Tesco Finest Puemo Carmenère, Cachapoal, Chile 2020 (£8, Tesco) Tesco isn’t one of those companies that people tend to love. For most of us, most of the time, it’s simply there, a place we use almost without thinking. But when it does arouse strong feelings, they tend to be negative: as the UK’s largest supermarket chain it is inevitably the focus for critiques of the efficiency, equitability, and environmental sustainability of the UK’s food system. But it’s also had a justified reputation for ruthlessness. When the company was caught up in an accounting scandal in the mid-2010s, the reaction from most quarters was rather like those that accompany the latest transgression from a Tory Minister: a shrugging “well, what did you expect from people like that?” Over the years, the company’s wine range has tended to fit right in with this tale of meh and occasional woe. More recently, however, it’s emerged as one of the more interesting and reliable of the big retailers, with wines such as this excellent, smoothly textured, subtly herbal Chilean red.
Tesco Finest Western Australian Sauvignon Semillon, Western Australia, Australia 2022 (£8, Tesco) I’m not alone in having noticed the improvement in the Tesco wine aisle in the past five years. Earlier this month, the company earned a rare double at one of the big British wine competitions, the International Wine Challenge, where it was awarded both Supermarket of the Year and Own-Label Range of the Year. Does that mean that I (or the IWC judges) would prefer to do our wine shopping in Tesco rather than places with bigger vinous reputations, such as Waitrose and Marks & Spencer? Not necessarily. I find the peaks at both rivals a little more exciting. But the double-prize does reflect the number of worthwhile and good value wines, notably those developed by its wine buying team for the Finest brand, on offer at Tesco these days. Among my favourites: a pair of racy whites from Western Australian producer Howard Park: the Sauvignon Semillon and Tingleup Riesling 2022 (£10); and two textbook Riojas from Baron de Ley: the richly fruited Tesco Finest Rioja Blanco 2022 and the mellow Tesco Finest Rioja Reserva (both £9)
Tesco Finest English Sparkling, Kent, England NV (£21, Tesco) Another Tesco highlight is the incisive English fizz made for the Finest range by Kent producer Balfour Winery, which also happens to make the delightful berry-scented Irresistible Eight Acres Sparkling Rosé NV (£19.50) for another supermarket favoured with an award by the IWC, The Co-op. That award, the Unsung Multiple Specialist of the Year, sounds very much like a consolation prize, but is in fact a nod to their commitment to selling “less well-known specialist categories” such as, in The Co-op’s case, Fairtrade wines. Other retailers in my opinion deservedly singled about the IWC judges this year included Novel Wines (the Unsung Independent Specialist of the Year is a great place to seek out unusual wines from lesser-spotted regions, grapes and countries), Naked Wines (Wine Club of the Year), The Wine Society (Online Retailer of the Year), Lea & Sandeman (French Specialist of the Year), Vineyards of Sherbourne (Single Site Retailer of the Year) and Cambridge Wine Merchants (Small Mutliple Retailer of the Year).
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