The Cheap but Not Horrible Wine Recomendation Thread.

[Basil]

Inspired by- erm - me, I wondered if this would be useful.  You know, you just want a bottle of plonk to go with the spag bol.

What do you recommend as not horrible?

I suggest that price must be well below £10 - preferably nearer the £5 - £6 bottom shelf mark.  I bet there are some reasonable bottles out there.

[Wowbagger]

I had some really lovely Chilean merlot with the Christmas goose at my brother's place. I think it was from T. Esco and cost about £4 a bottle.

[Tewdric]

I had some really lovely Chilean merlot with the Christmas goose at my brother's place. I think it was from T. Esco and cost about £4 a bottle.

Chilean Merlot can be delicious if you hit a good one.  A lot of it is really Malbec though and not so nice.  Can you recall the label?  I shall go in search if you have discovered a goodie..

[Basil]

Chilean Merlot can be delicious if you hit a good one.  A lot of it is really Malbec though and not so nice.  Can you recall the label?  I shall go in search if you have discovered a goodie..

Exactly.  If peeps find a decent bottle, we need the exact lable details and supermarket (I assume)

[Exit Stage Left]

The Lidl Rioja Joven at £3.99 gets consistently good reviews.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/lidl-wine-under-a-fiver-is-more-1467002
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/wine/9017839/Lidl-goes-a-long-way.html

[rogerzilla]

I only buy French red wine; any of the Sainsbury's "house" ones are OK.  They vary a bit from bottle to bottle but the Corbieres and Cotes du Rhone have been good.  You can pay 3x the price and get worse, anyway.

I like German Rieslings, which were also cheap because of the relatively low alcohol content (most are under 10%).  However, German wine been squeezed out of the UK market by New World branded wines with of unknown quality (no QbA or AOC here) and it's almost impossible to find a Bereich Bernkastel or even a Piesporter Michelsberg in the supermarket these days.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Jacob's Creek Grenache Shiraz.

[Snakehips]

Chilean Viña Maipo is GVFM IMHO.
Red (Merlot and other varieties) , white , rosé can often be had between £4 and £5.

[Fab Foodie]

Tesco Cotes du Rhone wine box .... fab.
Muscadet ... poor man's Chablis.

[Ewan Houzami]

Aldi's £3.69 CdR is surprisingly ok. They often seem to have run out in my nearest store, so I imagine it's been given the thumbs-up in some well-read review somewhere.

[PaulF]

I had some really lovely Chilean merlot with the Christmas goose at my brother's place. I think it was from T. Esco and cost about £4 a bottle.

Chilean Merlot can be delicious if you hit a good one.  A lot of it is really Malbec though and not so nice.  Can you recall the label?  I shall go in search if you have discovered a goodie..

I generally prefer Malbec to Merlot....

In that fine I had a nice bottle of Tesco's Finest (or whatever they call their premium range) Malbec

[urban_biker]

Tesco Australian Red  is my standard glugging wine. I think its around £4.50 a bottle and probably a bit cheaper if you buy a box ( although not by as much as you'd think )

[Tewdric]

I generally prefer Malbec to Merlot....

The Merlot you prefer Malbec to is probably loaded with Carmenere or Malbec.  Chilean labelling has been known to be a little creative, to say the least.  The days of the real bargain are long gone as the supermarket buyers have wised up, but there are still some delicious Chilean Merlots about.  Erruzaziz make some pleasant enough wines.

[Ham]

Ahem ....Lidl .... http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=65558.msg1373652#msg1373652

the rioja is top notch.

[perpetual dan]

I suggest that price must be well below £10 - preferably nearer the £5 - £6 bottom shelf mark.  I bet there are some reasonable bottles out there.

Drat, 3 weeks of christmas recycling has just been collected.  £6 French red is usually what I aim for, unless its a special occasion. The local shop does quite a good "Ventoux".

[Juan Martín]

Another  for Lidl. As mentioned upthread their CdR is really pretty good and I have got through several bottles over the holiday period. I tried it after someone recommended it on the 'What are you drinking now' thread. Their Rioja is also pretty good.

[Moondog]

Vinalba 2010 Argentinian Malbec-Syrah.If you can find it in Asda at £5.48 it is a splendid winter drink.
14.5%.A ripe,soft, jammy, beast of a wine.
It never stays on the shelves long.

n

[Ewan Houzami]

Notwithstanding the current argy-bargy, Argentina and Chile do make great value wines imo. The Pinot Noirs from the Casablanca valley are worth picking up if you see them discounted to around £7 in Tescburys and the like.

[andyoxon]

Tesco Cotes du Rhone wine box .... fab.
Muscadet ... poor man's Chablis.

May try that, thanks FF.  Grauniad gives it a mention...

The best of the bunch by a country mile were two reds, Morrisons' juicy, exuberant Good Sicilian Red (£13.99, or a bargainous £3.50 a bottle; 12.5% abv), which is made by the thoroughly competent Cantine Settesoli, and Tesco's gutsy, honest Simply Côtes du Rhône (£14.49, or £3.62 a bottle; 13.5% abv). These were the only boxes I'd be remotely tempted by – and only then on price.

  http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/oct/07/wine-boxes-wine-pouches

[Canardly]

Another  for Lidl. As mentioned upthread their CdR is really pretty good and I have got through several bottles over the holiday period. I tried it after someone recommended it on the 'What are you drinking now' thread. Their Rioja is also pretty good.

+1 experimented this Christmas not a bad one amongst them.

[tiermat]

+1 to Lidl, well worth tge money and more, the Rioja is just lush, as is their "barcelino" trouble is they too drinkable!

[Fab Foodie]

Tesco Cotes du Rhone wine box .... fab.
Muscadet ... poor man's Chablis.

May try that, thanks FF.  Grauniad gives it a mention...

The best of the bunch by a country mile were two reds, Morrisons' juicy, exuberant Good Sicilian Red (£13.99, or a bargainous £3.50 a bottle; 12.5% abv), which is made by the thoroughly competent Cantine Settesoli, and Tesco's gutsy, honest Simply Côtes du Rhône (£14.49, or £3.62 a bottle; 13.5% abv). These were the only boxes I'd be remotely tempted by – and only then on price.

  http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/oct/07/wine-boxes-wine-pouches

That's interesting ... it's been our poison for several years and we've never had a bad box... though I've had many a bad head, but that's my fault!

[Ewan Houzami]

Just picked up a Chablis from Lidl (slightly north of £7 ahem), as I need to stockpile clear bottles now for my intended Chardonnay homebrew. Well, that's my excuse, but even better to discover that the Telegraph writer in Tewdric's link upthread gave it the thumbs-up.

[mattc]

Notwithstanding the current argy-bargy, Argentina and Chile do make great value wines imo.

These are my default picks at the bargain end, wherever I shop.

We only have tescos/Sains here, so no access to most of the tips above. Also have tiny Coops, whose Fairtrade S.American reds are all good at £4-5  (I think Chilean Shiraz is my most recent?), for those pinko leftys out there.

[Ewan Houzami]

The £3.99 Joven Rioja from Leedl is quite superb. If somebody told me it cost a tenner I'd believe them.