BLANC CHEQUE

I’ m always sceptical when anyone labels themselves a “wine expert”. Unless you run a vineyard and crush the grapes with your bare feet in a barrel like that old skit from I Love Lucy ( they still do that right?), then my assumption is that you know diddlysquat and you’re just trying extra hard to sound like you have class.

When I was in Italy a few years ago, my tour stopped in at a vineyard in Florence where they taught us all about the winemaking process and how to properly taste wine: the swirling, the sniffing, the swishing around in your mouth.

I’d never felt so fancy until we were told to spit it out and I realised I had prematurely gulped down the whole glass.

Sadly, since returning home I’ve forgotten all my hard- earned winetasting knowledge.

But I’ve made it my personal mission to ensure that I get the best out of my vino.

What I’ve discovered in my many evenings of hard research may come as a shock, but it turns out wine tastes even better when you just drink the bloody thing and quit being so precious about it.

Which is why I was so happy to hear the results from The International Wine Challenge recently, where Aldi’s 2016 Côtes de Provence Rosé took out a silver medal.

That’s right, in the epicentre of wine snobbery, the self- proclaimed “most influential wine competition in the world” the “experts” agreed that a supermarket bottle of plonk that costs about $ 8 a bottle was better than most of the world’s most prestigious winemakers.

I don’t think any other award in the history of mankind has ever made me feel more validated, even awards I’ve won myself for … okay, I’ve never won any awards myself, but that’s beside the point.

If Aldi’s Vino El Cheapo can win silver against a bunch of apparently more sophisticated drops, then there’s nothing I can’t do.

This was truly a win for the little people. A victory for the common folk. With this new- found spring in my step I attended my cousin’s wedding at the weekend, opting for the modest house sauvignon blanc as my beverage for the evening.

Since any time spent with extended family can require a little bit of Dutch courage, and because my uncle who was paying the bar tab has a tendency to keep a watchful eye over his bank balance, my table comrades and I decided we’d really go for gold.

An hour or so later after the official business was done and dusted, there were some quite undignified moves happening out on the dancefloor.

But the smiles were wide and the laughs were loud and boisterous.

So cheers to you Aldi winemakers, you legends, and to all the other makers of cheap wine.

Thanks for the good times and for proving that you don’t have to have “class” to have good taste.