I really like this kind of tasting. Wine can be such an off putting drink to get into for beginners and the fact that there are several 80+ scores here at less than €5 is quite cool. Think that deserves at least some praise
_'It won't kill you.'_ Could you review some 60 pt 'it won't kill you, but it wants to' wines? It would be interesting to hear how an expert describes the aroma and taste of bad wine at the moment it hits his palate.
The plus (+) usually means the wine may improve by ageing and may score 1 or 2 points higher in the future. At least some wine critics use it this way.
Very interesting tasting, Konstantin! I'm not at all surprised that the bottle label ratings (97 points!) don't match your observations. Curious to see how the bargain California wines would fare in a tasting such as this.
The struggle is real for super market wines. My folks aren't really wine drinkers so they go for the super market stuff and ask me to "help" pick out wine. (which normally means they go with the opposite of my suggestion because the label "isn't cute") I'll settle for the small victories like convincing them to go to an actual wine shop when buying wine as a gift for someone else.
Not sure how we should define a 'supermarket wine'? I'm not sure its really even a useful term. Is it price, or just availability in a supermarket? My local Waitrose has a range that starts at £5/bottle but there is also a fine wine seciton. I would defy any wine lover not to be able to find somnething good there.....
@@lfoggy3061 "Supermarket" wine like Barefoot, Yellowtail, Cupcake Vinyard, Cook's, Bread & Butter...stella rosa...Carlo Rossi...Sutter Home. That stuff is eeeeeeeverywhere. Gazillions of bottles shelves upon shelves of the stuff.
The Blue and White color of the Vinho Verde bottle refers to the Traditional Portugues earthenware ( Azulejos in Spanish and in Portuguese...) , the good old clichés I guess😉
In the UK Lidl another German supermarket stocks some half decent wines but they tend to be closer to the £10-15 range. Would be interesting to see a tasting of their "higher end" wine as this is where many average Joe's will go the get a "good bottle"
UK Lidl prices are much higher than the German prices cited here. Lidl brings in some fascinating and obscure wines that sell out promptly and never return. I'm finding delightful wines from Puglia and Portugal there. Funny that the wine featured in the video labeled "Secco" was in fact too sweet.
Let's hear it for the UK where you can and do buy decent wines at the supermarket... Despite our global terrible reputation for food and wine which (I believe) is thoroughly outdated and not currently justifiable.
Thank you as always. You gave the clue for tasting suggestion yourself: is there anything interesting in that next tier of wines at Aldi? Ones you WOULD want to drink?
I’m so glad you made this video. I shop at Trader Joe’s (an ALFI affiliate) and see these styles of wine often but have not yet “rolled the dice” and tried them. I think it was a good sampling you made and probably representative of what I would find here in Oregon. I might stick with the middle range $10-$20USD as I’ve been pleasantly surprised by some of those offerings.
One thing I've learned as a very avid home winemaker who has gone way down the rabbit hole is the value of separating out your free run wine from press run wine. Cheaper wines and second wines usually use the press run which has harsher tannins. Now you will always notice it!
Thank you for boldly going where almost no wine aficionado has gone before.... I have actually bought two nice wines at LIDL (not so much different from ALDI): two years ago they had a Canadian Icewine from Pilliteri (made from he Vidal grape), and now they have a nice dry Riesling from the Deidesheimer Weinmanufaktur. Both well above the price point of the wines you dared to review but still, sometimes......
Ah Lidi, those aren't very widespread in the US yet. Speaking of Ice wine, Aldi USA brings back a Canadian Ice Wine Reserve made from Vidal grapes every winter it seems. There is no way to tell from the bottle as it's branded "The Exquisite Collection" but has a VQA. The price is $14.99 which is such a low price. I had one bottle and it's so good that I bought two more bottles.
I’ve tried ALDIs wines a time or two here in the states. I have the same reaction, although not as eloquent as you are. I’m sure some of them were soaked in sawdust for “oak”, and I wonder if some had suger added. If a wine is competitive in cost to soft drinks, beware! Life’s too short to drink bad wine.
Being Swedish I havn't tried any wines from Aldi but I have daughters that that I think can try it. Planing a trip down though Germany to Salzburg in Austria next year, I might stop and bye some cheep wines for my young ones. I will stop in Bamberg to bye some high qualitty beer for myself.
REWE store just behind the Bamberg Hauptbahnhof (corner of Brennerstr. and Poedeldorferstr.) has a very large drinks section stocking lots of beers from small local breweries. Plenty of parking. Also good value local Frankenwein. Disclosure - I do not work for REWE, just trying to help.
Hey Konstantin, I loved watching your review very much. r Like you have mainly European wines at German Aldis, here in Australia, Aldi wines are mainly from the local wineries and regions (i.e. lot of Aussie wines). I have tried a few, but just like your review, there is not much worth mentioning about. But in 2019, an $6 (Eur.3.5) Aldi wine suddenly made it to the best Shiraz in a blind tasting event at an intl. wine review and won a gold. I remember rushing to Aldi and purchasing 2 cases back then (and the wine tasted really good). But as one can guess what happens to great wines at low prices- they disappear fast, and so did these cases that I had bought 😅. Well, it's just my Aldi-perspective from Down Under! Cheers
Zibibbo is so underrated. I might actually pick that one up from Aldi. I usually have some Teatro Latino at home, it's so fruity and exotic while still remaining quite dry and it's absolutely lovely for a hot summer evening.
At that price point you won't find excellence anywhere. You can be lucky to pick up a decent bottle, but they'll be far between. If people were prepared to pay just a little bit more, like EUR 10-12, the rise in quality is significant. Personally, that's my preferred level of operation and if you know where to look - and what to look for - you can be in for some big surprises.
Hi Konstantin, I do buy wines from Aldi (more likely Lidl) and some are really drinkable. I've found that supermarket wines are really hit and miss, Tesco, large supermarket in the UK, sells mediocre wine by the gallon. That said, I'm not someone who buys expensive wine regularly. These has to to be a decent everyday wine market: It's just findinding it!
