Friday Wine Club's best reds
Well done, we’ve made it to the end of another week of homeschooling. And this week Helen McGinn has picked a selection of red wines to help us celebrate making it to Friday night.
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Animus Douro Red£5.49, Aldi
This is an incredible price for a wine of this quality. If you smell it, it’s like falling into a bramble bush. It’s full of juicy hedgerow flavours. It’s soft, supple and very, very moreish - just what you need at the end of a Friday.
M&S Classics Chianti Riserva£8, Marks & Spencer
This is a Chianti Riserva - Riserva tells us that it’s been aged in oak for a year, which gives it a bit of spice. So you get that lovely cherry fruit, but you can smell the spice on the nose. It gives it a real pop actually, it’s really juicy and it has a bite to it. It's made by a great producer, and a really good price for a wine like this.
Morrisons The Best Marques de los Rios Rioja Reserva£7 was £8.75 Morrisons
This is made by Bodegas Muriel, a top name in Rioja. A lot of Rioja reds are aged in oak, and the Tempranillo grape loves oak ageing, it gives it a real vanilla and spice character. This has had two and a half years ageing in oak and then even more in the bottle, so it’s really mellow. On the palette there’s lots of that lovely blackcurrant fruit wrapped in the warm spice and vanilla. A great price for a Rioja that’s been aged that long.
Tesco Finest Valle De Colchagua Merlot£8, Tesco
Next we go to Chile. This is the Merlot grape. There’s sometime about Colchagua in Chile - it’s a bit of a cool spot because it’s near the coast, and it it brings out a chocolate character in Merlot. It’s really warming and rich and you get notes of mocha in there. And it’s so concentrated to taste, with rich blackcurrant fruits, but with a soft chocolatey edge. It’s such a lovely wine and fantastic value.
Tesco Finest Valpolicella Ripasso£11, Tesco
Finally we’re hopping back to Northern Italy. Ripasso tells us that the wine is fermented on the skins of the grapes that are used to make Valpolicella's meatier cousin Amarone. It adds more oomph, and texture and flavour to the wine. You can smell raisins straight away, and it’s really juicy and mellow and moreish. Fabulous!
Well done for making it to the end of another week - here’s to your weekend!