Wine with Meg + Mel

We Put Aldi’s $20 Wines Against $50+ Bottles. The Results Shocked Us.

• Mel Gilcrist, Meg Brodtmann • Season 4 • Episode 29

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We blind taste Aldi’s Blackstone Paddock against renowned Australian bottles and were absolutely shocked by what we found.

• Aldi wines + our end of year partnership
• Aldi Blackstone Paddock Tasmanian Pinot Gris ($19.99) tasted with a renowned Tasmanian Pinot Gris worth approx $40 - a beautiful alsatian style with savoury notes and oily texture.
• Aldi Blackstone Paddock Margaret River Chardonnay ($19.99) tasted with a great $70 Margaret River Chardonnay. It emerged as a modern, flinty style. Daring, aimed at wine nerds - impressive.
• Aldi Blackstone Paddock Tasmanian Pinot Noir ($19.99) beside two other Tassie Pinot Noirs ($40 and $50) - the Aldi stood tall in quality, delivering finesse.
• Aldi Blackstone Paddock Margaret River Cabernet ($19.99) structure, tannin, and cellaring advice
• Why Aldi’s team leans into authentic regional profiles
• Availability notes and state restrictions on liquor sales
• Teaser for next week’s interview with the Aldi wine buyer

Check out your local Aldi store and explore the Blackstone Paddock range

Follow us on instagram @winewithmegandmel


SPEAKER_01:

Hi and welcome to Wine with Meg and Mel. We're here to help you navigate the world of wine. I'm Mel Gilprist here with me, as always, is Master of Wine, Meg Brockman. Yes, I am. And Meg, there have been a few times where I have actually had to declare that Aldi was not paying us because you talk about Aldi wine so highly.

SPEAKER_00:

They are amazing. And as I've said in the past, they for me have almost become a benchmark wine. If you want to know what something tastes like.

SPEAKER_01:

They're very good.

SPEAKER_00:

We've said this often.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

They say what's in the bottle on the label.

SPEAKER_01:

Big time.

SPEAKER_00:

So they're they're representative. Their buyer, their winemakers, the people that they work with know exactly what a wine style should taste like. For me, as a winemaker, that is a mind-boggling skill.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh god, yeah. So clearly, Meg is a fan.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

And this time Aldi is paying us. So from now until Christmas, we are going to be tasting a bit of Aldi. I'm gonna tell you how proceedings kind of went. So we were in touch with a team who they said to us, our idea is that you you could do a blind tasting with Aldi against big, well-known names. And we were like, I I was hesitant. I was like, I said to them, look, I don't know if this is the best idea because I can't guarantee that we won't do something bad because we're and but but but we also pride ourselves on being transparent. And they didn't go, oh yeah, that's too high risk, let's leave it. They went, no, Aldi is behind these wines. They think they're really good quality. We stand by it, go blind taste them live. Like no one from Aldi is here. We've poured them ourselves, like I don't know what they are. I'm a little bit nervous. Um, but we are about to compare. It's a new range, isn't it? It's called Blackstone Paddock. It's Libined Release. They are$20. There are four varietals available, two whites, two reds.

SPEAKER_00:

That's a whole range of wines.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

We have three to get through and the competitor. So we're skipping the fun fact and stuff today, which Meg is very sad about. I am. I'm still at some point I'll be able to tell you about some regional differences. We have more to record today. Okay. So let's get into it. Meg, you have two Pinot Gris in front of you. Have a taste and tell me which one you think is Aldi. Are they from the same region? They're both from Tasmania. That's the other thing. So these are all regional wines. Okay, so the first thing that I've got, the first wine uh is yellow.

SPEAKER_00:

The second wine is has a pink blush to it. So I knew I was tasting agree. The first one has a lot of oily texture, and it's that real orchard wine, you know, that apple, orange blossom, pear, obviously no oak. Both they're both very good wines. The first wine, the yellow one. Yeah. First wine, it's much more about texture, has a bigger mouthfeel, has lots of blossom fruit. What I call orchard fruit, so apples and pears and orange blossom. The second wine, the pink blush-coloured wine, it feels like it's got higher acidity, but you're telling me they're both from Tasmania. It's um more linear, it doesn't have that oily texture about it. They're both really, really beautiful iterations of Pinot Gris. The first one, I would say, for me, is more of an Alsatian Pinot Gris in its texture.