I think some of the wines he tasted fit that description pretty well. Unspectacular everyday wines of which you can have a glass or two with dinner. But nothing you would open for a nice meal or to really enjoy a good glass of wine you have been looking for all week. When we have 6 friends over for a BBQ on a hot day and we drink 10 bottles of wine the final 6 bottles could easily be from this category. Decent enough to drink. Cheap enough to find ok if it’s not great. But you wouldn’t start with such a wine when everybody is sober and you want to start off with something nice.
It’s preferable to drink wine which costs 10 Euro plus than buying cheap stuff at the discounter. So if it is a topic of buying power drink less but enjoy more value and quality. Drinking less is also more healthy than drinking every day. So paying more saves money at the end. 2,99 and below is for getting drunk but nothing else. Lousy price , lousy quality.
At Aldi here in the US, they have a wine called quarter cut, which they say is aged in bourbon barrels. It’s actually pretty good for a six or seven dollar wine.
I've purchased a Fitou from Lidl which was quite good at €6.99/btl here in France. Grenache, Syrah and Carignan. From Vignerons de Cascastel. Grapes grown on schistes. Listed in Guide Hachete des Vins.😊
Nice Tasting. Would be nice to see recommendations for sub 10€ wines to at least have something to recommend for family partys without breaking the bank.
Hi Konstantin. One of the classic vinho verdes - Casal Garçia - is in a blue bottle. I guess the ALDI wine is trying to emulate it. Keep up the good work!
This was a another great video, Konstantin! I laughed a lot with your "nononsense" approach - "it won't kill you!!". Really fantastic. What is most important about your brave expedition to cheap wine territories is that, in reality, most wine drinkers won't go for 20 euro/bottle wine on a general basis (in Portugal maybe even not up to 10 euro/bottle), so it is great to have your opinion on wines that almost anyone can afford. Thank you!
I actually had a great vinho verde called Casal Garcia (but maybe you'll disagree, since you have more exposure there in Portugal). What wines would you recommend?
@dandalee I Bet you did. Vinho verde is a type of wine (it goes in the white wine category) produced in the northwest of Portugal and the grapes that I would recomend would be Loureiro, Alvarinho. Casal Garcia is OK if you like it. But in Portugal it is considered more of a "party wine" as it's sweet and a bit fizzy. I'd recomend wines from Alselmo Mendes in the Monção/Melgaço region.
I don't buy from Aldi unless it's for the father in law. He used to have a good palate and enjoyed some nice Bordeau back in the day. Unfortunately he has ruined his palate by drinking rubbish cheap wines. Whenever I give him a good wine to taste he doesn't like it!!.. Eh dear more for me then 🍷👍
My regular wine from Aldi is a Primitivo Puglia IGT for 2.49. It has good reviews, and from my opinion it tasts better then many other Primitivos i tried which cost two or three times as this ome.
Well, I've been wine tasting now for about 30 years and do sometimes buy from Aldi (in the UK). A lot of their wine is average but they do have some quite good wines if you know what to look for. I recently put on a selection of Aldi wines at one of my wine circles and most were rated quite highly. As for the video, I laughed my way through most of it.
I live in Cyprus and we don't have Aldi here but we do have lidl . It's my go to place for bargain wine , a red dry wine in lidl is well under €5 and the quality is amazing .
Im Portuguese and I wouldn’t by that Verde , mainly because it’s disrespectful to call it vinho verde! That said I honestly think you are very generous on your rates overall. Finally and not less important any so called Portuguese wine without a cork stopper it’s definitely not Portuguese
I’m not a fan of Casal Garcia although it’s a very successful Portuguese wine among foreigners more than among Portuguese I believe you will find better vinho verde around the same range of price
Interesting and fun video. I occasionally pick up wines at Aldi. I'm not sure if those particular wines are available at Aldi here in the US, but I'll keep an eye out, especially for the Fiori del Sud Zibibbo, which sounds like the best of the bunch. My favorite Aldi wine is the La Cornada Crianza Tempranillo, which sells for about $5 here in the US. It's a really solid, inexpensive Spanish wine and pretty drinkable.
The cheap vinho verde bottles from Aldi are a really good buy if you just need something refreshing and simple for the summer perfect when you have some guests that don't know much about wine
"You won't die, it won't hurt you" Konstantin , yes it would if you were living here in Ireland!!! We pay €3.19 excise duty on a bottle of wine plus 23% v.a.t. so a start price of €5.00 for a bottle is plus 3.19 = €8.19 plus vat €1.88 total cost= €10.07.
Thank you for the video! I would love to see something like a personal recommendation of say, wines that cost under 10€, under 20€, and so on. So oder so, ich freue mich auf das nächste Video!
Generally It all confirms that for that money - you will get smth simple but real for your supper or dinner or lunch from Aldi! Recently in Berlin's Aldi I found couple of good white wines, which are definitely has good VFM, like you found - like this wine from Sicilia. Thank you for this tasting - this is right what we need to hear and see!
I suggest that later you test other shops also. I recall you can find fairly drinkable (I assume 80-85 points in your scale) wines from Lidl Spain at least. Unsure if Lidl's catalog changes a lot between countries.
Don't know what is available in Germany but in the UK their assyrtiko is quite ok, Canadian riesling not bad, Lebanese red ok also and I got a Chinese Bordeaux blend the other day that was also drinkable (although a little over priced). For the novelty and the price. Not bad at all.
Great review. My sense is that the hidden gems are not in the 5€ wines, but more likely in the 10-20€ range. Once you get to 50€, they better all be gems.
Agreed. It's still inexpensive enough that you won't be crushed if the wine sucks. Anything more expensive, it's always high expectations and frequent disappointment.
In Austria at Hofer, and I think also at Aldi Süd, you can get "Flat Lake" by Leo Hillinger from Neusiedler See region in Austria. In my opinion decent wines in their price range.
just had one 10 days ago and i had a very hard time finishing even one glas. it is the trash that leo hillinger cannot use for his real leo hillinger wines. if you look on the label you don't see his name on it. it is just a good way to get rid of the trash that he can't use for his reasonable good, but overpriced wines. i know many people who drink this, but i can't. i can drink a very boring wine that does not have any flaws. but not this unripe, harsh, sour trash.
