Well, its that last week in November (so this means the whole of the Christian world goes Santa mad from now on) and I happened to be in Aldi so saw the price of these and well …

S.A. Tano 5 Pinotage £3.99 10.5% abv

Andara Chile Merlot £4.09 12% ABV

S.A. CamBalala Pinotage-Shiraz £3.99 13% ABV

OK, I’m trying out lower budget supermarkets and these 3 wines took my eye as 1. They are cheap in price and 2. does this mean they are any good?

Tano 5 is a South African Pinotage and with all new world wines I was expecting lots of fruity flavours and deep in colour, but on reading the label I found that its only 10.5% so can It be any good?

Well at first the colour is a very lovely dark blackberry red and as I was once shown, the wine does stick a bit to the glass when moving around although not the most aromatic of wines, for the taste then, again for the ABV it’s pretty bang on and is as written on the tasting notes a medium-bodied wine, the taste is a bit fruit of forest and there is a slightly acidic aftertaste left on the tongue but overall would I buy again yes (as for 1 it went very well with the stir fry I had made) as you won’t get smashed that quickly on it and hopefully this means less of hangover.

The Andara Chilean Merlot, on the other hand, was a bit of a let-down, we were hoping that as the more expensive bottle and higher ABV it would slap us around the face but it didn’t sadly we got nothing out of it, yes the colour was a nice but lighter red than the Tano 5 and there was a nice warming smell but the taste let it down, it was a nothing sort of taste which was neither good nor bad and I won’t be buying it again.

Now the Cambalala (these bottles were shared and consumed over 2 nights) was nice, it had the subtle yet elegant (that’s what’s written on the bottle) taste and it was a slow drink compared to the Andara (which I wanted to finish as quick as I could and properly why I had a headache in the morning)

As the Pinotage is South Africa’s most famous wine the mix with the shiraz gives it a bit of a zing and I did enjoy it although for me the winner of the week was the Tano 5, again it has a nice colour and the best smelling of the wines although the fruity taste was more of the sharper blackberry’s and hints (only hints) of vanilla as a cheap wine yes I would buy again.