Stitch and Bear

A long-running Irish blog with reviews of the best restaurants in Dublin and throughout Ireland. Some wine and cocktails thrown in for good measure!

Sunday, October 25, 2015

[Wine] Aldi Priorat and Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Aldi continues to enhance its wine offering, and I recently did a trawl through their French Wine Sale offerings, as well as picking up some other interesting wines from the shelves. My normal preference is for white wine, but these two reds have impressed me. 

Lot 06 Priorat 2014, €13.99
The Lot Series is a new range from Aldi, where each wine has been made by a well-known and well-respected producer of their region. Each bottle is individually numbered and features a beautiful hand-painted label. My bottle was #12,2006 from a batch of 36,000.

Priorat is a Spanish wine region, located close to Barcelona, and is one of only two wine regions in Spain to qualify as DOCa (alongside Rioja). It hasn't been widely known up to recently, but is gaining a strong reputation and producing some of the most expensive Spanish wines. 

This Priorat is made from Grenache with 14.5% ABV. It has lots of red and dark fruit (think cherries) on the nose, which continues on the palate, with some subtle spice. Tannins are firm without being too strong. Very delicious. 

Château Pindefleurs Saint-Émilion Grand Cru 2011, €18.99
A Right Bank Bordeaux, this is dominated by Merlot (90%) with Cabarnet Franc making up the remainder. It's a denser beast than the Priorat, with lots of blackcurrants, dark fruit and chocolate, plus a nice smoky woodiness of cedar and oak, complete with good tannins. There's a slight note of violets and mint to balance out the richness. I think I'll be heading back to buy a few bottles for Christmas drinking. 
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