Pre-Christmas madness from the British supermarkets

Met up with one of those many Best Sommeliers in the World the other day who told me he was doing quality control for German supermarkets and how necessary it was because they didn't put a fraction as much effort into how their wines actually taste as their British counterparts. As you know, I'm far from an apologist for the likes of Asda, Safeway, Sainsbury and Tesco but Sainsbury's are selling two of my favourite inexpensive wines for just £3.99 a bottle from 28 November until 11 December: Argento Chardonnay 2000 (my wine of the week last April) from Catena in Argentina and Albera Barbera d'Asti 2000, a perfumed and juicy red from Piemonte, have been reduced from £4.99 to £3.99. These look far more interesting than their reductions for 12 December – 9 January and could make two bargain house wines for visitors over the Christmas holidays. The red is one of those relatively few that are suitable for drinking without food for the red-only brigade.

Met up with one of those many Best Sommeliers in the World the other day who told me he was doing quality control for German supermarkets and how necessary it was because they didn't put a fraction as much effort into how their wines actually taste as their British counterparts. As you know, I'm far from an apologist for the likes of Asda, Safeway, Sainsbury and Tesco but Sainsbury's are selling two of my favourite inexpensive wines for just £3.99 a bottle from 28 November until 11 December: Argento Chardonnay 2000 (my wine of the week last April) from Catena in Argentina and Albera Barbera d'Asti 2000, a perfumed and juicy red from Piemonte, have been reduced from £4.99 to £3.99. These look far more interesting than their reductions for 12 December – 9 January and could make two bargain house wines for visitors over the Christmas holidays. The red is one of those relatively few that are suitable for drinking without food for the red-only brigade.

Met up with one of those many Best Sommeliers in the World the other day who told me he was doing quality control for German supermarkets and how necessary it was because they didn't put a fraction as much effort into how their wines actually taste as their British counterparts. As you know, I'm far from an apologist for the likes of Asda, Safeway, Sainsbury and Tesco but Sainsbury's are selling two of my favourite inexpensive wines for just £3.99 a bottle from 28 November until 11 December: Argento Chardonnay 2000 (my wine of the week last April) from Catena in Argentina and Albera Barbera d'Asti 2000, a perfumed and juicy red from Piemonte, have been reduced from £4.99 to £3.99. These look far more interesting than their reductions for 12 December – 9 January and could make two bargain house wines for visitors over the Christmas holidays. The red is one of those relatively few that are suitable for drinking without food for the red-only brigade.

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Jancis Robinson