Uncovering the best Asda wines to buy this season

There weren’t an awful lot of new additions in the line-up of 111 wines at Asda’s latest tasting. A sign of retrenchment after a few years of steady improvement under the thoughtful stewardship of the wine department’s senior manager for sourcing, Clive Donaldson, perhaps?

Maybe, but Asda still offers plenty of interest for wine buyers on a budget, with several wines offering outstanding value for their category and pricepoint.

Many of the best buys can be found at those distinctively specific Asda pricepoints of £6.97 and £6.98 – that’s where you’ll find, among others, such clever buys as the Wine Atlas Garda Sparkling Brut, Asda Extra Special Douro, Asda Extra Special Carmenère, and the flat-out bargain buy that is the Exceptional by Asda Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon.

A little more expensive, but no less impressive on a pound-for-pound basis, are the Exceptional by Asda Great Western Shiraz from Victoria (£8.77) and the tangy De Botrytis Semillon dessert wine from New South Wales (£7.97). Both these Australians would be welcome standby bottles for, respectively, roast-and-all-the-trimmings and the cheese board over the Christmas period,.

The Extra Special Marqués Reserva and Gran Reserva, meanwhile, are as ever among the most satisfyingly soft, savoury and mature examples of Rioja around for their respective £8.07 and £12.19 pricepoints.

When it comes to new wines, a pair from the Stellenbosch stalwart Stellenrust stood out for their brightness: both the Mason’s Kloof Sauvignon Blanc and, especially, the Mason’s Kloof Chenin Blanc are more than worth their £9.97 price tag, while the discreetly stylish dry Italian white from the Lugana DOC near Lake Garda, a long term favourite in the Asda range, is as ever a lovely wine that offers far more fragrance and subtle concentration than its £11.42 pricetag would generally provide.

The best Asda wines to buy this season:

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