Tesco’s Bordeaux bargains

You can tell we’re already in the run-up to Christmas with supermarkets making a pitch for those who like to do their shopping early.

Arguably Lidl were first off the blocks back in September but this week Tesco has announced the start of a 10 day 15% off promotion on fine wines including the range of 2010 Bordeaux they bought en primeur*. To qualify you have to buy 2 six bottle cases. The offer closes at midnight on Friday October 17th.

Much as I like to support the indies this is an irresistible opportunity to get your hands on some top Bordeaux* - for restaurants as well as consumers. I suspect some of these prices are better than you would get from a trade supplier.

Here are some examples:

Chateau Brown 2010 14% £112.20 a case, £18.70 a bottle if you buy 2 cases. Normally £132.00 a 6 bottle case or £22 a bottle. Drinking incredibly well now but will keep

Chateau Lilian Ladouys 2010 13.6% £84.15 a case, £14.02 a bottle if you buy 2 cases. Normally £99 a case or £16.50 a bottle, Brilliant value dinner party claret - as is, cheaper still, Chateau Malecasse 2010 Haut Médoc, recently picked out by Jancis Robinson as a bargain buy. £71.40, £11.90 a bottle if you buy 2 cases. Normally £84 a case or £14 a bottle.

Chateau Phélan-Segur 2010, St Estephe. £169.12 a case or £28.19 a bottle if you buy 2 cases. Normally £198.96 a case or £33.16 a bottle. Huge potential - one for laying down for 5 years at least.

Chateau Sociando Mallet 2010. 13.5% £127.50 a case or £21.25 if you buy 2 cases. Normally £150 a 6 bottle case or £25 a bottle. One of the wines I highlighted in the Guardian feature I wrote about the recent Lidl promotion - they’re selling the 2008 for £25.99 if you just want a single bottle.

There’s also a 'taster' case of 2010s which includes the Malecasse and the Chateau Brown. I’m not normally a fan of mixed cases but at £87 (£14.50 a bottle) it should be of interest to anyone who wants to explore the 2010 vintage.

A note of caution: Not all Tesco’s fine wines are cheaper than elsewhere so it’s always worth checking wine-searcher.com, Googling the wine + UK before you place your order or ringing up a traditonal wine merchant like D. Byrne of Clitheroe to see what they’re selling the wine in which you're interested for. The Chateau Talbot 2009 for example, normally £300 a case, is £255 a case or £42.50 a bottle if you buy 2 cases but that’s the regular price on slurp.co.uk.

*They even have Lafite and Mouton-Rothschild for the Russian oligarchs among their customers ...

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