Montepulciano d’Abruzzo - Lidl

An inexpensive juicy, glugging Italian red from Lidl

Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, 2018

On a visit up to my parents', I took Dad on a boys' trip to buy wine; we drove to the nearest Lidl, put on our masks and headed for the wine aisle to fill up the trolley with wines from Richard Bampfield's latest New World Wine Tour.

"How about one of these?", I asked, pointing to an Italian red. "Ooh, I like Montepulciano d'Abruzzo," said Dad, "Get a couple."

It's not a wine or a region I know well, but Dad explained that it was his regular lunchtime red on trips to Media City.

It gets 86 points for less than a fiver, so why not? And Lidl's Abruzzo white, the Botte de Conti Pecorino, has become something of a staple in our household.

So in they went - plus one extra for me.

I'm now rather wishing I'd bought a few more, but that's the nature of Lidl's WIGIG approach.

Montepulciano d’Abruzzo (£4.29, Lidl) fresh, juicy red and black cherries; spice and savouriness with some sour-cherry rasp.

Faultless and thoroughly enjoyable.

Match with salami, beefy pasta dishes or griddled vegetables.