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The word “claret” just means red wine from Bordeaux. It’s made from a blend of some, or all, of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot. The most expensive claret, Chateau Pétrus, costs £2,666 for the 1961 vintage or £2,500 for 1982, per bottle. However, as you’ll see from my title, it is perfectly possible to pay a lot less than that. What you’re paying for with Pétrus is rarity, ability to age and the knowledge that it’s really, really expensive. Also, a taste experience that will echo in your memory forever.
Sometimes I decide to put a price limit on wine samples and the majority of wines will be right up to that limit. I had 9 wines to taste for this article and only three were anywhere near the limit. It was therefore a very nice surprise when we uncovered the wines and found that our favourite was Aldi’s Oak Aged Claret 2005 which is astonishing value at £3.29. Don’t get me wrong, this wine isn’t going to last more than a year or so, and it probably won’t get any better than it is now, but it’s a stonking little wine at this price. It has a spicy, woody smell, which I would bet is predominantly from Merlot. The smell is something you want to slow down to enjoy. The taste is fairly dry and oaky, with a measure of farmyard thrown in, which always rings my bells. However, don’t imagine that dry and oaky means it isn’t smooth and delicious.
Chateau de Pitray 2003, which is £8.49 from Majestic, is £6.79 if you buy 2 and smells nicely herbal. Lorraine said it smelt like a decent red wine, which is exactly how we all felt. You could just tell it was going to taste good. The flavour was more “New World” in feel and that’s probably because it was 2003 vintage which, you’ll remember, was a heatwave.
Chateau du Lort 2004, which is £7.99 from Oddbins had a whiff of sulphur initially but lifted to give some attractive farmyard and oak. It probably would have done better, but a couple of panel members gave it very low marks for the farmyard aroma, which isn’t to everyone’s taste. Radcliffe’s Bordeaux Rouge 2005 is £5.99 or £3.99 on multibuy. It smelt richly of dark fruits and tasted savoury, oaky and pretty good.
Le Clos du Notaire, Cotes de Bourg 2004, which is £7.69 from Oddbins, smelt deliciously of minty Cabernet and was nicely balanced, with clean fresh acidity.
Chateau Pierrousselle from the Co-op smelt meaty, like the edges of roast meat. Someone said, less generously, that it smelt like cheap burgers. The alcohol seemed warm but it had attractive furry tannins. Morrisons’ “The Best” had an appealing and promising blackcurrant smell. The taste was perfectly good and nicely balanced. All the above were good examples and reasonably priced.
Waitrose Good Ordinary Claret was cheap in both senses of the word. The smell wasn’t bad, but the flavour was mean. Our least favourite was Chateau David from Sainsbury’s which smelt eggy and cheaply fruity. It was astringent and nasty in the mouth.