Could you mention one of my favourite sparkling wines: Blanquette de Limoux? In France they often drink instead of Champagne. And maybe compare Oregon and Burgundy Pinot wines. On a recent trip to Beaune we found French Pinots thin non structured and way overpriced.
I thought that a Picpoul de Pinet and Clare Valley Riesling that I picked up at Aldi in London about a year ago were both pretty decent. Good typicity and very good value. Do Aldi have different wines in different markets ?
I am interested to know why a family like Frescobaldi, who has a long tradition of great wines, would offer such an inferior product? Is it because they had a harvest of poor grapes and instead of disposing of them, they make this wine? It would be an interesting show if you were to explore this topic.
I am not sure if Aldi is available as a retailer in California. I have been buying wine in 12 bottle increments at Grocery Outlet Bargain market, which is a similar discounter, however, they have wines from South America, Italy, France, Spain and Australia that are very good and at a fraction of the wines I usually drink, such as high end Napa Cabernets. I have been testing my palate with international wines I am still not familiar with.
The best wine I've found at Aldi (or Lidl) is a Ribero del Duero called Finca La Cruz. It was 9 euros and I was impressed. Otherwise, I have found quite a few interesting (and downright excellent) wines at Carrefour.
Great video, thanks for doing it! Sometime i actually do take a bottle of wine when i´m shopping at aldi, and now i know which ones would be worth taking. I actually suggest the "little more expensive wines from Aldi" concept under your last Aldi-Wine video :). Now it would be awesome if you did wines 8 - 15€ which you know would be available relatively easy. I know availability and price varies hugely depending on where you live, and therefor might not be interesting for everyone if you do it for the german market. I dont know why, but personally dont really like to order wines from a dozend different online shops because the wines that interest me are not available at just 1-3 shops.
Most people drink wine with a meal as they would water or another beverage. Aldi fills this space very well with cheap table wines. I don't buy wine from Aldi expecting a highly-rated vintage or anything close to that. An occasional bargain may be found but food-wine pairings from Aldi will most likely be pizza, pasta, bratwurst, and whatever style of wine the purchaser finds interesting.
I really appreciate that you're doing all kinds of wines from all kind of budgets/resellers! But a question: a couple of years ago I got to know the Scheurebe wines from (I think) the Pfalz. Really interesting but not very available (in the Netherlands). Could you please do a video on the various German grape varieties that are grown today?
Hooray for tasting entry wines at our beloved pricefighters. I sometimes buy summer wines at cheap retailers like Aldi and Lidl. Got a decent Chianti and an ok Custoza at Lidl. Nothing for corksniffers though.
There is an ALDI a few blocks from where I live (in Michigan, USA). I don't shop there very often. I didn't realize they sold wine! Frankly, this video doesn't doesn't inspire a great desire in me to go exploring there, but, perhaps, in the cause of science...
I haven't tried Aldi for wine, but I certainly AM interested in a bargain and cheap as chips and so on.. The Gewurtstraminer looked tempting in the price bracket. Nice one Konstantin! 🍷🌟👍
Great video. This is great content and maybe a good way to get people who arnt already wine nerds to have a look at your channel. I would say though that it would be really good to see a tasting of 10 or so readily available, relatively large volume wines that retail in the 8-12 Euro range. That is a price point for people who have a limited budget but are still on the lookout for interesting wine. Im thinking of stuff like that Guigal Cote du rhone that featured in a recent vid. Affordable, dependable, available.
5:55 "it's slightly fizzy". Wouldn't that be something you'd *expect* from a vinho verde, or am I misunderstanding something? I know that "slight fizziness" is considered wine fault, but in Portugal they made it a sort of "trademark character" of their wine, right?
Last time I set foot in an Aldi was in 2017, in Trier, of all places, very depressing wine stand, not like the one you’ve filmed, but I got a very ok Gewürztraminer.
i recently picked up the "flat lake cuvee" from the austrian version of Aldi ( Hofer ). it is a cuvee from burgenland, made by the leo hillinger company but not under their name. they have many different wine yards and keep the better result for the official leo hillinger wines and somehow use the rest for Hofer (Aldi). i managed to get the first glas down and the rest of the bottle i left for my sister. it was not a pleasure at all and i had to force myself to finish that glas. another two bottles i gave to my sister and my father. my father puts three artificial sweetener tablets in it, so they can fight it out what is the worst flavor, either the wine or the sweetener or both together. i don't care, i don't want to have a piece of it anyway. i might look at Hofer from time to time, maybe they have a classic zweigelt or something like that for 6€ upwards or some cuvee for 8€ upwards. below that, the risk is not worth it. my favorite 'budget' classic zweigelt is currently the zweigelt selektion from Iro, Gols, Burgenland for 7,7€. it comes with a decent cherry flavor, like a typical zweigelt should have. since the climate in burgenland seems to get a bit warmer, it is not that easy anymore to find good zweigelt wines that have a fresh cherry flavor in it.
The wines you Puupuu'd such as the Forest Hill from Australia that had Plum and Chocolate notes, it appears the more sweeter themed Wines get low marks from professionals which makes sense. I can imagine the cheaper Wines (like Soda) are made with a lower economic class in mind as thus would appeal to younger audiences, hence the sweetness?
"do you drink wine from Aldi?" Usually not. But: every once in a while at special occasions or promotions you can find for slightly more elevated prices quite good ones. I remember having bought Joh.Jos.Prüm Auslese a few years ago for maybe 15 + Eur (below 20 Eur anyway). Drank it years later and it was fine. I also remember Sardinian wine a friend originally from Sardinia told me about. Price I do not remember. Bought 6 bottles (after having tried). Kept 2 or 3 of them for several years and was more than happy about the aged bottles. So I would recommend: even if you do not buy the regular wines from Aldi, you may find every once in a while some really good ones among the irregular offers.
Hey Konstantin, I follow your video since you started the channel, and you are doing a great job 👏 Just as an idea, maybe would be nice to have a champagne line up withe same brand but different vintages to see and explain differences and maybe how to choose and buy an old vintage champagne. Thank you 😊
Zibbibo!!.........now that, is an under the radar wine. One of my favorite italian whites 😋. Nice to see it's at the top of this bunch of bargain bottles.
