Good and Bad Buys at Lidl and Aldi stores (***Please don't expire***)

YoungBlueEyes

Hmmm now you’ve said that maman I think my thin stuff must have been Lidl cos it wasn’t Magnum. 

So I take back that comment  

Edit - and apologies to Magnum, my bad! 

YoungBlueEyes

Oh and re tea - I drink caffeine in the mornings and decaf after lunchtime. Yorkshire tea, no compromise. But Aldi/Lidl own cheapo decaf is fine if you let it brew longer  

Rosa_Damascena

Another one that agrees with Magnum washing up liquid. One bottle lasts me for well over a year!

Sea_Shell

Do users of Aldi Magnum find the bubbles have a strange smell.   Not pleasant... smells like drains...even on the days we've cleaned and bleached the kitchen. ☹️

Brie

Rosa_Damascena said:

I have already a learned to avoid "foxy" wines thanks to you @Brie !   

What Canadian white do you recommend? Am heading for the east coast shortly. (Obvs no Aldi here, I'll sample from the source).

Must admit that the Canadian wine I've seen in Aldi has been from the Niagara region (where I grew up so I might be a bit opinionated.....)

Henry of Pelham is a good small winery near my home town and was in Aldi for quite some time.  And cheaper than buying in Canada! (£7ish here but $18 back home, so more like £10?)   Inniskillen is another good one (and has appeared in Lidl at times), one of the first estate wineries when it opened in (I think) the 1980s.  Most important is to look for dry wines - so dry reislings, chardonnays or, rare to find, gewurztraminers.  Do NOT buy anything sweet or labelled as hock.  (reminiscent of Blue Nun)  Might just be me but I find the level of sulfides in these make them instant headache territory. 

Essentially the area with hot summers and reasonably cold winters make for production of good white wine grapes.  
Good red wines are rarer in Niagara but some are sold.  Most the grapes that used to be used by the older wineries are strictly concorde which are great for juice and jelly but not decent quaffing wine.  The odd thing was the best winery for red was one called Magnotta but they actually bought in their grapes from South America so aren't considered proper Canadian.  If you do want proper stuff and assuming the labelling is consistent with Ontario you could look for something with the VQA logo.

If you see ice wines from Canada do give them a try - extraordinarily sweet but excellent dessert wines and considered even better than the German ones.  Which of course annoys the Germans.

HillStreetBlues

I very rarely drink wine, but the Niagara region would attract me as lovely area, and enjoyed the time I spent there.
Henry of Pelham name reminds me of the older movie staring the wonderful Robert Shaw

dealyboy

... Pelham 123, not so much the 'old' movie (1974).

My favourite 'old' movies are from the '40s. Is there a board to discuss favourite films?

HillStreetBlues

dealyboy said:

... Pelham 123, not so much the 'old' movie (1974).

My favourite 'old' movies are from the '40s. Is there a board to discuss favourite films?

Corrected, as meant to differentiate from the remake. 

Rosa_Damascena

Brie said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

I have already a learned to avoid "foxy" wines thanks to you @Brie !   

What Canadian white do you recommend? Am heading for the east coast shortly. (Obvs no Aldi here, I'll sample from the source).

Must admit that the Canadian wine I've seen in Aldi has been from the Niagara region (where I grew up so I might be a bit opinionated.....)

Henry of Pelham is a good small winery near my home town and was in Aldi for quite some time.  And cheaper than buying in Canada! (£7ish here but $18 back home, so more like £10?)   Inniskillen is another good one (and has appeared in Lidl at times), one of the first estate wineries when it opened in (I think) the 1980s.  Most important is to look for dry wines - so dry reislings, chardonnays or, rare to find, gewurztraminers.  Do NOT buy anything sweet or labelled as hock.  (reminiscent of Blue Nun)  Might just be me but I find the level of sulfides in these make them instant headache territory. 

Essentially the area with hot summers and reasonably cold winters make for production of good white wine grapes.  
Good red wines are rarer in Niagara but some are sold.  Most the grapes that used to be used by the older wineries are strictly concorde which are great for juice and jelly but not decent quaffing wine.  The odd thing was the best winery for red was one called Magnotta but they actually bought in their grapes from South America so aren't considered proper Canadian.  If you do want proper stuff and assuming the labelling is consistent with Ontario you could look for something with the VQA logo.

If you see ice wines from Canada do give them a try - extraordinarily sweet but excellent dessert wines and considered even better than the German ones.  Which of course annoys the Germans.

I don't understand why wines are sold at such stupidly high prices in US bars? (Well I do, it's called a profit motive and is costing me a fortune atm). It's made me appreciate just how inexpensive vino is in the UK, esp when purchased at 25% discounts often available. Yet I know that so much of that is actually taxation above the cost of the product. 

Brie

Rosa_Damascena said:

I don't understand why wines are sold at such stupidly high prices in US bars? (Well I do, it's called a profit motive and is costing me a fortune atm). It's made me appreciate just how inexpensive vino is in the UK, esp when purchased at 25% discounts often available. Yet I know that so much of that is actually taxation above the cost of the product. 

Ah - clocked the fact you're already over there!!!  Look out for New York state wines.  There's a lot of good wineries around the Finger Lakes region.  Sorry I can't remember any names but given the climate is similar to Niagara but likely with harder winters the same thing should apply about good white wines.  Never seen any of them in the UK but they were always much much nicer than the California garbage.  There's also lots of very good breweries in NY state and the whole north east so if you like a good beer that might be a cheaper option.  (still got the pint beer glasses from the Lake Placid brewery - think at the time it was $5 for a pint and you could keep the glass.)