The last time Decanter covered an Aldi tasting in March this year, Tina Gellie gave voice to a persistent problem that she and many of the other attendees (this taster included) had at the event: put simply, too many of the 94 wines on show contained far too much sugar.
It’s only fair, then, to begin the latest review of this always competitively priced range by acknowledging what appears to have been a concerted attempt by the Aldi team to dial down the sweetness.
By and large, the ‘dry’ wines in what was a considerably more focused tasting of 53 sparkling and still wines (including four enticing festive-season Ports and a rather less attractive 0% abv mulled wine) were genuinely dry – and all the better for it.
As ever, Aldi’s buyers on this showing still have a knack for finding highly drinkable wines at the very lowest price points possible. In the context of the UK’s draconian duty rates and other rising costs, the quality of the three-strong, non-vintage Chilean Estevez range for prices ranging from £4.15 to £4.49, for example, is as surprising as it is welcome; so, too, the white and red Chassaux et Fils Côtes du Rhône (£5.29 apiece).
On a strict pleasure-per-pence accounting, however, there is even more fun to be had higher up the price scale. There’s a strong trio of red new additions in the shape of the intensely true-to-type Baron Amarillo Specially Selected Ribera del Duero 2024 (£8.99), the sinewy, spicy Chassaux et Fils Specially Selected Cairanne 2024 (£9.99), and the Christmas dinner-red contender, Margaux Declassified 2023 (£19.99); while white highlights include a pair of Chardonnays: the brightly fruited Cambalala Specially Selected Stellenbosch Chardonnay 2024 (£6.29) and a particularly vivacious Chassaux et Fils Specially Selected Chablis Premier Cru 2023 (£22.49).
A shout-out, too for Chassaux et Fils Sainte Victoire Côtes de Provence Rosé 2024 (£10.99) and the evergreen house Champagne, Veuve Monsigny Brut NV (£15.49), each an example of a continuing long-term Aldi strength: affordable premium rosé and good-quality budget fizz.
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