Sicilian wines have in general a pretty good quality-price ratio. You can get something decent even with with a small price tag. Never got disappointed by a cheap Sicilian wine.
Isn’t vinho verde supposed to be lightly fizzy? So I guess the fizziness you have with the bottle has nothing to do with quality on storage or anything like that. You don’t like the palate is something else though.
I do browse thru supermarket wines at least once a month, thinking ok wines should not cost a lot otherwise Europeans would not call them table wines. I do find it harder to find ok ones in the under 10E group or they vary a lot from vintage to vintage.
I’m in south Florida and like all Aldi stores in the USA my nearby ones are Aldi Süd. (Aldi Nord owns Trader Joe’s here in the States and tries to maintain the brand’s traditions somewhat, but those traditions are mostly for cheap wines.) Your Aldi’s wines are REALLY INEXPENSIVE compared with mine! Almost all here are US$5 or more, except for their Winking Owl house brand. Surprisingly adequate. Most wine at my nearby Aldi locations is Californian, with some Italian and occasional French, Spanish, New Zealand (almost all Sauvignon Blanc), Portuguese, and not much else. Canadian Ice wine before Christmas (at least here we have winter residents from Ontario and Quebec), hardly any wines from other countries except Germany. Maybe one Gewürztraminer ever: usual German is Riesling, rarely other varieties. Quality seems consistent with what you’re reporting or just faintly better because California? Usual sparkling wine I get at Aldi is adequate Californian, some Prosecco, maybe once or twice Cava, maybe once Sekt. Californian varietals: anything grown in California. Anything I can think of: Cabernet almost always Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Merlot, Syrah, you name it. Maybe an occasional Australian. Recently more flavored wines with chocolate, coconut, or various fruit flavors from Germany, France, anywhere. One brand of Irish Cream. Do I buy any of these? Yes. When I’m drinking. When that drinking involves wine. But German Aldi, I’m guessing Süd, is certainly cheap!
Oh, and ratings are all American. Some are in the low 90s but most in the low to mid 80s and… inflated? Usually, but not as wildly as that Italian fellow’s. Only somewhat.
Hey Konstantin! From my experience, the blue bottles are a marketing attempt to target the younger drinkers and on that note, I have to thank you SO MUCH for your recommendation of "Drops of God", for me personally it has reawakened my earlier fascination with wine and the use of the memory palace I thought reminded me of Hannibal Lector. I have been telling everyone I know about your channel and this movie. I look forward to getting the books on which the movie series was based. Master of Wine Nerds...here I come ;-)
$5 is too cheap but I would love to have you taste ten $10 wines purchased from a private wineseller. Bet there would be a few pleasant surprises in that group.
Wine is SO much cheaper in Germany than here in the UK. Since Brexit it’s almost impossible to buy a bottle of wine under the equivalent of 6€ ! Even the cheapest rubbish! 😢 Fortunately, I spend about half my time in Germany! 🤓 Does the selection in Aldi vary by location? I spend my time in Hannover. Thanks
I wonder if Aldi had any more expensive wines as those would probably be a lot better. If they still do, then that would be so cool to see a video on those more expensive wines. Aldi USA seems to release their good stuff in fall/winter. By this time, they have pretty much run out of all of the good wine in the US. I picked up a Château Vieux Pourret Saint-Émilion Grand Cru 2019 for $16.99, a Dancing Flame Llaima Red Blend 2018 from Chile for $14.99 and The Exquisite Collection Vidal Icewine Reserve 2020 for $14.99. All use natural cork enclosures unlike the rest of Aldi USA wines. I've had two of them and liked both of those wines and I will be trying the Chilean wine soon. Aldi USA also brings out a yearly now a $24.99 French Champagne that is also really good.
aldi has a range with scores from a fellow MW, neil hadley I believe, would be interesting to see how your ratings for those wines compare to his/theirs as many seem to score quite highly..
Hehe Aldi wine! Personally I never shop there, but this is great for those that do, I'm sure! Especially for dispelling those ratings that get slapped onto wines just to sell to unwitting customers.
I live in America, the supermarket shelf is just filled with absolute trash that costs $25 a bottle. 90% of it is totally artificial Californian Cab. About the only half-decent things you can get for "sub $20" are Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages and whatever New Zealand Sauvingon Blanc you can find.
Konstantin reviewing wine: “You won’t die,” “it won’t hurt you.” He’s putting his life on the line to find us value wines 😂
I really like this kind of tasting. Wine can be such an off putting drink to get into for beginners and the fact that there are several 80+ scores here at less than €5 is quite cool. Think that deserves at least some praise
_'It won't kill you.'_
Could you review some 60 pt 'it won't kill you, but it wants to' wines?
It would be interesting to hear how an expert describes the aroma and taste of bad wine at the moment it hits his palate.
The plus (+) usually means the wine may improve by ageing and may score 1 or 2 points higher in the future. At least some wine critics use it this way.
Very interesting tasting, Konstantin! I'm not at all surprised that the bottle label ratings (97 points!) don't match your observations. Curious to see how the bargain California wines would fare in a tasting such as this.
The struggle is real for super market wines. My folks aren't really wine drinkers so they go for the super market stuff and ask me to "help" pick out wine. (which normally means they go with the opposite of my suggestion because the label "isn't cute") I'll settle for the small victories like convincing them to go to an actual wine shop when buying wine as a gift for someone else.
Not sure how we should define a 'supermarket wine'? I'm not sure its really even a useful term. Is it price, or just availability in a supermarket? My local Waitrose has a range that starts at £5/bottle but there is also a fine wine seciton. I would defy any wine lover not to be able to find somnething good there.....
@@lfoggy3061 "Supermarket" wine like Barefoot, Yellowtail, Cupcake Vinyard, Cook's, Bread & Butter...stella rosa...Carlo Rossi...Sutter Home. That stuff is eeeeeeeverywhere. Gazillions of bottles shelves upon shelves of the stuff.
