It always made it more fun

No it does not, if you want to pay over the top prices because of a brand name you carry on mate, wine snobs will pay silly money for a wine that tastes like vinegar and because it is expensive they think it tastes super.
Use your brain and your taste buds, superb wine does not have to be expensive and if you are stupid enough to pay over the odds for a wine when you can get a similar wine that tastes as good without the designer label then more fool you, Oz Clarke reckons the best t wines are the ones from independent small wineries that are not massed produced.

I live close to Saumur. Saumur wines have an 'appellation'. They cost a little more because of it. So, when the wine fayres are on, I taste what the smaller cavistes are offering. Good wines from around €3 to €5/bottle, usually on a par with the 'classy', more well-known wines around €10. I can be just as happy drinking the € plastic bottles. Wine's a stupid industry anyway.

Friends brought us a bottle of their home-produced wine last year. Shit alors, what a fantastic drop that was....

Buy what you like.
Quaff what you like.
There is, in life ,an awful lot of snobbery.
I've met enough folk who think that because the've paid more it must be better than a cheaper version.
We used to do the same product in different wrappers. One priced for the snobs, one priced for the price sensitive folk.
Every body was happy and their relative values (or pretensions) were satisfied.......ergo everyone's a winner!

Totally agree with you, but hey ignorance is bliss for some.

I think you can generalise that the more you pay the more likely it is to be a good wine and the less you pay the more likely it is to be a duffer.

There is of course a huge overlap which is why some cheap wines are really good and some expensive ones are naff.

At the end of the day it's a question of whether you like it or not, not what someone else thinks.

All I would add is that Spanish wines are made from more different grape varieties than any other wine producing country and it is the grape variety that gives different wines different flavours. In some respects the area of production is less relevant.

Almost all Spanish wines show the grape varieties on the label and if you find, for instance, that you like a Sauvignon Blanc or a Grenache, then look for wines made from the same grape as it is more likely to suit your taste - it is particularly noticeable with Rosados.

Lidl do actually sell some really good, extremely good value wines. This is mainly as a result of their huge buying power and almost all their wines are specially selected and bottled for them. The same applies to the large supermarket chains.

I agree- the best wines (or at least the ones I likes the most) always came from the pueblo of the local bodega, or found in the Pueblos them selves (When I lived in ZGZA I always loved going to Cariñena for their full bodies tintos)

I wish we could find such deals here in the US, though Spanish wines are becoing easier to find and prices are coming down. Lately we have been getting a lot of Campo Borja, Borsao from Zgza, and Garnacha from Calatyud and Cariñena for $6-8/bottle...nice to find so far away from 'home'.


Will have to visit Valladolid next trip...I thought Donosti's tapas were the best!!

Think it's more a case of inverted snobbery on this thread.
We drink mainly cheap wine but have a treat now and then and can tell the difference. If you are so adamant that the very cheapest is best how can you tell as you won't taste anything else. Someone mentioned Potros, one of my favourites. A few years ago such a good one came out it was all sold straight away. Spanish only drink the cheapest wine because they mix it with Casera ,when they are out they order at least a cheap Rioja.

What about ' new world' wines ? NZ for instance?

NZ produce wine ?

When we first came here we used to buy wine which cost around €3 a bottle as normal, sometimes up to €5. They were all good, rarely had a bad bottle.

A few months ago we were recommended Fin Del Rio which we get from Mercadona at €1.99 for a ltr bottle. It is excellent for day to day drinking, and now most of the neighbours around here drink it as well. We have the odd bottle of more expensive wine as a treat, but why pay more if you find a wine you enjoy!

At Mucky Donna Mitzyboy try the Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva 2004 ESTOLA its very cheap I bought some a few years ago and forgotten about it, I found it the other week that was year 2000 and it drank very well. Ideal for Roast Beef Sunday Lunch. The price is about €3 try one bottle then stock up if you like it. Any rough Red wine you buy why not mix it with Gasseosa as the rice farmers do here. I prefer white wine myself but admit I am rather fond of the ESTOLA. Now lets discuss its taste ,Straight away the presence of Prune and plum dominates the nose. Smells thick and chewy, However the body is not thick and chewy, given the nose. Some tannin appears on the finish.But is not too dry. Has a good length for a wine costing tres Euro. Try it

Have you already had some this morning!


Yes, tried that

Personally I adore NZ wines but they are almost impossible to find in Spain - it's the main reason I go to Gib once a year!

If you consider South Africa "New World" then Lidl have a really good Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon for 2.29 - definitely worth a try.

Just a glass or three mate None of that NZ muck though Mate Its made in steel vats, The wine makers are more like chemists mate and thats a fact.At least our vats in Aus are made from stainless steel .

( Thats enough mate.Ed )

They produce some nice wine in Hambledon in the south of England