Supermarket own-label wines, how do we feel about them?
I speak to people all the time who would rather stick fishhooks in their eyes than take a bottle of Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference, Tesco Finest, The Best by Morrisons or any other supermarket branded wine with them to a gathering. Drink them behind closed doors though? No problem.
What’s the deal with that? Well, primarily it’s the anxiety that they’ll be seen as skinflints, frankly, or simpletons who don’t know much about wine. Without being dramatic, buying wine is a deeply psychological process which has a lot to do with your sense of self. The bottle you bring round to the neighbours represents you as a person, your social standing, your hopes and dreams and your self-worth. Or it does in your mind anyway.
What will people think of me? How am I coming across? Will those people over there, who I’ve never met before, look down on me? Is this wine going to make me look like the village idiot? Does my hair have enough volume? Sorry, that last one was my own intrusive thought. Basically then, bringing a wine to a party is the equivalent of turning up naked, clutching a printout of your bank balance and asking the room to hold up score cards. Which, incidentally, will be my Halloween costume for next year.
The answer? Care less, which is my solution to most things. Also, rest assured that supermarket own-brand wines are made by some of the world’s top producers, only with a dinkier price tag. Big-name winemakers are queueing around the block to make wine for the supermarkets, as it gives them a foothold within the retailer to get their higher-end wines listed, more bargaining power and the ability to shift mega volumes of wine. Trust me, I’ve been at the meetings.
Sainsbury’s was actually the pioneer, first releasing an own-label range in the 1960s, then came M&S in the 70s. Today, these ranges represent outrageous value for money while often introducing us to new and exciting grapes we wouldn’t normally have the gumption to try. Often, the supermarket buyer works with the producers to come up with a blend that will suit their customers, so even if supermarkets use the same wine producer, the wines will usually taste different.
So, remember this. You’re not a tightwad for buying a supermarket own-label wine, you’re super smart and you know what you’re doing. And I haven’t been sponsored to say that, sadly.
With that in mind, here are the Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference you need to be getting cosy with this autumn, including a drink that’s considered the ‘best kept secret’ in the world of wine:
Best Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference wines
See what I mean? This one is made for Sainsbury’s by Cave de Turkheim’s winemaker, Daniel Gerold. He’s only one of the star wine producers in Alsace, and this sparkler is made by the same method as Champagne but isn’t from that region, so is called Crémant. He uses Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris, two delicate, citrussy and floral grapes. The outcome is a beautifully dry fizz with lime-zest, hawthorn, fresh pear and light honey notes.
£22 for a champagne that won a silver medal at the prestigious International Wine Challenge, are we being trolled? Surely, it’s horrifyingly bad? Nope, made by Champagne Louis Kremer, this wine is unique in that it leads with 56% Pinot Meunier, followed by 35% Pinot Noir and 15% Chardonnay. Usually, Meunier takes a back seat, here it delivers a juicy, perfumed, dry and lightly saline fizz with notes of bruised green apple and fennel.
You’ll probably know the sweet wines from the Jurançon region of France, though dry versions are now abounding. The dry wines work particularly well matched with battered food, like fish and chips or anything covered tempura or deep-fried panko breadcrumbs. Why? It’s all about the mouth-tingling, yuzu sherbet zip-factor and low sugar in these wines.
When I found out that this wine was made by Nat Cristensen, everything just made sense. Nat is the Winemaker of the Year for White Wines 2023 and is just a joyous human being. She is also the Chief Winemaker at Yealands, the dazzling kiwi winery blazing a sustainable trail. This textured, zesty wine is a hub of ripe pear and preserved lemon notes, produced in the Awatere Valley in Marlborough.
Corsican rosé is the wine world’s best kept secret, which is difficult to do when you make 30 million bottles of it a year. The so-called Island of Beauty is also just south of Provence and high altitude to preserve all that glorious fruity freshness. Case in point with this bottle, which is all coral coloured, lip-smackingly dry and tastes of apricot skin, cherry blossom and orange water.
It’s worth checking out Sainsbury’s Discovery range, it puts you in touch with small parcels of great quality, unique wines. This is made by a grape which is commonly used in red blends, but here it’s been allowed to shine. Thank goodness it has, what’s not to love about a mouthful of crunchy cherry and plums with a twist of white pepper?
I scribbled three stars next to this one in the tasting booklet, along with ‘great value’, so it must be good. Produced by Claudio Manera who heads Araldica, Piemonte’s most modern and forward-looking wine cooperative. It’s situated right in the heart of Barbera d’Asti, working with 230 growers to source the best quality grapes. The result is a soft wine with morello cherry and Italian sausage notes and a quenching freshness.
The Oenologist at Bordeaux producer, Dourthe is responsible for this wine. They’ve been crafting wines since 1840, though Veronique Razimbaud hasn’t, or else she has a very good surgeon. The price-to-quality ratio here in insane, where else can you find a £14 Merlot-dominated wine from St-Emilion that’s also a silver award winner? Particularly one that gives eucalyptus, plum, damsons, liquorice with melt-in-mouth mocha tannins.
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