SPEAKER_01:

And it's got a savouriness. It's not it's yeah. Yeah, it's not all just um fruit, is it? There's something mineral and savoury which is actually super yummy, which is almost not.

SPEAKER_00:

And the second one is more, even though it is pink, it's more that fresh um pear drop character with higher crisp acidity.

SPEAKER_01:

Mm. I find the first one more mid-palette and the second one a bit more shines at the end.

SPEAKER_00:

I think the second one, the pink one, carries through as a straight line, whereas I think you're right, this first one it more sort of fills out like that balloon in the mid-palette and then finishes as the balloon deflates, whereas the second one just is just this beautiful block of flavour and acidity. They're both really good. Shit, I don't know. Which is Aldi? I'm going to say just putting a commercial hat on it. Is it sold as grey or griggio?

SPEAKER_01:

Both are grey.

SPEAKER_00:

That the second one, the blush wine, is the Aldi wine. My reasoning, and it's purely commercial, is that it is that refreshing style, and the other one has more of the textured structure to it, and I just uh think that if you're shopping at Aldi, you may be shopping for fruit. I'm not the buyer, I don't know, so I've got it the wrong way around.

SPEAKER_01:

You got it wrong. Yep. Aldi is the first one.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow, that is impressive.

SPEAKER_01:

That is amazing. Okay, so the first one was the Aldi Blackstone Paddock Limited Release Pinot Gris. The second one was a brand worth 43. Aldi is$19.99, but both are amazing. I don't even like Pinot. I would never pick a Pinot Gris off a wine list. Either of those.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, if you're if you're in this lovely transitional uh weather that we're having at the moment where the nights are cool and you want to have that beautiful pork belly, go the Aldi because of that beautiful oily texture and that beautiful appley peary fruit. All I can think of is roast pork and the and food because it needs something to support the oily texture. It's pretty nice. I am definitely buying some of that.

SPEAKER_01:

It's actually really good, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00:

It's really good. You sound surprised.

SPEAKER_01:

I I think I came into this knowing that if Aldi were backing it, it was going to be good, but Jesus.

SPEAKER_00:

They are very different styles. And that's what's so that's for me is quite exciting that Aldi have chosen to go down that really textured European style.

SPEAKER_01:

I agree. I expected a um a more like bright, juicy. Well, that's why I chose the second one for Aldi. Yeah, so I guess this means this range is actually targeted at us. You guys listening.

SPEAKER_00:

This is a serious Pinot Grit. This is this could stand up to anything from Al Sass. And at that price, yeah, it certainly will. Well done.

SPEAKER_01:

Both of those are good. I'm drinking both of those this weekend.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm having that with Pinnacle.

SPEAKER_01:

Hopefully, there's some sun. Okay, second one.

SPEAKER_00:

So I'm going to rotate and rotate and rotate the glasses. So Mel won't know what glass. So we're going to both taste these. Mine, Mel, literally.

SPEAKER_01:

Have you have you got yours? If you're holding it now? Okay. Oh my god, that smells good. So this is Chardonnay. Um I love Chardonnay. We'll say that the wine we are tasting it against, they are exceptional at Margaret River Chardonnay, and this wine comes in at$72.

SPEAKER_00:

But it's a really good iteration of Margaret River to compare it to. You don't want to be comparing it to something that's completely different in style.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so we want it to be comparable, but look, price is really different in this one. So I guess it price, Meg, with um sh uh Chardonnay should actually be a factor, right? Because oak goes into Chardonnay. Yes. So in theory, a more expensive Chardonnay has used newer, better oak in theory.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, yes. Fruit prices, obviously. You would expect at this level if uh around about 30% new oak. That's sort of the rule of thumb for most high quality Chardonnays. Too much and you're in that butterball territory, that really toasty oak. So what I'm looking for is to tell the difference is that that whole balance, length, intensity, complexity. I I want to see some oak, um, maybe some flinty sulfide character in them. Um, but I want to see how long the wine lasts in my palate.

SPEAKER_01:

So far, the first one we're tasting has a bit more oak presence.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. Which, me personally, I love oak. Second wine has got some of that sulfide-y character. So sulfide is a little bit of reduction, a little bit of flintiness. I like that. It's more that style of Margaret River that you think that you were we did an episode a while ago that it turns out that they're not moving towards. It if I was gonna I would say that the first wine is the Eldy one and based on what? Based on more overt oak in the first Chardonnay. It still has that lovely grapefruit character that I want to see in Margaret River. It has a really nice line of acidity, which I want to see in Margaret River, even though it's fairly moderate to climate.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I like the oak in the first one, but I like the grapefruit finish, mineral grapefruity in the second one.

