Tesco red wines

Tesco red wines: Three wines new in store in autumn 2021

The Raise a Glass feature is published in several regional newspapers …  I tried three Tesco red wines  from the retailer’s  Autumn Winter range


It’s the time of year when retailers and supermarkets are looking to the months and weeks ahead. 

Much like a fashion show, ideas around the new season’s tastes and treats are shared with people like me. 

Then we can share them with people like you.

In the last few weeks Tesco has added over 50 wines to its range and I had a little preview.

Here’s three Tesco red wines with an autumnal feel (and my first two are related).

Tesco Finest Primitivo Terre di Chieti (£7): The grapes for this Italian easy-drinking vino grow in vineyards in the Abruzzo hills, overlooking the Adriatic coast. 

I poured a little bit in my glass and a little bit in a pasta sauce.

Then I poured a little bit more in my glass.

The primitivo grapes deliver a punch of fresh, ripe black fruits and plum aromas.

The flavours tease with more of the same fruits which are pecked with a tickle of spice. 

The spice lasts longer in the mouth than the fruit but there’s no complaining to be done here as for the price it’s a lovely little wine.

My next is Ravenswood Lodi Zinfandel (£14) at double the price from my Italian choice and an “up” in the quality. 

There’s no surprise that some of the same fruits and spices come into play with this wine from Lodi.

It’s a Californian region which produces brilliant Zinfandel wines.

Memories of a childhood bilberry tart, topped with a vanilla cream, flitted in my mind.

The wine has a silky depth, complexity and intensity that can’t be matched by the easy-going primitivo.

But they kind of know each other these two wines.

Primitivo is the Italian name for the zinfandel grape.

My final Tesco red choice, from top Chilean wine producers, is Errázuriz Max Carmenère (£12).

I’ve mentioned in these parts before that carmenère – a Bordeaux grape – was once thought lost.

But DNA testing has since proved otherwise. 

Carmenère was rediscovered in Chile in the late 90s where it had been masquerading as merlot.

 Chile has since adopted the grape as its own.

Give this wine a warm welcome in your home alongside autumnal feasts of casseroles and cottage pies.

The wine is bold with its black fruit flavours yet soft with tannins and inviting with its hints of chocolate.


First published in UK regional newspapers including:
Hull Daily Mail – Leicester Mercury – Cambridge News – Liverpool Echo –South Wales Echo – Daily Post Wales –  Huddersfield Examiner – The Chronicle, Newcastle  – Teesside Gazette – Birmingham Mail – Coventry Telegraph  – Paisley Daily Express  


Read more : >>> Raise a Glass: Spring red wines roadtest the garden bench

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