I taste tested Aldi's award-winning wines with mixed reviews

South Wales Guardian

4 days ago

Whether it's a nice Shiraz with a steak dinner, a sparkling Rosé in a beer garden on a warm summer's day, or a crisp Sauvignon Blanc, there is something to suit everyone's taste buds.
But with so many fantastic options to choose from, it can be hard to find the perfect bottle that is just right for you.
If you are looking for a great value wine, as well as something that tastes fantastic, I find the best place to start (as with most things) is Aldi.
To help convince you further about Aldi's selection, 46 of their wines have recently been awarded medals at the prestigious International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC) 2025.
From those award-winning tipples, social media wine expert and IWSC judge Andy Pincott, aka the Affordable Wine Hunter, picked the six best that you can buy for under £10.
So, I took his advice and popped down to my local Aldi to grab a bottle of each.
My wife and I, who have very different palates when it comes to wine, then spent an afternoon relaxing at home with a charcuterie board and these six wines, testing to see whether they lived up to the high praise.
The experts described Aldi's Sous Les Mers as "an easy-drinking French white that offers freshness and balance", and I agree. (Image: Patrick Glover) Andy described the Sous Les Mers as an "easy-drinking French white that offers freshness and balance".
My wife and I couldn't have agreed more, both taken back by the softness of the flavour, and how "drinkable" it was.
This was my wife's favourite of the six wines.
No matter where you are drinking this wine, you can just imagine yourself sitting in a beer garden somewhere in the summer sun.
On top of all that, it is "amazing value" at £6.99.
The Costières de Nimes Blanc is your traditional, dry white wine. (Image: Patrick Glover) This southern French white wine was extremely flavourful.
Think your traditional, dry white wine with citrus flavours (although I swear I could taste apple).
Ideal if you are looking for a wine to have with an evening meal.
Both my wife and I agreed that the Costières de Nîmes Blanc was about middle of the range in comparison to the five others.
Aldi's Rosorange is one wine to avoid. (Image: Patrick Glover) Next, we ventured on to Aldi's Rosorange, which has proven itself as somewhat of a viral trend in recent years.
Both my wife and I honestly didn't see the appeal. It ranked an extremely distant last when compared to Aldi's other award-winning wines.
It was tangy, you couldn't really taste the orange, and it left a weird, overpowering aftertaste in your mouth.
I'm sorry to say, as I hate wasting even a single drop of alcohol, the Rosé went straight down the sink after we'd finished the taste test.
While the taste is bad enough, the Rosorange Rosé was the most expensive of the six wines as well at £9.99.
Definitely one to steer clear of.
The Austrian Zweigelt was my favourite wine of the six we tried. (Image: Patrick Glover) With the white wines out of the way, we cleansed our palates with some water and more cheese and made our way onto the red wines - my favourite.
Having spent the first 26 years of my life in Australia, living off delicious reds from the likes of Penfolds, Yalumba and d'Arenberg, I am very much a full-bodied red wine drinker.
So I was surprised when I discovered the medium-bodied Austrian Zweigelt to be my favourite Aldi wine.
Giving off aromas of berries and forest fruits, it has a wonderful spicy taste accompanied by a smooth finish.
While my wife didn't like it as much, I thought it was a fantastic wine and is definitely worth adding to your shopping list next time you visit Aldi.
This red wine is a mixture of Malbec and Grenache. (Image: Patrick Glover) The Specially Selected Caladoc Rouge received mixed reviews from my wife and I.
It was one of my least favourite of the Aldi wines, while it was my wife's favourite out of the reds.
This red is a mixture of Malbec and Grenache and, for me, was just a bit of flavour overload. There was just too much going on.
It gave off a fruity aroma, said to be of "stewed plums and brambles", while the taste is described on the bottle as a combination of "earth, pepper and blackcurrants".
Aldi's Cabernet Franc is a classic full-bodied red wine with smoky/peppery flavours. (Image: Patrick Glover) The final wine on our tasting journey was the Argentinian Cabernet Franc.
This is a classic full-bodied red with a smoky, peppery kind of taste, not too dissimilar to that of a traditional Cabernet Sauvignon.
An ideal pairing for a dinner-time meal like beef stew.
Worth a try for those traditional red wine drinkers out there, although is one of the more pricer options on the list at £8.99.
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After a few hours of wine tasting, my wife and I concluded that despite both having our favourites, which were both extremely different, it doesn't matter what we think.
Everyone has their own tastes. So what I like will be different from what my wife likes, which will be different again from what you, the reader, likes.
So, take in our little taste testing notes, hopefully they are a helpful guide, but go out and buy the wine that you like.
It might be from Aldi, it could be from M&S, or Asda. But wherever it's from, just follow your taste buds.