John’s Quick Italian Wines Review Part 2

You may recall that in October I did a review of 6 supermarket Italian wines from Tesco. This month I tasted 6 specialist wine shop red Italian wines from Majestic. Which were the best tasting and which were the best value? They were tasted on different days and were not tasted blind. See the review below in descending order of rating with score out of 20 using the usual Tongham tasters system:

San Gimignano Sangiovese A Passoni La Momoralia 2007. £9.99 but if buy more than 1 bottle £7.99. (scored 15 points)

At £7.99 this is rather a joy and is better than some expensive Brunellos I have tried and which are made from the same grape variety. Do try this one as it has a great balance of fruit and oak and acidity

Langhe Nebbiolo de Forville 2008 Barbaresco. £9.49 but if you buy more than 1 bottle £7.99. (scored 15 points)

This is a big wine and of a modern style so it is good to drink young. Initial impression is great but it tails off a little as you go down the bottle. I found this wine a bit of an enigma as I didn’t quite enjoy it as much as I scored it.



Wine for a candle lit Italian supper?



Roversi Barolo 2006 MGM Mondo del Vino. £12.49. (scored 14.5 points)

Another big wine and a good nose, but the overall flavour and balance didn’t entirely work for me, although still very nice. However, at the price you could do better.

Dolcetto D’Alba de Forville 2009 Barbaresco. £9.99 but if buy more than 1 bottle £7.99. (scored 14 points).
A very nice wine with no detracting features but nothing to make me fall in love with it either. Dolcetto is another of those grape varieties you see only in Italy and mainly in Piedmont and is typically very fruity. Alba is the city this comes from.

Bardolino 2009 Tenuta di Naiano by Allegrini, Corvina and Rondinella grapes. £7.99 but if buy more than 1 bottle £5.99. (scored 12.5 points)
Fantastic everyday wine at £5.99. Rather light but very pleasant cherries and custard (only joking!, I mean vanilla) taste. This is very nice slightly chilled and may appeal to Pinot Noir lovers, although it uses local Italian grape varieties.

Villa Dante Riserva Chianti 2005. £7.49. (scored 11.5 points)
This didn’t score too well because it is rather thin bodied. It also has quite a confusing array of flavours that compete with each other rather than add complexity. It gets better after a few days so aerate this one by vigorously pouring from a great height into a jug or decanter and then leave to breathe.

I have to say that I was impressed with these six wines, only the Chianti being rather a disappointment.
So what is my conclusion, do I prefer shopping for Italian wines at Tesco or Majestic?
For helpful and knowledgeable staff, no surprise, Majestic won hands down. The Farnham Surrey Majestic staff needs congratulating.
Both stores on the day I went had a reasonable variety to choose from – little to separate them here.
In terms of flexibility Tescos win as you can buy just one bottle whereas at Majestic you have to buy at least six.
In terms of price I paid £37.01 for wine normally priced at £49.35 at Tesco. At Majestic I paid £49.94 for wine priced for single bottles at £56.94. So both came in under my target of an average £8.50 per bottle. It is obviously easier to buy cheaper wines at Tesco.

In terms of enjoyment the Majestic wines easily came out on top scoring 82.5 against the 69 for the Tesco’s six wines.

However, we must remember that the Majestic wines were the most expensive, so which represented the best value? Difficult to assess! The Tesco’s wines cost just 54 pence per point whereas the Majestic wines cost 61 pence per point. On the other hand the Majestic wines had much more of a wow factor, less were disappointing and none were undrinkable.

Unless, you are on a tight budget, my conclusion would be to choose Majestic as the winner here. Wherever you buy your wine do try some of these non-global wine varieties – Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Dolcetta, Corvina and Rondinella etc.