The Blue and White color of the Vinho Verde bottle refers to the Traditional Portugues earthenware ( Azulejos in Spanish and in Portuguese...) , the good old clichés I guess😉
In the UK Lidl another German supermarket stocks some half decent wines but they tend to be closer to the £10-15 range. Would be interesting to see a tasting of their "higher end" wine as this is where many average Joe's will go the get a "good bottle"
UK Lidl prices are much higher than the German prices cited here. Lidl brings in some fascinating and obscure wines that sell out promptly and never return. I'm finding delightful wines from Puglia and Portugal there.
Funny that the wine featured in the video labeled "Secco" was in fact too sweet.
Let's hear it for the UK where you can and do buy decent wines at the supermarket... Despite our global terrible reputation for food and wine which (I believe) is thoroughly outdated and not currently justifiable.
Lidl UK does show case good wines at times but more on the upper cost side. You do get some gems though.
Thank you as always. You gave the clue for tasting suggestion yourself: is there anything interesting in that next tier of wines at Aldi? Ones you WOULD want to drink?
I’m so glad you made this video. I shop at Trader Joe’s (an ALFI affiliate) and see these styles of wine often but have not yet “rolled the dice” and tried them. I think it was a good sampling you made and probably representative of what I would find here in Oregon. I might stick with the middle range $10-$20USD as I’ve been pleasantly surprised by some of those offerings.
Could you please do a video on your selection of cheap spanish wines? There seems to be good value in wines that are 10-20 euros
One thing I've learned as a very avid home winemaker who has gone way down the rabbit hole is the value of separating out your free run wine from press run wine. Cheaper wines and second wines usually use the press run which has harsher tannins. Now you will always notice it!
Thank you for boldly going where almost no wine aficionado has gone before....
I have actually bought two nice wines at LIDL (not so much different from ALDI): two years ago they had a Canadian Icewine from Pilliteri (made from he Vidal grape), and now they have a nice dry Riesling from the Deidesheimer Weinmanufaktur.
Both well above the price point of the wines you dared to review but still, sometimes......
Ah Lidi, those aren't very widespread in the US yet. Speaking of Ice wine, Aldi USA brings back a Canadian Ice Wine Reserve made from Vidal grapes every winter it seems. There is no way to tell from the bottle as it's branded "The Exquisite Collection" but has a VQA. The price is $14.99 which is such a low price. I had one bottle and it's so good that I bought two more bottles.
The Deidesheimer Riesling is good, I agree.
"Won't kill you".
Sold.
I’ve tried ALDIs wines a time or two here in the states. I have the same reaction, although not as eloquent as you are. I’m sure some of them were soaked in sawdust for “oak”, and I wonder if some had suger added. If a wine is competitive in cost to soft drinks, beware! Life’s too short to drink bad wine.
Being Swedish I havn't tried any wines from Aldi but I have daughters that that I think can try it.
Planing a trip down though Germany to Salzburg in Austria next year, I might stop and bye some cheep wines for my young ones.
I will stop in Bamberg to bye some high qualitty beer for myself.
REWE store just behind the Bamberg Hauptbahnhof (corner of Brennerstr. and Poedeldorferstr.) has a very large drinks section stocking lots of beers from small local breweries. Plenty of parking.
Also good value local Frankenwein.
Disclosure - I do not work for REWE, just trying to help.
Hey Konstantin, I loved watching your review very much. r
Like you have mainly European wines at German Aldis, here in Australia, Aldi wines are mainly from the local wineries and regions (i.e. lot of Aussie wines). I have tried a few, but just like your review, there is not much worth mentioning about. But in 2019, an $6 (Eur.3.5) Aldi wine suddenly made it to the best Shiraz in a blind tasting event at an intl. wine review and won a gold. I remember rushing to Aldi and purchasing 2 cases back then (and the wine tasted really good). But as one can guess what happens to great wines at low prices- they disappear fast, and so did these cases that I had bought 😅. Well, it's just my Aldi-perspective from Down Under! Cheers
Zibibbo is so underrated. I might actually pick that one up from Aldi. I usually have some Teatro Latino at home, it's so fruity and exotic while still remaining quite dry and it's absolutely lovely for a hot summer evening.
At that price point you won't find excellence anywhere. You can be lucky to pick up a decent bottle, but they'll be far between. If people were prepared to pay just a little bit more, like EUR 10-12, the rise in quality is significant. Personally, that's my preferred level of operation and if you know where to look - and what to look for - you can be in for some big surprises.
Hi Konstantin, I do buy wines from Aldi (more likely Lidl) and some are really drinkable. I've found that supermarket wines are really hit and miss, Tesco, large supermarket in the UK, sells mediocre wine by the gallon. That said, I'm not someone who buys expensive wine regularly. These has to to be a decent everyday wine market: It's just findinding it!
I think some of the wines he tasted fit that description pretty well. Unspectacular everyday wines of which you can have a glass or two with dinner. But nothing you would open for a nice meal or to really enjoy a good glass of wine you have been looking for all week.
When we have 6 friends over for a BBQ on a hot day and we drink 10 bottles of wine the final 6 bottles could easily be from this category. Decent enough to drink. Cheap enough to find ok if it’s not great. But you wouldn’t start with such a wine when everybody is sober and you want to start off with something nice.
It’s preferable to drink wine which costs 10 Euro plus than buying cheap stuff at the discounter.
So if it is a topic of buying power drink less but enjoy more value and quality.
Drinking less is also more healthy than drinking every day. So paying more saves money at the end.
2,99 and below is for getting drunk but nothing else. Lousy price , lousy quality.
Nice, love the discounter/supermarket videos!
At Aldi here in the US, they have a wine called quarter cut, which they say is aged in bourbon barrels. It’s actually pretty good for a six or seven dollar wine.
I've purchased a Fitou from Lidl which was quite good at €6.99/btl here in France. Grenache, Syrah and Carignan. From Vignerons de Cascastel. Grapes grown on schistes. Listed in Guide Hachete des Vins.😊
Nice Tasting. Would be nice to see recommendations for sub 10€ wines to at least have something to recommend for family partys without breaking the bank.
Hi Konstantin. One of the classic vinho verdes - Casal Garçia - is in a blue bottle. I guess the ALDI wine is trying to emulate it. Keep up the good work!
