While we all hunker down in the winter, these warmer days and lighter nights are an invitation to be more sociable, and to just drop in on family and friends, outstay our welcome and drink all their wine. Which used to be OK(ish) when a decent bottle of wine cost between £5 and £10, but is less acceptable now when, unless it’s on special offer, it will more often than not set you back more than £10.
Nowadays, I’m constantly doing double takes when I check the price of a wine I’ve tried within recent memory and find that the price has increased by at least 25%. Tesco’s own-label red vermouth, for example, was £5.75 just over 18 months ago, and now it’s £8 – which is still reasonable, but it’s hard to see why it’s shot up so much.
Part of the reason must be that there are more special offers than there used to be. Almost every bank holiday now prompts some kind of across-the-board 25%-off deal to the point where it doesn’t make sense to buy a wine unless it’s on promotion. And that puts pressure on the indies, although their prices sometimes look quite reasonable by comparison. When I was checking out the price of Taylor’s Chip Dry white port the other day (topped up with tonic, it makes a great aperitif, by the way), it costed £17.49 at Waitrose, £18.99 at Virgin and only £14.99 at Sandhams Wine Merchants in Caistor, Lincolnshire. Nice one, chaps.
The so-called discounters are not as cheap as they were, either. True, Aldi had some dramatic discounts during the run-up to Easter to offset, but as I’ve pointed out before, that store’s new Unearthed range is more expensive than some of Marks & Spencer’s Found range. That said, Aldi still has some good deals, such as the white in today’s pick below.
So where is value to be found? The good old Wine Society, which doesn’t go in for discounts, still sells a fair few bottles for less than £10, though you need to move quickly, because the best buys get snapped up fast. There are also always gems to be found in Lidl’s Wine Tour and in its standard range, such as the picpoul in my pick. And the Co-op still keeps price increases within reasonable bounds – I especially like its 2023 Welmoed Sauvignon Blanc, whose standard in-store price of £7.65 is still the same as it was last autumn (like many Co-op wines, it’s a touch dearer online).
When I looked at the wines I’d picked this week, though, they all came from southern France, and mostly from Languedoc, which is still pretty hard to beat for what the French rather neatly call qualité/prix. In other words, value for money doesn’t mean just cheap, but decent, too.
Five good-value wines to pour for friends
Le Rocher Saint Victor Picpoul de Pinet 2023 £7.99 Lidl, 13%. Picpoul always used to be a brilliant-value seafood white – and it still is, at least at Lidl (but make sure to buy the 2023).
Aldi Specially Selected Viognier Grenache Blanc 2023 £6.99, 13%. Smooth, southern French white with apples, pears and a touch of apricot. Good white for a barbecue.
Château de Pouzols Minervois 2021 £6.99 Lidl, 14%. A sexy, supple red from this store’s latest wine tour. Perfect for a bank holiday barbecue.
Laurent Miquel Vendanges Nocturnes Rosé 2022 £7.49 (on offer) Waitrose, 12.5%. Pale pink, wild strawberry-scented Provence-style rosé at a decidedly un-Provençal price.
The Society’s French Syrah 2022 £7.95, 13%. Astonishingly good value northern Rhône red that tastes like a mini Crozes-Hermitage. Low stocks, so snap it up while you can.
For more by Fiona Beckett, go to fionabeckett.substack.com
