Lidl, Premium Fairtrade Shiraz, Paarl, South Africa 2017
Pricing : €8.99
Available : Lidl Supermarkets nationwide
All three wines today are available in the core Lidl wine selection. They represent an attempt to offer an always available, reliable expression of a selection of iconic wine styles from across the globe so you will find Chilean and Argentine wines as well as today's Australian and as here South African offering. The South African wine market has been somewhat adrift, trying to find a singular wine that might connect with a world audience, like Argentina’s Malbec or Napa’s Zinfandel.
The problem is that South Africa is perhaps wrongly thought of as a New World wine region with the emphasis on new. In fact South Africa’s vineyards pre-date the foundation of most of Bordeaux’s Medoc chateaux. They have been making wine in South Africa since at least 1654. Over those five centuries dozens of wine regions have been meticulously developed and each region evolved its own icon wine varietal.
During the 20th century South African wine flourished until the introduction of apartheid, at which time like the rest of South African goods it was subject to UN Embargoes. Falling sales and under investment lead to concentration in many regions on cheap easy varieties like Pinotage and Chenin Blanc. With the fall of Apartheid finally international sales started again and investment in better grapes and vines restored South Africa’s wine’s image. In Paarl, Shiraz, in a distinctly cooler, European Syrah or Rhone like style emerged as a fascinating offering. Here in this wine we see its light spice, cool tar and light bright fruit evoking a Cotes du Rhone rather than an Australian Shiraz. In this way the bottling here for Lidl is doing its job very effectively and at a superb price.
Lidl, Premium Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra, Australia 2016
Pricing : €8.99
Available : Lidl Supermarkets nationwide
The second wine from the range today is one of Australia’s most famous takes on Cabernet Sauvignon, from the Coonawarra Valley. Contrasting with our image of a baked, bone dry outback or a Crocodile infested swappy marshland, Coonawarra is a temperate green, softly contoured valley with a distinctly European feel it is also just 50km inland from the Limestone Coast south of Adelaide and is therefore very moderate in its temperature with decent rain and cloud cover too. It is often compared directly to Bordeaux which is also around 50 to 60km inland from the coast, the Atlantic in Bordeaux’s case.
The comparison is not quite accurate, Bordeaux is cooler and has a second body of water behind it the vast Gironde Estuary and as the owner of Chateau Phelan Segur once said there are no Kangaroos in the Medoc. While that is undoubtedly true the more pertinent point of difference is the soil, in Coonawarra it is blessed with a brilliant iron rich, Terra Rossa soil which shines like a river of lava as one approaches any freshly ploughed field in Coonawarra.
This soil is incredibly good for fruit, the first reason the valley was planted and brilliant for producing opulent, meaty, ripe Cabernet Sauvignon as here. The more recent moves have been to try and tame this jam like tendency and look for more savoury notes and to try and pick in such a way as to hold down the ripeness to within limits that will bring the alcohol level back down to below 14.5%, this example has done just that at 13.5%. This is a very solid, lighter example of the kind of complex Cabernet Sauvignon Coonawarra can offer, here with alluring hints of cherry and cassis over a darker, earthy base and a fine, lifted, clean finish.
Lidl, Premium Riesling, Clare Valley, Australia 2017
Pricing : €9.99
Available : Lidl Supermarkets nationwide
The final wine in the range today is the most impressive example of offering an introduction and evocation of a great global style icon. Clare Valley is another contrasting Australian region, again a vision of green rolling countryside, not, a Bondi Beach or Outback cliché and a source of complex, age worthy cool climate wines, rather than a source of jam blockbuster style 15% Shiraz.
Clare Valley is home to one of Australia’s least commercial varietals, Riesling. The fact is that Riesling is considered a hard core varietal, difficult to sell to all but the most dedicated specialist wine fans. Although every year wine critics suggest that at last the breakthrough has come and Riesling will compete on the world white wine stage with Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio.
The time has come to give up on hoping to convert the world to Riesling and concentrate on the openhearted wine lover who will take a chance on a potential good thing. Clare Valley Riesling has the zesty, green apple crunch as many fine Alsace Rieslings, but then can offer broad, riper notes mid palate, with hints of honey and tangerine. While the finish is clean and fresh it is rarely teeth jinglingly acidic as some German Rieslings. With age it can bring lovely petrol or lino notes along with acacia honey. Here in this youthful example it is still offering lean precise fruit, hints of zesty tangerine and a clean crunchy apple wash. The finish is clean, but not as we said harsh.