Oddly the UK aldi stores seem to have a much better selection! Fun video as always
This was a another great video, Konstantin! I laughed a lot with your "nononsense" approach - "it won't kill you!!". Really fantastic. What is most important about your brave expedition to cheap wine territories is that, in reality, most wine drinkers won't go for 20 euro/bottle wine on a general basis (in Portugal maybe even not up to 10 euro/bottle), so it is great to have your opinion on wines that almost anyone can afford. Thank you!
I actually had a great vinho verde called Casal Garcia (but maybe you'll disagree, since you have more exposure there in Portugal). What wines would you recommend?
@dandalee I Bet you did. Vinho verde is a type of wine (it goes in the white wine category) produced in the northwest of Portugal and the grapes that I would recomend would be Loureiro, Alvarinho. Casal Garcia is OK if you like it. But in Portugal it is considered more of a "party wine" as it's sweet and a bit fizzy. I'd recomend wines from Alselmo Mendes in the Monção/Melgaço region.
@@joaoribeira Awesome, thank you! Just ordered a couple bottles.
I don't buy from Aldi unless it's for the father in law. He used to have a good palate and enjoyed some nice Bordeau back in the day. Unfortunately he has ruined his palate by drinking rubbish cheap wines. Whenever I give him a good wine to taste he doesn't like it!!.. Eh dear more for me then 🍷👍
The name of the Rioja Rose is Vina del Asador alcohol! 12,5 % vintage 2021 i do not know whether it is available in other countries than Germany
Love ur channel from Texas, USA. Keep up the good work.
My regular wine from Aldi is a Primitivo Puglia IGT for 2.49. It has good reviews, and from my opinion it tasts better then many other Primitivos i tried which cost two or three times as this ome.
Well, I've been wine tasting now for about 30 years and do sometimes buy from Aldi (in the UK). A lot of their wine is average but they do have some quite good wines if you know what to look for. I recently put on a selection of Aldi wines at one of my wine circles and most were rated quite highly.
As for the video, I laughed my way through most of it.
I live in Cyprus and we don't have Aldi here but we do have lidl .
It's my go to place for bargain wine , a red dry wine in lidl is well under €5 and the quality is amazing .
love his bottle opening techniques, going to try and practice some of them...
Im Portuguese and I wouldn’t by that Verde , mainly because it’s disrespectful to call it vinho verde!
That said I honestly think you are very generous on your rates overall.
Finally and not less important any so called Portuguese wine without a cork stopper it’s definitely not Portuguese
i agree with the cork part, even more Portugal being the largest cork producer in the world
What's your opinion of Casal Garcia? It's the only vinho verde I've been able to find in the stores.
I’m not a fan of Casal Garcia although it’s a very successful Portuguese wine among foreigners more than among Portuguese
I believe you will find better vinho verde around the same range of price
At least Luca Maroni and you agreed on the same digits - just in reverse order.
Interesting and fun video. I occasionally pick up wines at Aldi. I'm not sure if those particular wines are available at Aldi here in the US, but I'll keep an eye out, especially for the Fiori del Sud Zibibbo, which sounds like the best of the bunch. My favorite Aldi wine is the La Cornada Crianza Tempranillo, which sells for about $5 here in the US. It's a really solid, inexpensive Spanish wine and pretty drinkable.
The cheap vinho verde bottles from Aldi are a really good buy if you just need something refreshing and simple for the summer perfect when you have some guests that don't know much about wine
"You won't die, it won't hurt you" Konstantin , yes it would if you were living here in Ireland!!! We pay €3.19 excise duty on a bottle of wine plus 23% v.a.t. so a start price of €5.00 for a bottle is plus 3.19 = €8.19 plus vat €1.88 total cost= €10.07.
Thank you for the video! I would love to see something like a personal recommendation of say, wines that cost under 10€, under 20€, and so on.
So oder so, ich freue mich auf das nächste Video!
Prima Festa is okish. And the Cremants are fine for Campari Spritz.
Generally It all confirms that for that money - you will get smth simple but real for your supper or dinner or lunch from Aldi! Recently in Berlin's Aldi I found couple of good white wines, which are definitely has good VFM, like you found - like this wine from Sicilia. Thank you for this tasting - this is right what we need to hear and see!
My sauvignon blanc tends to come out looking like water its crystal clear and has no color at all to it. Its pretty crazy sometimes how pale it is.
I suggest that later you test other shops also. I recall you can find fairly drinkable (I assume 80-85 points in your scale) wines from Lidl Spain at least. Unsure if Lidl's catalog changes a lot between countries.
Don't know what is available in Germany but in the UK their assyrtiko is quite ok, Canadian riesling not bad, Lebanese red ok also and I got a Chinese Bordeaux blend the other day that was also drinkable (although a little over priced). For the novelty and the price. Not bad at all.
Great review. My sense is that the hidden gems are not in the 5€ wines, but more likely in the 10-20€ range. Once you get to 50€, they better all be gems.
Agreed. It's still inexpensive enough that you won't be crushed if the wine sucks. Anything more expensive, it's always high expectations and frequent disappointment.
This was fun! Loved the cork pop. I’m only allowed to do it he way you did it on the second one. There’s probably a reason. 😉
In Austria at Hofer, and I think also at Aldi Süd, you can get "Flat Lake" by Leo Hillinger from Neusiedler See region in Austria.
In my opinion decent wines in their price range.
just had one 10 days ago and i had a very hard time finishing even one glas. it is the trash that leo hillinger cannot use for his real leo hillinger wines. if you look on the label you don't see his name on it. it is just a good way to get rid of the trash that he can't use for his reasonable good, but overpriced wines.
i know many people who drink this, but i can't. i can drink a very boring wine that does not have any flaws. but not this unripe, harsh, sour trash.
Could you mention one of my favourite sparkling wines: Blanquette de Limoux? In France they often drink instead of Champagne. And maybe compare Oregon and Burgundy Pinot wines. On a recent trip to Beaune we found French Pinots thin non structured and way overpriced.
Here in the US (Texas) I use Winking Owl Pinot Grigio and Moscato for white Sangria. It's summer, and it's about fun. 😎
I thought that a Picpoul de Pinet and Clare Valley Riesling that I picked up at Aldi in London about a year ago were both pretty decent. Good typicity and very good value. Do Aldi have different wines in different markets ?
