Port for sale by retailer

[griff]

Noval LBV down to £9/bottle at Tesco.

[griff]

Noval LBV down to £9/bottle at Tesco.

Just to update it is the 2005 and is the generic variant. Ready to drink. A little floral on the nose and milk chocolate on the fruit filled palate. Acidity not discernable. By contrast the Quinta do Noval LBV 2005 is made of much sterner stuff. Closed and tannic and built to cellar for a while.

[RAYC]

Noval LBV down to £9/bottle at Tesco.

Just to update it is the 2005 and is the generic variant. Ready to drink. A little floral on the nose and milk chocolate on the fruit filled palate. Acidity not discernable. By contrast the Quinta do Noval LBV 2005 is made of much sterner stuff. Closed and tannic and built to cellar for a while.

Worth noting that this might not be universal - Tesco Henley seem to be treating the regular Noval LBV and the single vineyard LBV as interchangeable, since the different bottlings seem to appear under the same shelf label from week to week!

[griff]

Noval LBV down to £9/bottle at Tesco.

Just to update it is the 2005 and is the generic variant. Ready to drink. A little floral on the nose and milk chocolate on the fruit filled palate. Acidity not discernable. By contrast the Quinta do Noval LBV 2005 is made of much sterner stuff. Closed and tannic and built to cellar for a while.

Worth noting that this might not be universal - Tesco Henley seem to be treating the regular Noval LBV and the single vineyard LBV as interchangeable, since the different bottlings seem to appear under the same shelf label from week to week!

A port lucky dip? I may have to pay them another visit...

[Alex Bridgeman]

Sainsbury's are running their "Buy 6 and get 25% off" offer again.

Their excellent Sainsbury's Taste the Difference 2003 Vintage Port is £25 per bottle before the 25% discount, must be good value at £18.75 per bottle.

But I'll admit that I walked out with little port and lots of Champagne, including 6 of the Sainsbury's Own Label Blanc de Blanc NV for the ridiculous price of £11.25 a bottle and 6 Lanson Black Label for £15 per bottle. Someone will be happy at home tonight!

[DRT]

Sainsbury's are running their "Buy 6 and get 25% off" offer again.

Their excellent Sainsbury's Taste the Difference 2003 Vintage Port is £25 per bottle before the 25% discount, must be good value at £18.75 per bottle.

I bought 6 of these today, but suspect that a better deal will be coming soon if Sainsbury repeat what they did with this VP in the run-up to Christmas 2011. If my memory is correct I think these were around £13 each throughout December!

[jdaw1]

But I'll admit that I walked out with little port and lots of Champagne, including 6 of the Sainsbury's Own Label Blanc de Blanc NV for the ridiculous price of £11.25 a bottle and 6 Lanson Black Label for £15 per bottle. Someone will be happy at home tonight!

Expert comment on this, by email or in the Other Wines section, would be most welcome. Thank you.

[RAYC]

Some attractive pricing on Vesuvio 96 at C&B

Perhaps not as good as DRT / THRA's purchase price at auction some years ago, but at £112ib for a 6-pack (£25ish per bottle all-in) with 13-14 years of storage in Octavian, it was tempting enough for me!

[Alex Bridgeman]

But I'll admit that I walked out with little port and lots of Champagne, including 6 of the Sainsbury's Own Label Blanc de Blanc NV for the ridiculous price of £11.25 a bottle and 6 Lanson Black Label for £15 per bottle. Someone will be happy at home tonight!

Expert comment on this, by email or in the Other Wines section, would be most welcome. Thank you.

What would you like to know?

[DRT]

But I'll admit that I walked out with little port and lots of Champagne, including 6 of the Sainsbury's Own Label Blanc de Blanc NV for the ridiculous price of £11.25 a bottle and 6 Lanson Black Label for £15 per bottle. Someone will be happy at home tonight!

Expert comment on this, by email or in the Other Wines section, would be most welcome. Thank you.

What would you like to know?

