Lidl Wine

donegal_road

Occasionally Lidl have really good Spanish Rioja, so today I picked up a bottle of Cepa Lebrel Reserva from their 'special section', where they give marks out of 100 and a silver or gold label, you probably know the ones I mean. This particular wine was given 88, and marked as great value.

Unfortunately it tastes like cellulose thinners, not that I have ever drank thinners, but I used to work with the stuff and I know the strong whiff. I would have been better off buying Devil's Bit cider to be honest. I have encountered the same inconsistency with one other of their wines; One brand tastes great, the next time its like drinking cooking sherry. I wonder will this be the new horse-burger-esque scandal to hit the headlines, because there is something in the wine I bought this evening that tastes very synthetic

Johro

Probably anti-freeze.
You'll be grand this winter.

Cookie_Monster

real cork in it?, up to 1 in 6 can be bad from memory

Stheno

Might have been corked? Might have needed breathing if it was a usually expensive brand? Did you open it and leave it be for a while?

I like a fair few of the Lidl wines, they have a couple of fairtrade bottles on sale which I find nice.

B.A._Baracus

It's Lidl. You pay cheap so you can't complain.
But the quality differences go beyond their alcohol. You could buy one fish product and it tastes great. Buy another fish product and its like eating puke.

Just chalk it up to "never buying that again"

donegal_road

Yes, it had a real cork, not a screw-top. I didnt really let it breath, anti-freeze did spring to mind, but that epidemic usually involved white wine not red

Stheno

Did you drink the lot of it?

Johro

Lol. 'yeah it was f#ckin awful shite' while holding the empty bottle.

Hard to know what's in wine though without a chemistry set and some scientific knowledge, like most food and drink these days.

SV

I read this and said it in my head and now I keep seeing Lil Wayne

donegal_road

Stheno wrote: »

Did you drink the lot of it?

half of it, why, should I bring them back a sample tomorrow?

Stheno

donegal_road wrote: »

half of it, why, should I bring them back a sample tomorrow?

No I was wondering if the rest would taste better tomorrow.

I occasionally treat myself to a fancy bottle of wine.

First time I did (it tends to be the same bottle) I didn't listen to the salesperson and drank it as soon as I opened it, it tasted like mouldy musty clothes.

Left it be for an hour or two and it was delicious.

Wacker The Attacker

This

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/GuinnessPint.jpg

Johro

Vito Corleone wrote: »

It's funny but it's also unfair, there's lots of real quality stuff in Lidl and Aldi, and the likes of Tesco aren't chock full of quality foods to be fair. It's a funny little bit of snobbery, no truth in it.

hames

donegal_road wrote: »

I have encountered the same inconsistency with one other of their wines; One brand tastes great, the next time its like drinking cooking sherry. I wonder will this be the new horse-burger-esque scandal to hit the headlines, because there is something in the wine I bought this evening that tastes very synthetic

This is an outrage.

An outrage, and no less.

We should be all out on the streets.

Canis Lupus

Wine tastes like wine.

grenache

donegal_road wrote: »

Occasionally Lidl have really good Spanish Rioja, so today I picked up a bottle of Cepa Lebrel Reserva from their 'special section', where they give marks out of 100 and a silver or gold label, you probably know the ones I mean. This particular wine was given 88, and marked as great value.

Unfortunately it tastes like cellulose thinners, not that I have ever drank thinners, but I used to work with the stuff and I know the strong whiff. I would have been better off buying Devil's Bit cider to be honest. I have encountered the same inconsistency with one other of their wines; One brand tastes great, the next time its like drinking cooking sherry. I wonder will this be the new horse-burger-esque scandal to hit the headlines, because there is something in the wine I bought this evening that tastes very synthetic

If it was this wine.......



then I can honestly say it was the best bottle of €6.99 wine I've ever tasted. I normally never buy LIDL wine as most of it is gunk. But this Rioja pleasantly surprised me, really good finish and pleasant tannins.

Are you sure the bottle wasn't corked? Perhaps it's a case of two people having contrasting opinions on the same wine.

Therein lies the beauty of wine. And individual taste

SEPT 23 1989

the white wine is absolute p1ss and gives you a dirty hangover

dr.bollocko

I've never had a decent bottle from LIDL or ALDI tbh.

I hear it's improved but once bitten twice shy.

Pumpkinseeds

I bought one of their highly recommended, award winning bottles of champagne last year, awful stuff. Its true that you get what you pay for.

Jaggy

What you have to think about is the price of the bottle. Since the €1 increase on a bottle of wine in the budget, the duty on a bottle of wine is around €3.42 (incl VAT). So if you're buying a bottle of wine for €5.99 you've to be aware that there's a fairly good chance it's complete plonk.

That €2.57 is being divided between the shop, storage, shipping, bottling, production and the winery itself. And probably a few stages in between that i've forgotten.

donegal_road

grenache wrote: »

If it was this wine.......



then I can honestly say it was the best bottle of €6.99 wine I've ever tasted. I normally never buy LIDL wine as most of it is gunk. But this Rioja pleasantly surprised me, really good finish and pleasant tannins.

Are you sure the bottle wasn't corked? Perhaps it's a case of two people having contrasting opinions on the same wine.

Therein lies the beauty of wine. And individual taste

that is the same wine except the one I bought was 2007. I did some looking online last night to see if there was any discussions and the 2008 range got favorable mention, as too did the 2007. This happened me before with Lidl's Tarregona Reserva, it is a cheaper wine, the 2008 was v nice but 2007 was rotten. It tasted like it had been in a warehouse during really cold weather and froze in transit, then thawed on the shelf. That must have been what happened.
*although if there was antifreeze in it, this wouldn't happen!

grenache

donegal_road wrote: »

that is the same wine except the one I bought was 2007. I did some looking online last night to see if there was any discussions and the 2008 range got favorable mention, as too did the 2007. This happened me before with Lidl's Tarregona Reserva, it is a cheaper wine, the 2008 was v nice but 2007 was rotten. It tasted like it had been in a warehouse during really cold weather and froze in transit, then thawed on the shelf. That must have been what happened.
*although if there was antifreeze in it, this wouldn't happen!

Only the Austrians put anti-freeze in their wine

the incredible pudding

Aldi have a chianti that costs a fiver and it's nice, surprisingly! It's certainly very drinkable anyways.

westies4ever

Hate all Lidl wine - wont touch it now I'm afraid but Aldi has some pretty decent wine.

The Toro Loco (tempranillo) is lovely and only €4.99 and not a hangover in sight. There's a Capitello Pinot Grigio thats lovely too. Think its only a fiver as well. I actually buy them by choice now and not price.

They're better than some wines I've had at three times the price.