Good to see your recent Aldi tastings Mel.
I spotted these, all 2001 and reduced to ?6.99, on their shelves last week:

Soliano Barolo 2001
Les Allees de Cantemerle 2001
Trave Amarone 2001

Any experience of these?
You liked the Soliano '02 that you tasted in the Summer. '01 was a better vintage according to the charts. Should make it worth a punt? Brilliant price but I can't find much form on the producer.

Notes from October last year

2 stars is unusual, 1 pretty good, 0 probably not worth bothering.

Barolo Soliano 2000 Lovely perfumed oak smell. Teeth coating tannins, smooth, almost american oak scented, nice acidity.5/10/05 *8.99

Haut Medoc - Les Allees de Cantemerle 2001 Lovely oak, savoury, complex smell. Great taste, oaky, spicy, warm, ready to drink.5/10/05**8.99

June this year

Barolo Soliano 2002 Orange colour. Fabulous, heady, vanilla smell. Great balance, fine tannins 29/06/06 * ?8.99

hope this helps

mel

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mel

Thanks Mel. The Cantemerle 2nd wine seems a definite buy.
I'll also go for the 2001 Barolo on the strength of your favourable notes for the vintages either side and that '01 is generally rated a better year than either.
The fact that both prices are -?2 helps my decision making.

Did you buy, Malcolm? Will you be posting any TNs?

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Regards,
David Riach.

Bought the Cantemerle Allees today; the Barolo had sold out but the checkout asst. said they may be getting some more.

One to avoid- Sainsburys 'Taste the Difference' Barolo 2002, ?12.99

At a tasting last night 12 out of 13 people rated it the worst wine of the evening, dull and thin on character, very disappointing. (no faults detected, nose and appearance scored quite well).

Now, that's interesting, I tried it at a Sainsbury's tasting and loved it. Perhaps you had a duff bottle. Since I tasted the 2001 in May this year and you tasted 2002 in Sept, perhaps it would have been better in 6 months. Or it's a bad vintage. Still, Sains sold it as a 12.99 wine and clearly you all hated it. Don't suppose there's much left to return to the store.


TTD Barolo 2001 Sainsbury 12.99 Very pale brick/orange. Fabulous animal smell - lovely! Fresh acidity, fine tannins. Lovely, lovely taste.

10/05/2006 *

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mel

Mel- re TTD Barolo

The tasting was part of my WSET class and it was the tutor who took the lead in berating this particular wine. The cynic in me would say that for one or two of the students there was an element of ?follow the leader? for she knows better?. but I am not so easily lead, I was disappointed with the wine. I guess I expected more depth and concentration from the Barolo, if I had paid only ?5 for it I wouldn?t return to buy more. It did have a lovely nose, a very soft, warm medicinal smell with hints of dark-chocolate, the colour was closer to tawny than garnet.

Do you think a wine like this could experience a ?closed? period in the way good Bordeaux sometimes does?