A GRAPE DEAL FOR WINE BUFFS
Supermarket chain Lidl claims it has come up with a way to pay less for the produce of France’s most celebrated wine regions
WINE is valued by its price, not its flavour, declared the Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope. But the supermarket chain Lidl is turning that assumption on its head by producing a new collection of French wines that match the style and flavour profiles of that country’s most renowned regions for a fraction of the cost.
Lidl’s new French Wine Cellar collection, which will be launched on Thursday, is the supermarket’s highest-ever rated selection, as assessed by its panel of three masters of wine.
It features 42 wines from France’s best-known regions, many of which have been sourced from vineyards just down the road from some of the “big names” in French wine.
Lidl insists that its latest collection proves that a limited budget need not stand in the way of quality. “The difference between the top wines and wines made nearby can easily be 10 times the price but the quality differential is nowhere near as great as the price differential,” says Richard Bampfield, one of the three masters on the panel who were invited to taste and score the Lidl collection. “You simply cannot say that the top wine is 10 times better than the wine from down the road.
“The prices of the top wines are driven by speculators and collectors. The lesser-known wines are being drunk by drinkers, without the impact of speculators, so the price stays lower. Certainly the value for money is to be found in wine sold by the neighbours to the top estates.”
Lidl’s approach is the democratisation of wine with many of its affordable examples sharing a comparable “terroir” – soil type, topography and climate – as vineyards and regions with a worldwide reputation.
“These wines have been produced from grapes grown in a similar terroir to some of the most renowned French wines, meaning that customers can get hold of a bottle with a very similar flavour profile but for a fraction of the price,” says a spokesperson for the German-owned discount supermarket which has more than 630 UK stores.
For example, Bordeaux’s classic Right Bank regions of Pomerol and Saint-Emilion produce wines that often sell for more than £100 a bottle. In the Lidl range there are two wines that are said to offer similar flavour intensity and powerful aromas as these classic varieties but for less than a 10th of the hefty price tag.
Consider Lidl’s Merlot-based Château Roque le Mayne, Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux, at £8.99 a bottle, which is said to share the plum and oak notes of a classic red from the famous Pomerol region just 10 miles down the road.
“There are a number of wines in the collection that to my mind taste as if they should be more expensive,” says Bampfield. “The Castillon is one of those, it tastes much better than £8.99. Similarly,
BANK ON THESE BOTTLES
has the typical dried cherry and prune flavours of a fully mature sweet red. It is an astonishing price and really exciting to find a wine like this here.”
Gigondas 2015, £9.99. “This is a warming spicy red that will increasingly come into its own with autumn.”
Les Ormes du Bosquet, LussacSaint-Emilion, £6.49. “This is a great example of a traditional Merlot from the Saint Emilion area, with the delicious and powerful red berry flavours that are typical of the region.” the Riesling from Alsace at £6.49. It is a really good wine and delivers more character than one expects at that price.”
Lidl is particularly proud of its Reuilly Domaine du Chene Vert, Loire 2015 at £8.99 a bottle and claims it features the same floral and lime notes as a classic Sancerre white wine for less than half the price. Does it really?
“It is similar to a Sancerre, selling for a much higher price. I wonder whether people could really tell the difference,” says Bampfield, who singled it out as a star of the collection.
Lidl said that each of the wines in its French collection, first introduced in 2012, had scored at least 80 out of 100 points from its three masters, with some scores in the 90s.
Bampfield says that he and his colleagues did not know until the day before the tastings which wines would be included.
“There is a certain sense of spontaneity to it,” he says. “We are tasting wines and regions that are very varied and there is definitely a sense of adventure.”
It wouldn’t have seemed possible five years ago but Lidl – which launched in the UK in September 1994 – is now setting the pace in the UK supermarket wine trade. The limited edition wines will be on shelves in Lidl’s UK stores while stocks last.