This month’s wine wonder

I AM thrilled to be recommending a smooth, easy drinking red wine for under £5, writes Dawn Griffiths. During the long, hot summer of 2018, I tried many wines which cost £5 or less, without being on offer, and I was unable to recommend any of them.

Not wanting to accept defeat, I reached out to Twitter’s wine community and enquired as to whether anyone could recommend a wine which cost £5 or less. The replies, rather than recommendations, were disbelief that I was even attempting this challenge. However, I have been rewarded for my patience with the discovery of House Pinot Noir from my local Sainsbury’s supermarket.

One of the many reasons why I began my adventures into wine was frustration with wine labels. The label might state that the wine inside the bottle tasted of something specific and matched a certain food when in practice it did not. This is not the case with this Romanian Pinot Noir The label reads ‘smooth and mellow, soft cherry and raspberry’ and it does deliver on this and in addition packs a punch with oak notes on its lengthy finish.

This delicious wine is 12.5% alcohol volume, has virtually no detectable tannin, is light, very fruity and slips down effortlessly both as an aperitif and with food. It matches mildly spiced dishes and traditional meat and vegetables. If chilled, it is a good accompaniment to grilled salmon.

I enjoyed it recently with roast pork, roast potatoes, roast parsnips, French beans and cauliflower. The match with the parsnips and pork was particularly pleasing. House Pinot Noir will not stand up to a casserole or stew or to a rich sauce as these dishes contain strong flavours and need wine with more body.

Apart from two low alcohol wines I purchased recently, (and won’t be recommending) I have never paid such a low price for a bottle of wine and enjoyed it as much. Wines from Eastern Europe are incredibly good value and this one is no exception. Sainsbury’s House Pinot Noir was purchased from Sainsbury’s Castlepoint cost £4.80. For more wine and food matches, see wonderofwine.com