Perhaps JDAW wants to know if buying your wife 12 bottles of Champagne on your birthday has a positive effect on your general wellbeing?

[jdaw1]

What would you like to know?

TN? General quality report? Worth buying some dozen?

[Zelandakh]

Well the Times said today that the discounting of wines will be stopped. Hopeful that 25% off VP is not included in that

[jdaw1]

I haven’t heard many reports of hooliganism fueled by Vintage Port.

[DRT]

I haven’t heard many reports of hooliganism fueled by Vintage Port.

Although I do remember one of our younger members drinking pints of it in a hotel in Covent Garden and becoming quite rowdy.

[mpij]

I haven’t heard many reports of hooliganism fueled by Vintage Port.

Press reports of Bullingdon Club dinners may be a good place to start looking.

[Alex Bridgeman]

What would you like to know?

TN? General quality report? Worth buying some dozen?

I am expecting the heavy discounting of Champagne by UK supermarkets to lead to a drop in quality of NV Champagne, similar to the poor quality levels seen in the late '80s and early '90s, but so far I have not seen this happen.

Lanson Black label is a modest weighted NV wine and makes for a very decent house Champagne. It is also very capable of aging in bottle for 2-3 years, putting on a little weight and losing some of its lemony tones.

Sainsbury Blanc de Blanc NV is a surprisingly weighty wine with some lovely honey notes underneath the lemon and grapefruit. I've not managed to age this yet, but I would expect it to mature in bottle for 5 years and be much better with additional age.

Worth buying some - absolutely (in my opinion). These are remarkable prices, just as absurd as selling top notch 2003 vintage port for under £13 a bottle. I bought 2 dozen assorted Champagne, predominantly the two mentioned above but also a little Blanc de Noir (which I prefer, although EAB prefers Blanc de Blanc), Moet & Chandon NV (EAB's favourite marque) and a couple of others.

[griff]

I think the Sainsbury's BdB and BdN are both made by Duval Leroy. A decent purchase indeed for mid-week fizz.

[mpij]

Asda has Dows Crusted bottled 2004 reduced to £12 and also 2001 Quinta do bomfim reducwd to £20.

[Alex Bridgeman]

I think the Sainsbury's BdB and BdN are both made by Duval Leroy. A decent purchase indeed for mid-week fizz.

I can confirm that, and the Sainsbury's Own Label NV is Duval Leroy.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Tesco have put on promotion Noval 2006 Unfiltered LBV, now £10.99, and Dow's Master Blend, now £6.65.

And if you buy 6 or more bottles you get an additional 5% discount.

[griff]

30 year old Offley for £36.99 at Aldi. Bottled 2012 and a small taste suggests rather good value indeed.

2008 Quinta do Crasto VP at Great Western Wines for £25 looks a good price as well.

[RAYC]

Tesco have put on promotion Noval 2006 Unfiltered LBV, now £10.99, and Dow's Master Blend, now £6.65.

And if you buy 6 or more bottles you get an additional 5% discount.

Is that the Dow's Master Blend LBV or the Dow's Master Blend Ruby Reserve (I think both exist)

[Alex Bridgeman]

Tesco have put on promotion Noval 2006 Unfiltered LBV, now £10.99, and Dow's Master Blend, now £6.65.

And if you buy 6 or more bottles you get an additional 5% discount.

Is that the Dow's Master Blend LBV or the Dow's Master Blend Ruby Reserve (I think both exist)

It is the Master Blend Ruby Reserve - you are right, there are two wines made under the Master Blend label.

[griff]

Speaking of the Dows Master blend it is now £5.24 at Sainsburys. The 2003 VP is now £15. Good prices for Grahams LBV and Malvedos as well. Not the depths seen last year but not far off.

[PhilW]

Sainsbury's this morning have their 25% off on 6 bottles or more for wine/champagne/fortified. They also have the Graham Malvedos 99 on offer at 22.37 (instead of usual 26.37), which after 25% works out at 16.78 per bottle; note 6 per customer limit (per visit, I assume).