MacDonald's of wines Jacobs Creek, Blossom Hill, Harry's etc

[Triggaaar]

You can choose to believe that should you wish to. In my experience of drinking plenty of wines both above and under £10, you can indeed get a nice tasting bottle for under a tenner. You are more likely to get one if you spend over a tenner. I'm not saying go mad, but as Simon Hoggart said 'Life's too short to drink bad wine'

Indeed it is, and that applies to bad tea, bad chocolate, etc. But if I tried to get some good wine for £6, and £10, would you definitely tell the difference?

 

[Reagulls]

I have much angst with wine, firstly I do not think I like it very much beyond the most accessible way to get an alcohol hit if eating at/with where wine is the only appropriate option.

Secondly I tend to only find it more palatable after a few pints, when it suddenly becomes quite moor'ish but can leave me with a hangover from hell.

I would love to like wine, preferably just a bottle at a time, I scour the supermarket aisles, looking sneeringly at the 5 quid a pop bottles but knowing that £7.00 - £10.00 bottles are likely to be no more than 'retail price points' to entice me into thinking they are of a higher standard but probably not or for that prezzie for a colleague that you couldnt ever buy the 5 quid bottle for anyway, so those £7.00 (reduced from £12.00 of course) I have bought have totally underwhelmed me.

I have ventured into £7-£10 range with varying success, but my thoughts are usually skewed depending on the company, the occasion or my pre-wine alcohol consumption but I think most of it has been pretty horrid.

I like the thought now and again to sit at home, crack open a bottle and sip a refreshing, cold wonderful white wine, but it has never happened, I am good drinker I enjoy it, nothing sinister just elevates most occasions into laughter and fun.

Any recommendations would be brilliant, really would !!

A few of my current £7-10 favourites, often just under the £7 on offer, my favourite being the Rioja

 

[Is it PotG?]

A few of my current £7-10 favourites.View attachment 84979

 

[neilbard]

I am far from a wine expert, but Blossom Hill White is comfortably the worst wine I have ever, ever tasted. I'd rather sink an entire case of Le Piat D'Or than that stuff.

I'd rather quaff a carafe of Christian Dior J'adore

 

[neilbard]

 

[Normal Rob]

Indeed it is, and that applies to bad tea, bad chocolate, etc. But if I tried to get some good wine for £6, and £10, would you definitely tell the difference?

Probably not, but if I spend over a tenner on a bottle I would only buy a type that I know I should like, or more likely, know that I do like. I can't afford to take too many risks.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

Not true at all about no good wine under a tenner.
More reds than whites in my opinion like Rioja, Merlot, Malbec etc but for under £10 you can buy decent Burgundy Chardonnay, even Chablis (not a good Chablis but Chablis nether the less) Pinot Grigio, in fact quite a few.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

I have much angst with wine, firstly I do not think I like it very much beyond the most accessible way to get an alcohol hit if eating at/with where wine is the only appropriate option.

Secondly I tend to only find it more palatable after a few pints, when it suddenly becomes quite moor'ish but can leave me with a hangover from hell.

I would love to like wine, preferably just a bottle at a time, I scour the supermarket aisles, looking sneeringly at the 5 quid a pop bottles but knowing that £7.00 - £10.00 bottles are likely to be no more than 'retail price points' to entice me into thinking they are of a higher standard but probably not or for that prezzie for a colleague that you couldnt ever buy the 5 quid bottle for anyway, so those £7.00 (reduced from £12.00 of course) I have bought have totally underwhelmed me.

I have ventured into £7-£10 range with varying success, but my thoughts are usually skewed depending on the company, the occasion or my pre-wine alcohol consumption but I think most of it has been pretty horrid.

I like the thought now and again to sit at home, crack open a bottle and sip a refreshing, cold wonderful white wine, but it has never happened, I am good drinker I enjoy it, nothing sinister just elevates most occasions into laughter and fun.

Any recommendations would be brilliant, really would !!

I like and know a fair amount about Burgundy white wine, it's a bit of a hobby of mine.
My recommendation would be to find a bottle of basic Burgundy White for about £8 sometimes if you are lucky it can be as good as a more expensive Burgundy try a good wine shop or Waitrose.

 

[GoldWithFalmer]

I'd genuinely love to try a (say) £500 bottle of wine, just to see how it compares, taste wise, to something considerably less expensive.

Well, I say that: I've love to try a £25,000 bottle of wine for the same reason, but for research purposes, I'm willing to stick to something ever so slightly more realistic

You never know who on here might be able to help with such matters,hidden in the wine cellars of the chat residents,that said it's a thing i'd like to try too,so if you get any joy,perhaps you could let us know

Would be interesting to compare though.

 

[Triggaaar]

Probably not, but if I spend over a tenner on a bottle I would only buy a type that I know I should like, or more likely, know that I do like.

Fair enough.

I can't afford to take too many risks.

Afford in a financial sense, or time? Reading the first part of your post I was assuming you can afford to spend more, so why not.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

A few of my current £7-10 favourites, often just under the £7 on offer, my favourite being the Rioja View attachment 84976View attachment 84978

These two are never NOT on offer at Tesco. I'm absolutely convinced the "full price" they suggest is heavily discounted has never once existed. I wonder what they pay their suppliers for it?

 

[Lady Whistledown]

You never know who on here might be able to help with such matters,hidden in the wine cellars of the chat residents,that said it's a thing i'd like to try too,so if you get any joy,perhaps you could let us know

Would be interesting to compare though.

