Asda wines part 1

Hooray, off to Boulogne in early November. I had the chance to buy some French wines, which is the main purpose of this site. But I still have a backlog of some of the wines that I have been buying in the UK. As my wine limit is only 24 bottles, and I am unlikely to be back in Boulogne until late March or early April next year, there will be more reviews of UK bought wines. This month looking at some that I bought at Asda.

I am a fan of Asda for most everyday shopping, and there is a good one very near me. Biggest Asda in the UK (so I have been told) is at Owlcotes in Pudsey about a 10 minute drive from me. And a very good stock of lots of good stuff they have there. I have not bought wine at Asda for years, as have been relying on my French bought stock, and more recently purchased from Morrisons. So I have been giving some of their wines a try. Starting with a little gamble of a cheap wine. I didn’t want to risk giving the first one to anyone, so that is just reviewed by me. My friend Mary was visiting to taste the other two.

Nice Drop Cabernet Sauvignon

• Asda Nice Drop
• Cabernet Sauvignon
• £3.75
• 13%

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Aroma: Strong. No delicate aromas although some dark fruits come through a bit, strong and slightly acidic and vinegary. Does not fill one with confidence.

Taste: It does have some bite and flavour. It does have some dark cherry flavours. But the sourness and vinegary aroma that I could smell does come through in the taste. Will save for cooking.

Me

Casillero del Diablo Cabernet Sauvignon

• Cabernet Sauvignon
• £8 from Asda
• 13.5%

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Aroma: Very nice, dark berry fruits.

Taste: A bit sharp at first. I let it breathe and left it until supper was ready. Then a pleasant rich oakiness. Quite a strong flavour and still a bit sharp. Tasted again with steak, plum sauce and sauteed potatoes and it tasted better.

Me

Aroma: Nice, slightly rich but not too rich. Smokey tones.

Taste: A pleasant drink with a slight citrus sharpness.

Mary

Trivento Malbec

• Argentinian Malbec
• £6 from Asda
• 14%

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Aroma: Dark fruits. Nice subtle, not overpowering.

Taste: Subtle flavours, quite dry and rich. Again the dark fruit comes through in the taste as well A slight sourness, but good and punchy.

Me

Aroma: Rich and fruity, plum aromas

Taste: Nice velvety taste, rich. Plum notes as with the aroma.

Mary

Review conclusions

It is sometimes worth a gamble on buying some cheap wines. Auchan’s own brand Cabernet Sauvignon that I have written about before being a good one. But ‘Nice Drop’ is not a good one. Give this a miss. I dread to think what the Nice Drop of Merlot is like. I won’t take the gamble to find out. Glad that I did not offer this to anyone.

I wanted to try the Casillero del Diablo as they do sponsor some good films on TV. And a nice wine it was, but I do think that the Malbec was the slightly better wine, and less expensive too. Overall, it was enjoyable to have with a light meat dishes. Just goes to prove that you cannot always judge by price. This may be due to liking Malbec. But as my experience tying the ‘Nice Drop’ showed, going too cheap is often not worth it.