Lidl French Wine Sale 2014

Apologies , it's been about two weeks since I bought the above wines in Lidl on the Grange road and I'm only putting this post up now. I've been drinking and blogging the wines I bought in the Dunnes French Wine sale. They were a mixed bag to be honest. These Lidl wines look good at least. As before, I have taken input from John Wilson in the Irish Times and Martin Moran in the Sunday Times.

Chateau du Carillon Fronsac 2010 - €12.99 (punt)
Took a chance on this, I've had mixed luck with Supermarket Bordeaux. Yowsa! I'm well happy with this wine. It took a couple of hours in the decanter but by the end it had developed into a full bodied, complex beast, with some impressive plummy fruit with a wicked long finish. I'm gonna buy more of this and lay some down in my "cellar". Great value as priced.

Domaine De la Combe Rasteau 2013 - €11.99 (punt)
Not bad. Very Grenachey.

Bourgogne Aligoté 2013 - €9.99 (recommended - JW)
This is good, not quite what I expected. It has plenty of zingy acidity and not too much buttery chardonnay stuff but I like it. Would work well with food.

Domaine Messire de Very Séguret 2013 - €12.99 (recommended - JW)
Thank you John. This is really nice. It started off as a pleasant wine; "gentle" herself opined and I concurred. After a while it developed some real depth, with a pinch of spice and a wicked, long, dry finish. JW described it as "powerful" - d'accord!

Saint-Joseph AOP 2011- €11.99 (recommended - MM)

Watch this space...

Dunnes French Wine Sale 2014 - Final

Bless me readers, it's been six months since my last confession post. In that time I have been drinking wine as enthusiastically as always, I just haven't been blogging about it. Anyhoo, it seems to be the time for wine sales so I popped along to Dunnes in Cornelscourt after work today to see what I could find.

I had cut out the weekend columns from John Wilson in the Irish Times and Martin Moran (no link that I could find) in the Sunday Times and I tried to buy only their recommendations, but as with the last couple of years, each Dunnes store seems to only stock a random selection of the sale wines*. Three of the wines are recommended and two are pure punts.

(l-r)
Lorgeril 1620 Pinot Noir 2013 €10.00 (punt)
This was...OK. A bit thin and not enough oomph for a Burgundy fan but if you were new to Pinots and/or like your reds with a light and delicate(ish) touch, you might like this...

Les Vignerons Carignan Syrah 2013 €8.00 (recommended - JW)
Hmmm - a bit cheap and cheerful. Drinkable, but only just. If you cultivate expensive tastes, and I aspire to, this probably isn't for you. Your mileage, of course, may vary.

Laurent Miquel Albarino 2013 €11.50 (recommended - MM)
Just finishing this off and its really good. Crisp and zingy with a super finish.

Cuvee St Vincent Cotes Du Rhone 2013 €8.00 (punt)
I'm not hopeful about this. For starters there is no punt in the bottom of the bottle, always a bad sign, and on the back it says "Dry, Fruity red wine". It's a bit thin and anemic in the glass; Nope - this one's going down the sink. It's all cheap sharp fruit with a lingering, slightly unpleasant and cloying finish.

Chateau Bois Petrus Bordeaux 2012 €11.00 (recommended - MM)
I had my doubts about this wine, in my (limited) experience it's impossible, in this country anyway, to get good Bordeaux at this price. But this was pretty damn good for eleven notes. Not top, classed growth quality, but full and solid and quite bold. I'm gonna buy more of this and maybe put a couple in the "cellar". May not improve much in a couple of years, but worth a try.

BONUS! (not Pictured)
Both gents had recommended the  Baron de Baussac Carignan but I couldn't find this so I plumped for an Alain Grignon Carignan Pays d'Herault 2012 - €8-50. After the rotten St Vincent, I'm gonna try this now. Just better than "cheap and cheerful" this. It's got some big fruity stuff going on - not all of it successful or integrated, but not bad.

* After buying the wines above in the Off-Licence section of Cornelscourt yesterday, I had to go to the main bit tonight for some groceries. I discovered a new wine section (to the very right of the store if you are looking at the checkouts from within the shop), which appeared to be dedicated to said sale and to contain all the wines...