The New Year didn’t start well for me as a technical hitch prevented my Christmas recommendations from going live on the blog until the 27th December. Now call me old fashioned but I think that is stretching the loyalty of even our most dedicated customers. I made the executive decision not to post it after the event and I suppose, looking on the bright side, I can always use the article for Christmas 2008.

Like most other people I try to reduce my intake of food and drink immediately after the festive period. This is a little trickier for a wine buyer than most, so my resolution is not to enjoy wine for a month. By that I mean that no social drinking, only business tasting. You will recall that last year I trialled a “fingerprinting” exercise of a group of Aldi wines and I am now convinced that this is a great way forward to improve quality control. Next week I will be flying over to Germany for 3 days to taste through and benchmark my entire range - so much for laying off the booze! I promise not to enjoy it as I wouldn’t want to break my pledge.

Normally at Aldi we keep our wines at a constant price, the trade jargon is “Everyday Low Price“. However, there are so many promotions on wine amongst the competition that this January we have decided to lower the prices on a group of wines until the end of the month. Some of the wines like the “Escape Hills” range are being sold through to make space for new items in the range, but others like Rioja Reserva and Bushland Estate Grown Shiraz at £4.49 are to encourage customers to try our more expensive wines. So if, like me, you’re trying to be good during January, drink a bit less but spend a little more on each bottle. That way you are giving yourself a treat whilst denying yourself!