Over the last year we have enjoyed meeting our friends on a video call every Saturday. With life a bit 'off' our regular quiz nights and wine tastings have been very much needed by both of us.
We had a great Wine Tasting Night in January and a Virtual Cocktail Night in February - both super fun. We all live quite close so swapping the mini bottles is not a problem, in fact it made a nice drive out at times, if only 10 minutes!
However swapping wines in this way is not possible with our friends who live near London but we did want to do a virtual wine night. Problem solved, we both have an Aldi store nearby so arranged to meet one morning by phone in our own stores. It was quite surreal to be standing looking at the wines talking to our friends 100 miles away and choosing the same wines to try.
One that caught all our eyes was a white Malbec, I have enjoyed many Malbec wines but never a white wine.
Argentinian White Malbec at £6.99 is a good wine for summer days. As with a red Malbec it has red berries but has a lighter flavour with hints of strawberries and floral blossom.
Our red choice was French, from the southern Mediterranean coast very close to the Spanish border, and made from a grape grown in both couthries - Grenache Noir.
Pierre Jaurant G has a medium body with plenty of fruit. The wine was slightly tannic even though we had decanted our bottle a few hours earlier, but was fruity with a good finish. It was nice to find a bottle of just Grenache, especially at £6.49
It was a lovely evening chatting by video with our friends and sharing the same wine, something we have enjoyed in person in the past and will hopefully be able to do again in the not too distant future.
It's been a while since we shopped in Aldi, there were many new wines in store which of course tempted us into buying a few to try. We chose four whites and six reds, including the tasting two.
Our whites were Stellenbosch Chardonnay Reserve, Pierre Jaurant French Vermentino and Mimo Moutinho Portuguese Loureiro.
I am looking forward to tasting all of these as they are all new to me, not just being from Aldi but the grape or region. I have had South African Chardonnay but not a Stellenbosch Reserve; likewise with the Vermentino, a grape I have tasted but not from France. The Portuguese Loureiro is one I am especially looking forward to as it's from the Vinho Verde region and a new grape to me.
The reds were a combination of wines we have enjoyed, wines other people have recommended and new wines that caught our eye.
Portuguese Douro is one we both enjoy and is great value at £5.49.
The labelling on the Coteaux de Beziers really stood out, especially as we have enjoyed many holidays in the area and have visited Beziers many times. Listed as Pierre Jaurant French Red Blend it is a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot wine.
It's a good job we picked up an Original Series Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon as it's no longer available. Another label that caught our eye was Cambalala South African Pinotage, it's a grape Hubby enjoys and is looking forward to tasting.
Our final red was on the recommendation of a member of Cuvée Reserve, a wine forum for sharing everything about wine. I'm keen to try this Specially Selected Uruguayan Tannat, I'm not sure what we'll be pairing it with so there's an opportunity to study both my wine and recipe books.
All in all a good Aldi visit, we picked great wines to enjoy with our friends and had a lovely evening, and we have some lovely new wines to try .... cheers.
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