Tesco Pinot Grigio Lenoti from £7.99 to £3.99

A couple of days ago I went to the local Tesco and walking across the aisles I noticed plenty of people buying cases of one of the wines on offer. I got closer and seen that the wine was a Pinot Grigio reduced from £7.99 to £3.99. I don't buy wines from supermarkets but because all those people were buying it, I thought of getting a bottle to see whether it was a real bargain. I read the label and immediately noticed that it was bottled by Martini, the same people making the Martini Vermouth, and did not have any vintage on it. This particular made me very suspicious.

A wine such as the Pinot Grigio, without vintage, is very unusual, if not rare, and the only reason I could think of, was that the wine was not a recent vintage or maybe a blend of different vintages together that had not been sold and needed to make room for the new 2009 vintage. Nevertheless, even if I would have never bought such a wine, I decided to go for it. Bought the bottle, took it home and here we were, me and my bottle of Tesco's £7.99 reduced to £3.99 Pinot Grigio Lenoti.

I was excited, I could not wait any longer. I opened the bottle, the temperature was right for the tasting, to appreciate the aromas and flavours of a white wine it needs to be tasted at a warmer temperature, not straight off the fridge. Poured the wine in the glass and started. The colour was what I was expecting, however, the wine had a very feeble nose with some fruit but not much left and did not stay in the glass for long; in the mouth, there was no life left, it had no acidity and no flavour, it was definitely not a 2008 vintage, it possibly was an older vintage poorly made. After the first sip, I threw the rest of the bottle in the sink, I did not even think of using it for cooking. As someone once told me to describe a wine he had drunk, it was not even good for my dog.

Was this a bargain? Certainly no. Nobody expects to buy a great bottle of wine for £3.99 and we all know that most of the time, when we see big discounts on wine, we are being ripped off, still, a lot of people were buying cases simply because it once was a £7.99 Pinot Grigio. I had never seen this wine before so I am not too sure where they had it for that price, but even if Tesco had the wine at £7.99 for 28 days as prescribed by law and then reduced the price, it was still ripping its customers off because the wine is not even worth £3.99.