I've long had a plan of going out somewhere one night purely for the purposes of this experiment: to order the bottle costing a few hundred quid, just so I can see how it tastes by comparison to my usual (not to the local Harvester, obviously). I just haven't got round to doing it yet, this year has been a bit too expensive already But maybe next year, then I shall come back on here and let you know whether it was worth it



Actually, while we're on the subject: I have to source wine fairly soon for my wedding. Anybody got any good suggestions for buying a fairly large volume of wine, at reasonable cost? Currently the options seem to be either going via a supermarket, or hiring a van and doing the day trip to France thing. Is either one a better option than the other??

 

[Normal Rob]

Afford in a financial sense, or time? Reading the first part of your post I was assuming you can afford to spend more, so why not.

Financially. The £10 average is something that i do try to stick to, but for every bottle of £20 wine that means 3 bottles under £7. To be honest it's very rare that I would spend £20+ on a single bottle (the Decoy is a rare special treat to myself). My trolley is usually a mix of £7-£13 range.

 

[Triggaaar]

Financially. The £10 average is something that i do try to stick to, but for every bottle of £20 wine that means 3 bottles under £7. To be honest it's very rare that I would spend £20+ on a single bottle (the Decoy is a rare special treat to myself). My trolley is usually a mix of £7-£13 range.

Ok, I misunderstood your post. I thought you meant that you like to go for slightly more expensive bottles because you knew they'd be good, and didn't want to risk an average bottle.

 

[Machiavelli]

It's difficult to give a catch all. One of my favourite wines is 3.5 stars (Terra D'alter). Another one which I handily reviewed as 'Paint Stripper' is also 3.5. Blossom hill is 3.4. Anything over 4 is usually spot on. Digging through the comments is your best bet, you can get the idea. The pretentious gang tend to underscore but your drink to get pissed reviewer will give any old shit 5.

It's also a very handy app to see how much a £30 restaurant wine really costs.

Terra D'Alter wines are excellent. Both the white and especially the red in the Reserva range are delicious. Available at Butlers.

 

[Machiavelli]

I've long had a plan of going out somewhere one night purely for the purposes of this experiment: to order the bottle costing a few hundred quid, just so I can see how it tastes by comparison to my usual (not to the local Harvester, obviously). I just haven't got round to doing it yet, this year has been a bit too expensive already But maybe next year, then I shall come back on here and let you know whether it was worth it



Actually, while we're on the subject: I have to source wine fairly soon for my wedding. Anybody got any good suggestions for buying a fairly large volume of wine, at reasonable cost? Currently the options seem to be either going via a supermarket, or hiring a van and doing the day trip to France thing. Is either one a better option than the other??

Depends what sort of volume you're buying. The larger the quantity, the day-trip becomes a more viable option. Now isn't the best time for this, because of what's happened to the exchange rate. The other downside of France is that you won't be able to sample a fair few wines beforehand, and select the one that works best for you (you'll need to think about the food, too, when selecting).
Supermarket own label (esp for instance, Sainsbury's TTD) ranges are pretty reliable. Majestic or, better still, an independent (I can't recommend Butlers too highly) will get you decent advice and recommendations and perhaps even a tasting.
In short, get some decent advice, buy a few wines to drink over the next few weeks (check with staff that there's good availability of them) and work things from there. You ought to get a discount if you're buying in bulk. The supermarkets run occasional 25% off 6+ bottles, so these are well worth looking out for too.

 

[Normal Rob]

my favourite bottles at a tenner or less...
£7.99 in Waitrose
currently on offer at £7.99 in Waitrose
£10 in Sainburys(aplogies for the size of the pic)



The Sainsburys Zinfandel is from Chronic Cellars, if you went into Majestic you would pay around £15 for almost exactly the same wine sold with a different label.

 

[The Clamp]

Wine is not really a passion of mine but a friend of mine supplies pretty much top end wines and champagnes for the wealthier residents of Hove and into W. Sussex. I very occasionally receive a bottle of something or other, not the priciest but say about £400-800 worth. I think it's affected to say you cannot tell the difference, I know eff all about wine except the indent in the bottom of the bottle, the higher it is, the better the wine but I can clearly tell the difference between this and a £9 Malbec, and heaven's, why wouldn't you notice a difference?! I can't even remember the names of the good wine I have drunk.
My other half shared a bottle of red with me, from her year of birth. Don't know if it was expensive but it was jolly tasty.

My usual tipple is the two for £7 job but I prefer beer. I do enjoy a Most Wanted pinot noir though. Well priced and delicious. between £9-10 at Strangebury's.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Depends what sort of volume you're buying. The larger the quantity, the day-trip becomes a more viable option. Now isn't the best time for this, because of what's happened to the exchange rate. The other downside of France is that you won't be able to sample a fair few wines beforehand, and select the one that works best for you (you'll need to think about the food, too, when selecting).
Supermarket own label (esp for instance, Sainsbury's TTD) ranges are pretty reliable. Majestic or, better still, an independent (I can't recommend Butlers too highly) will get you decent advice and recommendations and perhaps even a tasting.
In short, get some decent advice, buy a few wines to drink over the next few weeks (check with staff that there's good availability of them) and work things from there. You ought to get a discount if you're buying in bulk. The supermarkets run occasional 25% off 6+ bottles, so these are well worth looking out for too.

I think Sainsbury's and Waitrose have the 25% thing on currently, which is why I was aiming to get a move on (well, that, and the fact that the wedding's in August)

 

[Machiavelli]

I think Sainsbury's and Waitrose have the 25% thing on currently, which is why I was aiming to get a move on (well, that, and the fact that the wedding's in August)

If you can go that high, Sainsbury's TTD Godello and Austrian Riesling (they might not have them at all their branches, so worth checking) are both lovely, would work well at a wedding, and work out at great value on that offer. They also have a great Priorat in the TTD range, but that's a bit more expensive, and is full-bodied so might not work on an August afternoon.