Aldi rolls out new wine festival

Aldi has launched a dozen ‘rare and unusual’ wines under £8, as part of its latest Spring Wine Festival event.

The twelve new wines, which are available online in single or mixed cases as well as in store come from different regions and include some more unusual grape blends and wines from less well-known regions, such as a Királyleányka from Hungary,   a Monastrell and Petit Verdot blend from Jumilla in Spain, a Romanian Pinot Noir, a Grillo Chardonnay blend from Italy’s Menfi coastline and a South African Shiraz Mourvedre blend. Prices range from £4.99 – £7.99, or £29.94 – £49.74 for a case of six bottles or £74.88 for a case of all twelve wines.

Tony Baines, Aldi’s joint managing director for corporate buying said there was a “real appetite” from the discounter’s expanding customer base to “try wines with a great story and provenance”.

“We pride ourselves on our close relationships with some of the world’s best suppliers and vineyards who have also helped us formulate our famous core collection. We want to ensure that we are bringing quality wines with great stories behind them – but without the hefty price tags”.

Other wines include an unusual merlot-based BX Crémant de Bordeaux Rosé  (RRP: £7.99) from Charlotte Calvet of Garmence Wine Studio, the ‘lost’ Bonfleur Languedoc Reserve (RRP: £6.99), which was later rediscovered in the cellars after the chateau was bought by LaCheteau, Mo Sisters Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon (RRP: £6.99) by winemaker Bill Moularadellis, and Big Red Bill (RRP: £5.99), which the retailer describes as a “bold and unusual blend of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz”.

The bottles went in store on 12 February.

Last month Aldi reported its most successful Christmas to date, reporting strong BWS sales and an overall sales bump of 15%, fuelled largely by sales of Prosecco. It also also revealed to db that its online wine shop has sold nearly 2 million bottles of wine launching the e-commerce operation just over a year ago, again driven by sales of sparkling wine, both Prosecco and Champagne, and its own-brand Exquisite range wines.

It has also boosted the number of online customers from the South East and London, where it has fewer bricks and mortar stores, from 1 in 5 in October, to around a third.

This year the discounter is expected to open around 70 new stores, and it is aiming to operate around 1,000 stores in the UK within five years.