I love how you talk to the camera, it’s as if I’m sat opposite you having a conversation 👌
I was curious about the Crémant as we sometimes drink it and I was quite relieved that my opinion is relatively the same as Constantins
I can confirm that Aldi £5 a bottle Pierre Jaurant Bordeaux tastes every bit as good as the Chateau Mouton Rothschild
I am interested to know why a family like Frescobaldi, who has a long tradition of great wines, would offer such an inferior product? Is it because they had a harvest of poor grapes and instead of disposing of them, they make this wine? It would be an interesting show if you were to explore this topic.
I am not sure if Aldi is available as a retailer in California. I have been buying wine in 12 bottle increments at Grocery Outlet Bargain market, which is a similar discounter, however, they have wines from South America, Italy, France, Spain and Australia that are very good and at a fraction of the wines I usually drink, such as high end Napa Cabernets. I have been testing my palate with international wines I am still not familiar with.
Please do another round of cheap wines from other shops.
Konstantin, I do not buy wine at Aldi, actually, I've never been in my local Aldi store. What inexpensive wine do you drink on a regular basis?
i guess inexpensive for him means 20....25€
The best wine I've found at Aldi (or Lidl) is a Ribero del Duero called Finca La Cruz. It was 9 euros and I was impressed. Otherwise, I have found quite a few interesting (and downright excellent) wines at Carrefour.
Why do I enjoy watching Aldi and Lidl tastings so much?
Great video, thanks for doing it! Sometime i actually do take a bottle of wine when i´m shopping at aldi, and now i know which ones would be worth taking.
I actually suggest the "little more expensive wines from Aldi" concept under your last Aldi-Wine video :).
Now it would be awesome if you did wines 8 - 15€ which you know would be available relatively easy. I know availability and price varies hugely depending on where you live, and therefor might not be interesting for everyone if you do it for the german market.
I dont know why, but personally dont really like to order wines from a dozend different online shops because the wines that interest me are not available at just 1-3 shops.
Thank you konstantin 😊
Most people drink wine with a meal as they would water or another beverage. Aldi fills this space very well with cheap table wines. I don't buy wine from Aldi expecting a highly-rated vintage or anything close to that. An occasional bargain may be found but food-wine pairings from Aldi will most likely be pizza, pasta, bratwurst, and whatever style of wine the purchaser finds interesting.
I've poured them all down the sink. Aldi just isn't competitive at the
@@AnimeReference Tasting packs? Sounds VERY interesting. I've not seen those at my local (Wisconsin & Minnesota) Aldi's.
It looks like Galadino Vino Spumante Secco from Bolzano/Bozen region. It has a mark of BZ on the label.
“ It’s OK” and “it won’t kill you.” …Just makes me want to run out to the store now! 😂😂
"It's an inexpensive wine, a little light on complexity, but I think you'll find it gets you nicely shit-faced...."
I really appreciate that you're doing all kinds of wines from all kind of budgets/resellers!
But a question: a couple of years ago I got to know the Scheurebe wines from (I think) the Pfalz. Really interesting but not very available (in the Netherlands). Could you please do a video on the various German grape varieties that are grown today?
Hooray for tasting entry wines at our beloved pricefighters. I sometimes buy summer wines at cheap retailers like Aldi and Lidl. Got a decent Chianti and an ok Custoza at Lidl. Nothing for corksniffers though.
Aren't most vinho verde slightly 'fizzy'?
not that much of a wine nerd, but if you're looking for a decent gin for g&t's or other mixers, johnsen's from aldi is quite good for the price.
There is an ALDI a few blocks from where I live (in Michigan, USA). I don't shop there very often. I didn't realize they sold wine! Frankly, this video doesn't doesn't inspire a great desire in me to go exploring there, but, perhaps, in the cause of science...
I haven't tried Aldi for wine, but I certainly AM interested in a bargain and cheap as chips and so on..
The Gewurtstraminer looked tempting in the price bracket. Nice one Konstantin! 🍷🌟👍
Have you ever rated box wines? If never or not recently would you consider that topic? Always enjoy your style.
Are those wines from Aldi Süd or Aldi Nord? Because I live in the Aldi Nord part of Germany and I haven't seen most of those wines.
Great video. This is great content and maybe a good way to get people who arnt already wine nerds to have a look at your channel. I would say though that it would be really good to see a tasting of 10 or so readily available, relatively large volume wines that retail in the 8-12 Euro range. That is a price point for people who have a limited budget but are still on the lookout for interesting wine. Im thinking of stuff like that Guigal Cote du rhone that featured in a recent vid. Affordable, dependable, available.
5:55 "it's slightly fizzy". Wouldn't that be something you'd *expect* from a vinho verde, or am I misunderstanding something? I know that "slight fizziness" is considered wine fault, but in Portugal they made it a sort of "trademark character" of their wine, right?
Last time I set foot in an Aldi was in 2017, in Trier, of all places, very depressing wine stand, not like the one you’ve filmed, but I got a very ok Gewürztraminer.
i recently picked up the "flat lake cuvee" from the austrian version of Aldi ( Hofer ).
it is a cuvee from burgenland, made by the leo hillinger company but not under their name. they have many different wine yards and keep the better result for the official leo hillinger wines and somehow use the rest for Hofer (Aldi).
i managed to get the first glas down and the rest of the bottle i left for my sister.
it was not a pleasure at all and i had to force myself to finish that glas. another two bottles i gave to my sister and my father. my father puts three artificial sweetener tablets in it, so they can fight it out what is the worst flavor, either the wine or the sweetener or both together. i don't care, i don't want to have a piece of it anyway.
i might look at Hofer from time to time, maybe they have a classic zweigelt or something like that for 6€ upwards or some cuvee for 8€ upwards. below that, the risk is not worth it.
my favorite 'budget' classic zweigelt is currently the zweigelt selektion from Iro, Gols, Burgenland for 7,7€. it comes with a decent cherry flavor, like a typical zweigelt should have.
since the climate in burgenland seems to get a bit warmer, it is not that easy anymore to find good zweigelt wines that have a fresh cherry flavor in it.
