ASDA Liebfraumilch Pfalz Qualitätswein

After having tasted some of the best Germany has to offer this month, the Wine Rambler now jumps right back into the range of the cheapest German supermarket wine available in the UK. Today it is the dreaded Liebfraumilch wine again, this time 'selected by ASDA', the UK arm of retail giant Walmart. As all good and ethical shoppers know, ASDA is evil. However, we do still seem to go there because the temptation of the Cheap is strong. In a way, this wine is very similar: like evil, once you have tasted some, you find it hard to stop.

The colour is a little pale, but by no means bad compared to other cheap whites, and in fact even compared to some more expensive products. The nose, well, there is not much going on here. I did a Gary Vaynerchuk-stile sniffy sniff. And another one. And one more for the fans. The Liebfraumilch smells of, ahm, fruity, bland wine - and if you inhale really hard, you can imagine a hint of tropical fruit and a vague mineral creaminess; perhaps some rotten plum somewhere in there. In the mouth the Liebfraumilch is very similar. Maybe a little lychee, a small dosage of acid that gives it a, mildly, tingly finish with even a hint of smoothness. A little spicy and also sweet - not a bad mix, mind you. Still, not much character or anything.

Let me be clear: this is not a good wine at all (and how could it for £2.78!) and you cannot help to think the world were a better place if it would not exist. Having said that, off all the really cheap wines I have tasted for this blog so far it is the best, on virtue of not being offensive. You barely notice that you drink it, but the hunger for real wine and the sweetness subconsciously make you go for another sip. Like very efficient evil, once you have tasted some, you find it hard to stop because you do not notice its corruption working its way through your body and mind. In that sense it seems a wine fitting for ASDA.

If you look for a really cheap wine to down very fast and if you think sweetness is going to help that process, by all means go for the ASDA Liebfraumilch. But don't say I haven't warned you of the dark side. And now I fear I will have to open another bottle of wine in order not to feel tempted to go for another sip.

Update: Tasting the wine again on the second day bitter notes get much stronger and spoil the sweet/spicy effect mentioned above. Not pleasant at all. It appears the Liebfraumilch really needs to be drunk fast...