Good wine doesn’t have to be expensive. Supermarkets are full of great bottles now, whether you want a fresh white wine for drinking outside or a big glass of red wine to pair with a Sunday roast.
With feeds full of genuinely good, low-cost bottles, social media has played a big part in making wine feel more accessible. From the viral £10.99 “chicken wine” (La Vieille Ferme rosé) to Aldi’s award-winning sauvignon blanc and Asda’s playful alternative to Whispering Angel, Screaming Devil, plenty of bottles have blown up online and actually live up to the hype.
TikTok personalities like Lucy Hitchcock, known as @Partnerinwineuk, frequently cause bottles to dry out at M&S and Waitrose, as their recommendations fly off the shelves. Meanwhile, wine influencers like Hannah Crosbie and Tom Gilbey are helping strip away the snobbery, making wine feel far more accessible to everyday drinkers.
“Wine is a whole aisle now, as people want more variety as well as value, and supermarkets have wisely chosen to invest in their wine buyers and relationships with producers – because this is how most of us buy our wine,” says Libby Brodie, wine consultant and columnist. The same can be said with supermarket champagne and whisky, where growing demand has led to a wider selection and higher-quality offerings.
According to Sinead Murdoch, sommelier and co-founder of restaurant Tasca, supermarkets are increasingly appealing to more discerning drinkers. “Now top wine buyers are working for supermarkets, and the growing competition is raising the standard of what ends up on the shelves.” This means that shoppers can now find bottles that rival those in specialist wine shops, without having to spend a fortune or hunt for rare finds.
That said, it can still be hard to know what to pick up, so to make things easier, we spoke to the experts. Below, sommeliers and trusted wine voices share their top supermarket wine picks. Read on for what’s worth adding to your basket right now.
Read more: We blind taste-tested champagnes and crowned a £35 winner
Dining and Cooking