These days, it seems, the more obscure and unpronounceable a wine is, the better. True, this is a trend that’s been going on for a while, with both Marks & Spencer and Waitrose in competition with their spookily similar Found and Loved & Found ranges, and they’ve now been joined by Sainsbury’s Discovery and Aldi’s Unearthed.
So who is buying these bottles, and why are the supermarkets doing them? Because the other concurrent trend seems to be to give the customer more of the same, whatever it is – sauvignon blanc, malbec or prosecco. “Indigenous varieties can be an exciting way of innovating in wine, but have always been harder to sell,” Waitrose’s head wine buyer Pierpaolo Petrassi tells me, and explains that the Loved & Found range is a way to let more adventurous customers – the kind who would also buy more experimental food ranges – try new and unusual wines.
It must also make commercial sense, given that experimental wine drinkers are likely to spend more on the bottles they buy. These wines are generally in the £8.99-£9.99 range, which is good value, but still more than many customers would be looking to pay. It seems that it’s mainly younger consumers who are buying them, too, according to M&S, with what it calls “pre-family” shoppers going for more esoteric regions such as Georgia and Greece and older, “post-family” customers opting for more established wine-producing countries such as Italy and Spain. These ranges also give the supermarkets a useful bit of test marketing, because today’s oddball grape variety might well become a subsequent year’s must-list. Where was Austria’s grüner veltliner until a few years ago, for example? Now, every store has one in its own-label range.
But who could have predicted a similar turn of events with regards to Romania’s fetească regală, a headily aromatic style reminiscent of gewürztraminer? The price almost certainly helps, but it’s also somewhat unexpectedly good with chicken katsu curry. At the time of writing, Asda has one on offer at £5.75, but even the normal price of £6.25 is a bit of a steal.
Overall, though, Greece stands out as the country that has gained most from the trend, with assyrtiko now almost as ubiquitous as Spain’s albariño, which itself wasn’t much of a thing until about five years ago. Moschofilero, malagousia and xinomavro are likewise all becoming regular features on the supermarket shelves nowadays and, frankly, I’m all for it.
Five wines you may not have heard of
Savatiano 2023 £6.99 Lidl, 12%. The grape traditionally used to make retsina, but pine-free. Rich, slightly waxy, perfect for meze.
Waitrose Loved & Found Cerceal 2023 £8.99, 12.5%. An easy-drinking, crisp, dry white from Portugal’s Dao region.
M&S Found Susumaniello 2023 £9, 12.5%. A full-flavoured, light bronze-coloured Italian rosé with an appealing whiff of blood orange. (Waitrose has one at £7.99, which isn’t as good but is apparently selling well.) Would be great with burrata.
Athlon Xinomavro Syrah 2022 £9.99 Aldi, 13%. A robust, Rhône-ish red with a lovely flavour of spiced plums. Drink with moussaka or almost any kind of grilled lamb.
Sainsbury’s TTD Discovery Collection no 35 Teroldego Rotaliano 2022 £7.75, 12.5%. Light, dry, spicy red from the mountainous Trentino Alto Adige region of north-east Italy. Would go brilliantly with charcuterie and other fatty pork dishes, or pulse-based veggie dishes.