Chateau Grand Pey Lescours
St Emilion Grand Cru
2004
Aldi Stores UK £9.99
Two bottles into my wine blog and I'm amazed at my, so far, uncanny knack of picking two consecutive TDWs (thoroughly decent wines) at what I believe to be TIPs (thoroughly indecent prices).
Today's offering, which slipped down faster than a D list celebrity on a soaking wet red carpet, is an amazing find for anyone who likes a decent posh Claret but can't afford the posh Claret prices that most wine merchants feel the need to charge here in the UK. How ALDI does it I will never know. Although their huge buying power is probably half the answer. Long may that power last.
Unfortunately, today's offering will probably never find its way into the fine and dandy homes of power wives living in the leafy suburbs of Surrey, Hampshire and Cheshire, all of whom would rather miss a session of Botox treatments or cancel their subscriptions to Homes & Gardens than allow their Gucci loafers to bless the floors of an Aldi store.
Which is sad, because if they did re-program their SAT NAV-enabled Waitrose trolleys to head in a new direction they would allow themselves to win favour with their Claret drinking, Maserati-driving power hubbies, all of whom who would simply drool over such an outstanding wine. Quite simply this is a wine which ticks so many boxes for me, and no doubt them - clean, elegant and fruity in a quietly assured way with the added cachet of exceptional dinner table appeal - with manners to match. Make no mistake, this is a wine that tastes as good and as classy as it looks. No surprise really given that the family behind this little number have been doing their stuff since since 1924.
Talking of age, with this being a 2004 vintage, this is a wine whose blackcurrant velvety-ness has matured enough to ensure it stays longer on the palate than the aforementioned D list celebrity would prefer to remain recumbant on that carpet. This is a serious, exceptionally well made Claret that has a very precise and controlled feel to its taste and structure but with personality too. The tannins, always more prominent in Clarets than New World wines, are subtle and not too stiff which lend this wine its posh drinkability.
And at £9.99 this is the kind of wine that people who have no qualms about having the Aldi name appear on their bank statements deserve to own, cherish and drink in abundance.
Everyone round Tom's tasting table loved this wine in every way - it brought a smile to our faces and reminded us that you can still get a decent Claret at less than a tenner without crying over your Steak au Poivre, which is what we should have been eating last night - but we spent the money on the wine instead.
Aldi's marketing slogan 'Spend a Little, Live a lot' is perfectly encapsulated in this classy number.
Thoroughly Decent Wine 9.5/10
Value for Money 10/10
Dinner Party Appeal 11/10
Top of the Class or Back of the Class? Teacher's pet
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