Lidl hits the spot with French ‘Wine Tour’

Peter Ranscombe bags a bargain with some supermarket stalwarts from France.

LIDL’S “wine tours” – six special promotions on limited edition bottles spread throughout the year – can sometimes be a bit hit and miss.

I struggled with some of its Spanish wines earlier this year, focusing on its Italian bottles instead.

And its new world offerings have been a mixed bag, although there was plenty to shout about from its Australian pickings.

Yet there’s one area in which Lidl always excels – France.

Even stretching back to the earliest days of the “wine tours” – when they were still called “wine cellar” promotions – the German discount supermarket chain has hit the spot again and again with its French selection.

Bordeaux is a particularly strong area for the grocer, as I discovered when I visited some of its suppliers back in 2016.

With so few tastings being held in the wine industry at the moment, it’s hard to get a feeling for the whole wine tour range that’s currently in the shops, but here are the highlights from the bottles that I’ve tried…

Cotin Jaillet Côtes du Rhône Blanc 2019 (£5.49)
My pick of the wines I tasted was this impressive white from the South of France. It’s quite restrained on the nose, with savoury lemon rind and delicate apricot and pear, but it opens up with brighter fruit on the palate, stretching from peach through lemon sherbet and back to the more savoury lemon rind. Lots of fresh acidity too. Although the blend of grapes isn’t given on the label or website, I’d guess there’s a healthy dose of fruiter viognier in amongst more savoury marsanne and roussanne.

Jean Cornelius Pinot Blanc 2019 (£6.99)
There’s voodoo going on somewhere to land the current vintage of Alsace pinot blanc at this price. Pinot blanc is often dismissed as a dull blending grape, but here it shines, with gentle pear and red apple on the nose. On the palate, the fruit is much more intense, with caramelised red apples brushed with butter and brown sugar. Marks & Spencer has also been rounding up great value wines from Alsace for its new Classics range.

Passion de Provence Coteaux Varois en Provence 2019 (£6.99)
It’s great to see an organic wine making it into Lidl’s latest promotion, proving once more that organic wines needn’t cost the earth. Coteaux Varois en Provence sits outside the more famous main Côtes de Provence area, but there’s no compromise on the pale onion-skin colour, the fresh acidity, or the metallic tang in amongst the savoury lemon rind and fruitier lemon and strawberry flavours.

Minervois 2018 (£5.99)
Don’t be put off by the simplicity of the label – there’s a whole lot going on inside the bottle. Blackcurrant, blackberry, vanilla and a bit of old-fashioned damp earth and farmyard aromas on the nose and then meaty but well-integrated tannins on the palate. There’s a big whack of vanilla, but there’s enough bright black fruit to provide balance. A guilty pleasure.

Corbières 2017 (£4.99)
And if the Minervois is good value at £5.99 then the Corbières is stonking value at just shy of a fiver. Deeper and darker woodsmoke and chocolate in amongst the blackberry and blackcurrant on the nose, with equally grippy but well-integrated tannins on the palate. It doesn’t lack complexity, with the vanilla and blackberry giving way to fresher blackcurrant and even a sprig of herbs on the finish.

Bissinger Premier Cru Brut Champagne (£16.99)
If “grand cru” vineyards are like the premiership, then “premier cru” vineyards are like the championship, if that’s not mixing too many footballing analogies. Lidl’s year-round Comte de Senneval Brut Champagne tips the scales at £12.49, so the Bissinger is definitely an upgrade, and there’s enough red and green apple flavours with a sprinkling of brown sugar to justify the higher price. For me, there wasn’t quite enough fruit to balance the rampant acidity though, so I’d spend the extra three pounds and a penny for the Tesco Finest Premier Cru Brut Champagne (£20), which – dare I say it? – will be on special offer at some point, no doubt.

Read more of Peter’s wine, beer and spirits reviews on his drinks blog, The Grape & The Grain.