Lidl Live Tasting - July Wine Tour Results, The Whites

How different can five Sauvignon Blanc based wines at entry level be? Lidl has certainly excelled with their latest Wine Tour which we had great fun tasting last night. Our 40-strong audience over two sessions was invited to score each wine out of 5 and the results were not what we’d expected.   It would probably be fair to say that my fellow presenter and Lidl’s Lead Taster Richard Bampfield MW and I thought the elegant Axis Margaret River Sauvignon Semillon would steal the show. However, despite being a steal at £6.99 it came in fourth place. In line with current trends perhaps we should have predicted the Belmont Sauvignon Blanc Rosé (£5.49) would be the clear favourite with an average score of 4.1.

Hot on Belmont Rosé’s heels with a joint average score of 3.9 were two 100% Sauvignon Blancs – The Pledge from South Africa (£10.99) and Outlook Bay from New Zealand (£8.49). As expected this Kiwi wine has all the Marlborough hallmark nettle, grassy and gooseberry greener characteristics in contrast to the South African wine which is a richer and riper style. The Axis Sauvignon Blanc Semillon (£6.99) scored well with 3.8 points.  However, despite Richard explaining how delighted he was that this elegant and keenly priced wine was in this Wine Tour it wasn't the outright winner as we'd expected. It just goes to show how important and interesting a tasting such as this with a group of enthusiastic wine lovers is.

Just behind the Axis was the Leyda Valley Sauvignon Blanc from Chile (£7.99). Easy to spot on Lidl’s Wine Tour shelf with the pink flamingo this wine with its super citrus zingy characters scored 3.7. Finally, and another surprise the Chilean Chardonnay Gran Reserva (£5.49) with a P-P-P-Pick-up-a-Penguin image on the label came in behind all the Sauvignon Blancs scoring 3.4. So, all in all, it seemed the Sauvignon Blancs came through and won the affection of these tasters. A great result especially since many were sceptical about whether they’d enjoy such a Sauvignon Blanc dominated tasting. Next week we’ll be off to taste the reds in the tour. At the time of writing there are still a few places available so if you’re tempted to join us please click here.