Pililitteri Estates Vidal Ice Wine, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada 2020 (£13.99, Lidl) In the battle of the two German discounters, Aldi, which recently overtook Morrisons to become the UK’s fourth-largest supermarket group, may have consolidated its position as the biggest on these shores. But Lidl – which leapfrogged the Co-op to become the UK’s sixth-largest supermarket in March and which, according to market researchers Kantar, has been having its best year of sales since 2014 – is the fastest-growing. When it comes to wine, both have been putting the squeeze on their rivals’ prices for years, with the cost-of-living crisis further focusing Tesco et al on wines at around a fiver. But, as I wrote about Aldi after tasting their range back in April, neither discounter is solely focused on the bottom end of wine pricing. Certainly, Lidl’s Christmas selection, which goes into stores this week, has a fair few bottles with special-occasion prices, such as the marvellously mango-and-lychee-scented sticky Ice Wine.
Château de Landiras Graves, Bordeaux, France 2019 (£10.99, Lidl) Making ice wine, a Canadian speciality borrowed from the German and Austrian tradition of making “eiswein” from grapes harvested so late they have frozen on the vine, is an expensive process, since the yield from the frozen shrivelled grapes is necessarily much smaller than those harvested earlier in the year. In the context, then, that £14 for a bottle very much counts as a bargain. So, too, another of Lidl’s new Christmas stickies: Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 2014 (£9.99), a typically butterscotch and marmalade-scented, tangy example of the golden Hungarian sweet wine made from grapes concentrated in sugar and flavour by the formation of the “noble rot” Botrytis. Other plus-£10 Lidl Christmas bottles worth a try while they’re in store over the next month or two include two well-made, well-priced examples of classic French styles: the appetisingly fresh brightly cassis-scented claret of Châtau de Landiras Graves, and the crisp, crunchy ripe red apple of Comte de Senneval Champagne Millésime 2014 (£19.99).
Lidl Chianti Riserva, Tuscany, Italy 2019 (£5.99, Lidl) For all that the retailer has some good finds at the pricier end of its range, it’s the hope of finding something worthwhile for significantly less than a tenner that brings most wine-drinkers to Lidl. Among the retailer’s Christmas selection, the robustly warming southern Portuguese plumminess of Monsaraz Reserva, Alentejo 2020 (£7.99) will go well with a flavoury wintry stew, while Gedeon Birtok Zöld Veltlini 2021 (£6.99), is a light (11.5% abv) but pleasingly aromatic and green-apple crisp Hungarian dry white made from a grape variety better known by its Austrian name grüner veltliner. But for me the most eye-catching bargains are both in the retailer’s year-round range. The Chianti Riserva is a savoury, subtly smoky and darkly fruited red with a dusting of baking spice and a spag-bol-friendly chewiness. Thörnicher St Michael Riesling Feinherb, Germany 2021 (£4.99), meanwhile, is a gently floral, softly stone-fruited white with a touch of sweetness and balancing lime acidity.
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• This article was amended on 22 November 2022 to correct the origin of the Thörnicher St Michael Riesling Feinherb, which is from Germany, not Austria as an earlier version said.
