Top trio

Who says you can’t get good wine in the supermarket?

The two reviewed here are in my opinion fabulous value for money, and easily available, there’s also terrific German beer as well, to finish off a top trio.

Four Lines Rueda Verdejo 2023

From the Cuatro Rayas Bodega Co-operative, in Valladolid, DO Rueda, Spain, where they produce this good wine from the best Verdejo grapes in the region.

A young wine, that tastes vibrant, clean and bright. On the nose it’s very aromatic, with lots of citrus fruits along with a touch of pineapple and apricots.

There’s also some ginger, dried herbs nuts and fennel in the background.

All packaged in a hard-to-miss blue bottle (maybe partly to help with oxidation or just clever marketing) but it does stand out on the shelf so there’s no chance of overlooking it.

Sainsbury’s £9.50

My Rating 7.5/10 Corks

Piccini Memoro Vino Rosso D’Italia

Next up a real winter warmer, a blend of Montepulciano, Nero D’Avola and Primitivo, from Tuscany in Italy.

Piccini is a big producer, producing around 16 million bottles from seven different estates across Italy.

It may be big and commercial but in my opinion, it does make some fabulous wines with great flavours and intensity.

Made with slightly dried grapes, it’s medium-bodied and has medium tannins, it’s very fruit cakey, and raisiny, with cloves , dark chocolate and coffee. It is slightly jammy (with sweet spices) but in a good way, lots of ripe dark Morello cherries.

Did I chill it slightly? ( Regular readers will know, winking eye!) and it was lovely with or without food (still sounds like a U2 song).

If you’re a fan of Amarone or Ripasso you probably would enjoy this and It’s probably more than half the price.

Morrisons £7 (with club card)

My Rating 8/10 Corks

Benediktiner Hell German lager 5.0% abv

Ending with beer and what a beer it was too… I love German lagers and this Hells beer is perhaps my favourite style.

So what is a Helles Beer? ….. well, Helles means, pale in colour, and it’s usually on the malty side, with a mildly sweet, hoppy flavour and restrained bitterness. Although hoppy it is less than a Pilsner-style lager, Munich-style Helles is brewed using cool fermentation.

This particular bottle is malty, with a pronounced bready flavour, it’s soft almost creamy, slightly sweet and has a pleasantly mild bitterness, for me it has everything I want from a beer.

I know some say they really enjoy beers with a big kick of bitterness and I get it, but give me this style any day.

This is a really excellent German Helles Beer and I will be buying more, top stuff!!