a decent version [of Ripasso] at this price is a miracle." I can't find a link to the article, you'll have to take my word for it...

Mostly Tesco, Barolo and a suggestion of Ikea

Lots of updates to get through so let's not dawdle.

We drank the 2nd of three cheapo wines bought from Aldi (I'm drinking them (mostly) so you don't have to), it was the 2003 Vina Decana Reserva 2003 and it wasn't bad. It had the standard Rioja oaky, fruity flavours. Although there was something not quite integrated in the taste which I couldn't put my finger on. Still, at €7-39, Rioja drinkers could do a lot worse. We are sampling the bizarrely cheap (€4-29) 2008 Montepulciano tonight, I'm sure your prayers are with us.

As I mentioned last post I picked up a couple of rib-eyes in Aldi, for the not inconsiderable sum of €11. Happily these were delicious, Herself thought perhaps they could have had more flavour but they were very tender. We had these with the wine above which was a birthday present from June, a Marchesi di Barolo 2000. I liked this a lot, it was a big, full bodied beast. Lots of fruit , a decent structure and a nice lengthy finish.

Tesco in Dundrum consistently have a better selection of wines than the flagship Merrion Centre for some reason, so I headed that way today and picked up a bottle or three (at left). I should really, from a blog perspective, have gone for three wines that I have never tried before but...meh, I'm lazy. Left to right, they are-

Ogio Primitivo 2008 - €5-99. I enjoyed this the last time I drank it and at €5-99 (still), it's a no-brainer.

Tesco Crozes Hermitage 2006 - €10-85. I generally like wines from here and Tesco are pretty consistent in quality so here's hoping.

Tesco Valpolicella Ripasso 2006 - €8-35. Loved this last time at €10-69, so €8-35 is a steal.

Lastly, phew, we ventured onto DNS for various reasons and ended up in Ikea on Sunday. I was keen to try the famous meatballs for a fiver and I must say the food there is good, solid and unspectacular but main courses of pasta, meatballs, fish and chips etc, all for around 5 quid is quite a bargain, but I digest... The main reason for the visit was to replace the decanter Herself broke during the week, we bought two of them (one is a spare and can also be pulled out at large dinners for effect). Again, great value at €6-99 each.

At long last Aldi

Although the Aldi website tried to divert me from their Rathfarnham store by claiming it is located in Clonskeagh, I finally made it there tonight. On the food front, after a quick peruse, I reckon there isn't a huge difference between it and Lidl, although Aldi's stock may be marginally "classier".

Anyhoo, I bought three bottles of red (along with some never-before-seen German beer, and there were many kinds of this), at left an even-cheaper-than-Lidl 2008 Montepulciano (€4-29!!), at this price the wine in the bottle is worth an about 20 cent after Govt. duty.

In the middle is a 2003 Vina Decana Reserva from Utiel Requena (€7-39), they also had Crianza from the same producer but at this price I reckon I can spring for the Reserva. Will try this over the weekend with a couple of rib-eyes, also from Aldi.

Lastly, a 2008 Toro Loco Tempranillo, also from Utiel Requena and priced to move at €4-99. We were having take away pizza for dinner ( Four Star - thin base is the only way to go), so I unscrewed this, no decanter*, and poured. Probably not the best way to drink a cheap wine but you know what, I know what I hate, and I don't hate this. It's young, fruity and while I wouldn't serve it at a posh dinner party, it's quite drinkable and at this price it's decent value.

*My lovely and practical Ikea decanter met with a sharp end earlier on in the week, courtesy of Herself.