I wonder where these two come from?

Retailers all around the world have wines labelled for them. They make up brand names or simply use their own name. Which means the same wine could conceivably be on the market under many different labels. In the UK they've gone one step further:No brand and no indication of who it was made for.
But there is absolutely no mistaking their country of origin.
The Pinotage is unmistakeably South African with that earthy feral character displayed by this hybrid variety. If you like your reds squeaky clean this is to be avoided. Otherwise I recommend a try. It has a bit of grunt at 14% a/v and at just £3.89 at Lidl scores 4/5 from me
The Pinot Grigio has a little more palate weight than usual and a dash of sweetness. It's not particularly exciting but I could see it being a real crowd pleaser. £4 at Tesco scores 3.5/5 from me

Might just be the Best Beer Buy of 2017

Tesco currently have a range of Sharps beers on promotion.
Normally £1.79 the offer is four 500ml bottles for a mere £6

All feature deep bronze/red colour and are an easy 5/5 rating from me.
Wolf Rock is a full on IPA that also features a fair chunk of malt. Not for the faint hearted. Sea Fury is a toned down version of that while Atlantic is a very user friendly Pale Ale. Doom Bar is one of my favourite draught ales. It's not quite as good in a bottle, but it's close.







 5/5 rating from me Betty Stogs Brazen Cornish Bitter 4% a/v Skinner's Brewery Cornwall £1.39 at Lidl [500ml] Morande "One to One" 2016 Old Vines Gewurtztraminer £6.99 from Majestic RRP: $ Our Price: $ by the doz notes: IN STOCK OUT OF STOCK

How many beers can I taste in 2017?

Well here's a start with two perfectly acceptable, but far from knee trembling, bargains from Asda.
They fall into my Category One Beer rating so are perfectly quaffable without any rave factors. Both are in the mid range alcohol category and prove that you can still have flavour at below 4%.

Banks Amber Bitter 3.8% 3.5 rating 90p 500ml bottle from Asda

Ruddles Best Proper Country Ale 3.8% 3.0 rating £1 500ml bottle from Asda

Just Buy It!!!

ZILZIE 2015 SHIRAZ VIOGNIER
I sold truck loads of Zilzie wines during my Australian retail career. One reason was that they always offered outstanding value for money. Another was I scored all their disastrous [from a marketing point of view] Shane Warne labelled wines at a fraction of their true value. 

So I couldn't resist this as an old familiar label leaped of the shelf to me during the recent visit to Asda. It's a beauty. A small amount [probably 3-5%] of the blend is the white grape viognier and this acts to extract the shiraz flavours to create a more user friendly drink now red. It will age but I doubt whether it will get a chance once you've tasted it. Lashings of fruit flavour, 14% a/v, lovely tannins, delicious red grossly underpriced.
5/5 rating from me  
£4.98 from Asda

It's time to discover Fiano

2015 FIANO SICILIA - distributed by Asda Stores
One of the great joys of buying wine in the UK is that there are a wide number of retailers that have 80% mutually exclusive ranges. Which means there is so much to choose from as long as you rotate your wine buying visits amongst them.
I hadn't been to Asda for awhile so it was like a whole new experience. You don't see much Fiano around and unless you've tried it I suspect most wine buyers would be reluctant to give it a crack - "what is it?"

It's a grape whose home is southern Italy. It's low yielding and jam packed with very individual flavours. I know it from Australian winemakers experimenting successfully with the variety. In particular Coriole and Rutherglen Wine Estates. So I couldn't resist trying one from where it all began. and I'm so pleased I did. There's a bit of palate weight and viscosity that reminds me of viognier. But it's beautifully restrained and balanced with citrus and apple undertones [for the life of me I couldn't detect the passionfruit described on the label]. It has the character to match a wide range of foods and I really suggest you give it a try. This is a very classy, well made dry white and an absolute bargain at the price.
4.5/5 rating from me 
£5 at Asda  

First 2016 NZ Sauvignon Blanc we've tasted and it's a beauty

Here we are in the third week of 2017 and we've just seen and tasted our very first Marlborough from the 2016 vintage. Now given that there are still 2014 releases sitting on UK retail shelves as well as most of 2015 I'd suggest the glut of New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs is a long way from being over.

That's a problem because the great majority of these wines are meant to be young and fresh with all the primary fruit flavours shining through. Which is exactly what happens with this one. The fruit though is a throw back to the grassy herbaceous releases that dominated before the passionfruit, tropical fruit style took over in popularity. This 2016 is a welcome change along with its dazzling fresh vitality.

And the brand? Well I haven't been keeping this a mystery. It doesn't have one. This is the ultimate generic label available through Lidl at just £5.59. That gives it a 5/5 rating from me

Rosenhof 2015 AOC Vin d'Alsace Sylvaner

This has the ultimate retro label very reminiscent of of the stuff we bought in Australia in the early 1970s.

This is a very attractive spicy dry white. And while I prefer the crisper German style, The Bride loved it enough to insist we buy half a dozen.

3.88 euro

4/5 rating from me

This could be OUR wine!

This one had the OWL's seal of approval before we opened it. It had mine once we had.

In truth the wine is much better than the label suggests. Full bodied, rich, complex and balanced. It's a wine that will lure us to the south of France if this is what they can produce at this price. It may not be the most prestigious Appellation but if this is any indication it may offer the best red wine value

We went back and bought more for the cellar.

Mythique AOC 2015 Languedoc 

3.95 euro from Casino, France

5/5 rating from me

THE BEERS JUST KEEP ON POURING

There's some great value amongst this lot. None particularly rattled my cage but they were all really well priced with no peculiarities even amongst the stronger stuff.

Starberg Premium Blonde 500ml can

0.85eu 5% a/v

Biere Blonde Extra Forte 500ml can

.99eu  10.5% a/v

Amsterdam Navigator Extra Intense 500ml can

1.19eu  8% a/v

All were purchased from Hyper U France and all easily score a 4/5 rating from me

I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER

AC/DC German Beer - Australian Hardrock 500ml can

You’ve got to try these things but for the price I was expecting something special. Instead I scored a ridiculously garish can containing a perfectly average beer. The fact that it’s drinkable stops this from scoring a 1 but it really is appalling value.

2.8eu   2/5 rating from me