The wines you Puupuu'd such as the Forest Hill from Australia that had Plum and Chocolate notes, it appears the more sweeter themed Wines get low marks from professionals which makes sense. I can imagine the cheaper Wines (like Soda) are made with a lower economic class in mind as thus would appeal to younger audiences, hence the sweetness?
Nicely done switching to the Gabriel Glas!!
Konstantin, why the change to the Gabriel Glas may I ask?
"do you drink wine from Aldi?" Usually not. But: every once in a while at special occasions or promotions you can find for slightly more elevated prices quite good ones. I remember having bought Joh.Jos.Prüm Auslese a few years ago for maybe 15 + Eur (below 20 Eur anyway). Drank it years later and it was fine. I also remember Sardinian wine a friend originally from Sardinia told me about. Price I do not remember. Bought 6 bottles (after having tried). Kept 2 or 3 of them for several years and was more than happy about the aged bottles. So I would recommend: even if you do not buy the regular wines from Aldi, you may find every once in a while some really good ones among the irregular offers.
Hey Konstantin, I follow your video since you started the channel, and you are doing a great job 👏
Just as an idea, maybe would be nice to have a champagne line up withe same brand but different vintages to see and explain differences and maybe how to choose and buy an old vintage champagne.
Thank you 😊
Try the riocha Rose bottle costs around 4€ nice one for summer evening
Zibbibo!!.........now that, is an under the radar wine. One of my favorite italian whites 😋. Nice to see it's at the top of this bunch of bargain bottles.
Hey Konstantin! Love your videos. Have you tried a Trader Joes wine tasting? They too have lower priced wines. Keep up the great work!
Thanks Konstantin - very entertaining… I like cremant and will try it if I can find it.
Sicilian wines have in general a pretty good quality-price ratio. You can get something decent even with with a small price tag. Never got disappointed by a cheap Sicilian wine.
Very interesting as always trying to find some hidden low cost gems. Cheers from Argentina!
Isn’t vinho verde supposed to be lightly fizzy? So I guess the fizziness you have with the bottle has nothing to do with quality on storage or anything like that. You don’t like the palate is something else though.
I do browse thru supermarket wines at least once a month, thinking ok wines should not cost a lot otherwise Europeans would not call them table wines. I do find it harder to find ok ones in the under 10E group or they vary a lot from vintage to vintage.
I’m in south Florida and like all Aldi stores in the USA my nearby ones are Aldi Süd. (Aldi Nord owns Trader Joe’s here in the States and tries to maintain the brand’s traditions somewhat, but those traditions are mostly for cheap wines.)
Your Aldi’s wines are REALLY INEXPENSIVE compared with mine! Almost all here are US$5 or more, except for their Winking Owl house brand. Surprisingly adequate.
Most wine at my nearby Aldi locations is Californian, with some Italian and occasional French, Spanish, New Zealand (almost all Sauvignon Blanc), Portuguese, and not much else. Canadian Ice wine before Christmas (at least here we have winter residents from Ontario and Quebec), hardly any wines from other countries except Germany. Maybe one Gewürztraminer ever: usual German is Riesling, rarely other varieties. Quality seems consistent with what you’re reporting or just faintly better because California? Usual sparkling wine I get at Aldi is adequate Californian, some Prosecco, maybe once or twice Cava, maybe once Sekt. Californian varietals: anything grown in California. Anything I can think of: Cabernet almost always Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Merlot, Syrah, you name it. Maybe an occasional Australian. Recently more flavored wines with chocolate, coconut, or various fruit flavors from Germany, France, anywhere. One brand of Irish Cream.
Do I buy any of these? Yes. When I’m drinking. When that drinking involves wine. But German Aldi, I’m guessing Süd, is certainly cheap!
Oh, and ratings are all American. Some are in the low 90s but most in the low to mid 80s and… inflated? Usually, but not as wildly as that Italian fellow’s. Only somewhat.
Hey Konstantin! From my experience, the blue bottles are a marketing attempt to target the younger drinkers and on that note, I have to thank you SO MUCH for your recommendation of "Drops of God", for me personally it has reawakened my earlier fascination with wine and the use of the memory palace I thought reminded me of Hannibal Lector. I have been telling everyone I know about your channel and this movie. I look forward to getting the books on which the movie series was based. Master of Wine Nerds...here I come ;-)
@konstantin I would love to have you tasting the wines from the DB Bordbistro :D
They recently updated their range and I just try their Riesling.
$5 is too cheap but I would love to have you taste ten $10 wines purchased from a private wineseller. Bet there would be a few pleasant surprises in that group.
Wine is SO much cheaper in Germany than here in the UK. Since Brexit it’s almost impossible to buy a bottle of wine under the equivalent of 6€ ! Even the cheapest rubbish! 😢
Fortunately, I spend about half my time in Germany! 🤓
Does the selection in Aldi vary by location? I spend my time in Hannover. Thanks
I wonder if Aldi had any more expensive wines as those would probably be a lot better. If they still do, then that would be so cool to see a video on those more expensive wines. Aldi USA seems to release their good stuff in fall/winter. By this time, they have pretty much run out of all of the good wine in the US. I picked up a Château Vieux Pourret Saint-Émilion Grand Cru 2019 for $16.99, a Dancing Flame Llaima Red Blend 2018 from Chile for $14.99 and The Exquisite Collection Vidal Icewine Reserve 2020 for $14.99. All use natural cork enclosures unlike the rest of Aldi USA wines. I've had two of them and liked both of those wines and I will be trying the Chilean wine soon. Aldi USA also brings out a yearly now a $24.99 French Champagne that is also really good.
aldi has a range with scores from a fellow MW, neil hadley I believe, would be interesting to see how your ratings for those wines compare to his/theirs as many seem to score quite highly..
Hehe Aldi wine! Personally I never shop there, but this is great for those that do, I'm sure! Especially for dispelling those ratings that get slapped onto wines just to sell to unwitting customers.
I live in America, the supermarket shelf is just filled with absolute trash that costs $25 a bottle. 90% of it is totally artificial Californian Cab. About the only half-decent things you can get for "sub $20" are Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages and whatever New Zealand Sauvingon Blanc you can find.
Thanks for taking one for the team! 😅