Bargain Report Card and other stuff...

Earlier in the week I bought three potential bargains at half price in Tesco. These are the results of the Dublin jury (see what I did there?)

Reserve Des Tuguets Madiran 2007 - €6-99. I had read that wines from Madiran are supposed to be a little Bordeaux like and so it proved. While it obviously didn't have the depth of a classed growth wine it had some nice subtle fruit, a chunk of tannins and some decent length. I don't know that I'd pay full whack for this but it's pretty good value as priced.

Marques De Carano Gran Reserva 2001 - €7-99. "A very good price for a Gran Reserva", I said in my initial post, well TANSTAAFL to that. This tasted like an attempt at a decent Rioja (I know its from a different region) and although it had some of the vanilla and oak it still seemed a bit thin and tired. There was a reason this was priced to clear.

Piccini Gran Selezione Oro Chianti Riserva 2007 - €5-99. This proved to be the bargain of the day. Lovely plummy fruit and great length meant we enjoyed the heck out of this. This was solid Chianti that you might expect to pay €12-€14 for so it is a steal as priced.

Second lastly, as I type this the boys should be driving toward the ferry in France with their precious cargo of wine from Bordeaux/Bergerac. We were unable to go on the holiday this year for a variety of reasons but I put in an order ("buy me some red wine, around 6-8 quid a bottle"). This price point worked well last year and I have some inexpensive but very pleasant 2005 Bordeaux in my "cellar" maturing nicely, I hope.

Lastly, Papa is having a special b'day party this Tuesday and I am very much looking forward to the wine list. We are starting with Cristal and finishing with Chateau d'Yquem and drinking lots of 2000 Bordeaux in between. Woo-hoo! Full report to follow.

Bargain Bin-end

As is the norm, whenever I am in Tesco Dundrum, I hunt around for the bargain wine area. It has a tendency to shift around within the off-licence area but the yellow bargain stickers are a give-away. I picked up the above bottles,I think they were all half price, so do the math. Left to right, they are:

Reserve Des Tuguets Madiran 2007 - €6-99. From the South-West of France, I don't think I've had a wine from Madiran before. The main grape is Tannat along with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc and this is supposed to be a chewy, tannic wine not unlike a full bodied Bordeaux.

Marques De Carano Gran Reserva 2001 - €7-99. A very good price for a Gran Reserva, although I didn't realise until I got it home that it comes from the Carinena region of Spain, a region, I confess, I had never heard of until today. The wine is a Tempranillo/Garnacha mix and I could be onto a loser here but at the price its worth a punt.

Piccini Gran Selezione Oro Chianti Riserva 2007 - €5-99. I can't find this wine on the Piccini website, but I am a big fan of their Chianti Riserva which normally goes for about €15. We are currently drinking this and so far so good, lots of nice plummy flavours and a decent finish. It has not been open long so it should get better. At this price all you'd expect is something barely drinkable so it's all gravy (not literally) from here.