Wine

[IreneD]

We like Romeral Rioja from Eroski - only 2.99 and very nice, our limit is 2.99

[El Cid]

There are four Riojas I have been buying regularly for at the past five years at Eroski priced at between €5.50 and €7 and I have not noticed a price hike in all that time. Tried the cheap stuff from Lidle once or twice years ago,had the trots for days.

Mhic.

Rioja? How passé!

Most wine experts have moved on to other wines such as Ribero del Duero or even Priorat

Personally I stick to the whites and Spanish whites are as good as any others and a lot cheaper. My OH is the expert on the reds.

Try Lidl again - things have changed and they have some really good wines. Try their Hachon range of Ribero del Duero. They also do some remarkably good Foreign wines from Chile, RSA, Australia and occasionally even a very good Sauvignon Blanc from NZ for half the price in the UK.

Sid

[frank]

Personally I stick to the whites and Spanish whites are as good as any others and a lot cheaper. My OH is the expert on the reds.

Agree, although we do probably drink more Chilean now, just found one of my favourites, Luis Felipe Edwards, normally £6, selling at £3! needless to say the wife bought half a dozen. Not everyone's favourite white, but out the Spanish one's, verdejo is my favourite, even the common or garden airen can be OK. However, I think albariño is my favourite Spanish white, but expensive even in Spain (if it´s any good!). There is certainly some good rioja, but the idea that all rioja is great is not true. As you say, Ribera del Duero seems to be the current favourite.
Edit. A nice white if you can find it is Stork's Tower, it's Spanish despite the name.
http://tinyurl.com/6o2jybf

[mhic]

I do buy Ribero del Duero fairly often but I drink very little white wine. Afraid I'm not very adventurous when it comes to wine, now whiskey is something else.

Mhic.

[El Cid]

Personally I stick to the whites and Spanish whites are as good as any others and a lot cheaper. My OH is the expert on the reds.

Agree, although we do probably drink more Chilean now, just found one of my favourites, Luis Felipe Edwards, normally £6, selling at £3! needless to say the wife bought half a dozen. Not everyone's favourite white, but out the Spanish one's, verdejo is my favourite, even the common or garden airen can be OK. However, I think albariño is my favourite Spanish white, but expensive even in Spain (if it´s any good!). There is certainly some good rioja, but the idea that all rioja is great is not true. As you say, Ribera del Duero seems to be the current favourite.
Edit. A nice white if you can find it is Stork's Tower, it's Spanish despite the name.
http://tinyurl.com/6o2jybf

One of the really good Chilean wines you can find in Spain is Castillo de Diavolo. The Cabernet Sauvignon is great. Not cheap - about €7 but worth it.

Albariño is good and very different from most Spanish whites but as you say, very expensive - typically nudging €8 but Lidl do a passable one at about half that price.

Verdejo from Rueda is really good and again Lidl do one of the best - Visigodo - for about €2.50

Airen is the most produced grape in Spain and can be good - and always very cheap.

Sid

[katy]

Agree about the Ribero Cid, Rioja is a much abused marca.

[biribiri]

Our local cash & carry are still selling 4ltrs of Don Simon red @ €3.80. That'll do for me.

[frank]

One of the really good Chilean wines you can find in Spain is Castillo de Diavolo. The Cabernet Sauvignon is great. Not cheap - about €7 but worth it.

Sid

Not sure if you're thinking of the same wine, but Casillero del Diablo is one of our favourites.
http://www.chileanlegend.com/wines/sauvignon-blanc
Maipo Valley wines, and Palo Alto, Cono Sur also figure in our list! We're not plonkeys, actually we only drink weekends, but when we do I don't mind buying some reasonable stuff. I wouldn't wash my feet in some of the €1 rubbish some drink!

[Mowser]

I wouldn't wash my feet in some of the €1 rubbish some drink!

Wine snob. The €1 wines retail in the UK for around £4.00.

[Devils Advocate]

Which one's are they then

[Devils Advocate]

Not this one I take it (Albali reserva) as it's virtually the same price in Eroski

http://tinyurl.com/d2lx8u4

[Mowser]

Which one's are they then

Eh? Most of the Spanish wines retailing for around £4 in the UK are around €1 here. Soldepeñas, Valdepeñas, Viña Albali, Veja Roja (Rioja), Marques de Leon etc etc. Take a trip round the High street and check them out.

[Devils Advocate]

Albali for a Euro ............ok I'm missing a big trick here then.

[frank]

Which one's are they then

Pass! I buy Torres Viña Sol here in UK when it´s on offer, which it frequently is, and it´s as cheap as we´ve seen in Spain.

[El Cid]

Not sure if you're thinking of the same wine, but Casillero del Diablo is one of our favourites.

You're right! I usually get the name wrong - usually just after drinking a bottle of the stuff!

Sid

[gruff]

Perhaps this esteemed wine club would give their opinions on Cava... semi seco? I do like a drop of the fizzy stuff.

[El Cid]

Perhaps this esteemed wine club would give their opinions on Cava... semi seco? I do like a drop of the fizzy stuff.

Not easy as all the decent stuff is, almost by definition, dry. In the classic Spanish Peñin wine guide they list 750 cavas and they are all dry except for about 10 which are expensive and I have never seen any of them on sale.

Your best bet are any of the major supermarket own brands but as they are almost certainly not naturally sweet they will all taste pretty much the same.

Of course you could always do what the French do and put in some sweet Cassis (blackcurrant) liqueur and call it Kir Royale! It takes the edge of the dryness and tastes really good. The other good fruit mixer is with blackberry liqueur called Mora. Just use as much as you need to get the required sweetness.

Sid

[frank]

Perhaps this esteemed wine club would give their opinions on Cava... semi seco?

Esteemed? Include me out! I'm no expert, no wine snob, just like what I like,(which is mainly white) and I'm sure a very expensive bottle of wine would be wasted on me. I'm normally selecting a reasonable wine, the Don Simon type plonk is not for me, or that stuff they sell in briks. I don't have a problem with others drinking it, I think they have the problem! We only have some wine on the weekends, so probably don't spend any more than those drinking rotgut every day of the week. The weekends only rule gets sadly abused when we are in Spain on holiday mind! As for cava, sorry, not keen on the stuff, so no idea really.

[Devils Advocate]

My favourite Cava at a decent price is the Freixinet one, not the black bottle but the one in the greeny/beige coloured bottle..........what's that one Sid?

[gruff]

So forgive my ignorance but for the run of the mill cava semi seco... is seco with sweetener added ?
Have to admit the idea of adding a drop of cassis to seco is attractive.