Lidl licks the lot for the best value wine
BUDGET chain Lidl has beaten the rest of the high street on wine, with two in three bottles worth more than the price on the shelf. The chain has been named Wine Supermarket of the Year, fractionally ahead of rival Aldi in terms of delivering both good wine and good value.
Lidl beat all the mainstream supermarkets and more upmarket chains, including Marks & Spencer and Waitrose, which are generally more expensive.
The German-owned chain has made selling fine wine at low prices the cornerstone of a strategy to lure in Britain’s dinner party classes and overcome the snobbery that low prices means poor quality.
The study by the Wotwine organisation also found some stores appear happy to dump average wines on customers under the guise of bargain deals.
Wotwine’s experts carry out taste tests through the year, giving bottles a price they think would be fair, according to the quality, which is compared to the actual figure.
It found that 65 per cent of the wine sold by Lidl was cheaper than warranted by the quality.
For example, Lidl sells Palomar Creek Zinfandel, a red from California, for £4.99 but Wotwine believes it is so good it should cost £10. And it sells Clairette de Die Tradition, a French sparkling wine, for £6.99 when a fair price would be £12.
The research involved tastings of some 4,161 wines over 18 months in what the company claims is the most authoritative review of supermarket wine ever undertaken.
The Wotwine team is made up of expert tasters and Masters of Wine, including Christopher Burr, who was international head of wine for Christie’s, and Dee Blackstock, who was a wine buyer for Waitrose.
The results will be a boost for Lidl, which bases its marketing strategy on surprising shoppers with high quality food at budget prices.
Wotwine’s senior taster, Alex Tilling, said: ‘Lidl’s small but wellselected range shines above the other supermarkets.’
The success of Lidl and Aldi will be a further blow to the mainstream stores, which have seen millions of customers switch away, triggering a fall in sales and profits.
Wotwine warned people to beware of supermarket promotions. It said Tesco is currently selling Calloway Crossing Cabernet Shiraz on the basis of a price cut from £9.99 to £4.99. However, it believes the quality of the wine suggests it is really only worth £3.99.
Similarly, Sainsbury’s is offering a deal on Vina Maipo Reserva Rose, bringing it down from £7.50 to £5, however it believes a fair figure would be £3.99. On the other hand it pointed to a Yalumba Y series Viognier, from Australia, which Sainsbury’s is selling for £10 but is really worth £20 in terms of quality. It also recommends Asda’s Zilzie Merlot, which costs £4.85 but is really worth £8.
The firm’s research is bad news for M&S. Mr Tilling said: ‘M&S is the supermarket which offers the highest number of poor- value wines, with customers risking overpaying on a staggering 74 per cent of bottles. Other supermarkets where customers may struggle to find a good value wine include Morrisons and the Co-op.’