SPEAKER_00:

The second one has more of that solids ferment, so a little bit of a higher um solids in the ferment character, that that minerality, a little bit of sulfide struct match character, and a finer, it's more of a straight line. Whereas the are they both the same vintage?

SPEAKER_01:

24, 24, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I just the the first the Audi one, which I now know, is your more traditional Margaret Ru Margaret River style.

SPEAKER_01:

We don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I'm sh I don't know. No, I don't.

SPEAKER_01:

Like so that's more the first one. Was that on the left or the right?

SPEAKER_00:

That's the left.

SPEAKER_01:

That's the$70 wine.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh wow, okay. Then oh my god, they've gone down the Flinty Road. The Solidzy Road. What? Wow. Yeah, the f I gave them as you poured them. I didn't I was tricky.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I didn't swap them up. Okay, well that's wowie. I would have thought, again, the same with the Pinot Gris, they've gone for the more modern iteration of Margaret River.

SPEAKER_01:

They are so compar like those wines you would easily put side by side and say they're both great. Like you wouldn't automatically pick one and be like one's better than the other.

SPEAKER_00:

Eldie have almost said we're gonna go down that more reductive style, which is that much more polarizing style. You're the one who said that Margaret Rivers, no, it's changing and it's you know.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, and that's what that is. Aldi's done something interesting and daring, which is so unexpected.

SPEAKER_00:

It's more, as you say, that sort of Yarra-y style. Yeah.

unknown:

Look at us.

SPEAKER_00:

This is so cool. Like, I'm completely wrong on two counts. And because I'm going for the more adventurous, wow, they're both really great wines. Um, again, food-wise.

SPEAKER_01:

I wonder if we'll codin on though, now that we know what they're doing, now that we understand they're going against what like the consumer style that you expect.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, but the thing is with the Fray and Jules Riesling, the Fray and Jules Riesling is exactly what I expect from Clear Valley. Do you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01:

That's why I'm a bit No, but yeah, exactly though, like they're they're a bit more daring, they're cutting edge.

SPEAKER_00:

So buying that Chardonnay this weekend and taking it home to my husband and saying, Who made this?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. Wow, that is fun. Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Is there more? Yeah, there's more. So we have reds now. We are doing three Tasmanian Pinot Noirs. One is the Aldi Black Stone Paddock, that is$20. Then we have one that is$50, and we have one that is$48 to renowned Tasmanian producers who we both respect. So, what was the price of the Aldi wine? This is bald. Okay, so the first one, you don't know, neither of us know. We're we're we're blind. We're tasting blind. Yeah, we're spitting.

SPEAKER_00:

We are we're spitting, we've got our spittoons.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. Bright fruit. But stems. Stems. Yeah, a bit grippy, phenolic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Carbonic maceration.

SPEAKER_01:

Alright, that's number one. Uh so am I just left? Alright.

SPEAKER_00:

Darker colour on this second one.

SPEAKER_01:

Way more the nose is. Didn't they? And they're both.

SPEAKER_00:

They're all from Tessie.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, all from Tessie. First one is more like fresh and fragrant. Second one's more.

SPEAKER_00:

Second one's really perfect. Perfect. Cranberry. Cranberry, yeah. That red clinkers smell.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Did you go and eat red clinkers? I haven't yet.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, but there's a bit of savouriness in the second one as well. Same age? Yes. So they're young, fresh. Alright. The second one that we're tasting, definitely darker in colour, more brooding fruit, more um dark cherry character, um, really smashed up strawberries rather than fresh out of the punnet strawberries. A little bit of um it's like a violet floral character.

SPEAKER_01:

That second one. Okay, so the first one it was super structural. I was like, this is a food wine, this is one that's gonna age. I can feel the tannin, I can almost feel the layers in my mouth. The second one was seamlessness and ease. It it's it's lovely in your mouth. It's it's a lovely experience.

SPEAKER_00:

It's my choice for my Peking duck pancakes. It is a delicious wine. It's it's easy, it's lovely. And then the last one. Do you remember when we did the the Tassie versus Mornington versus Yara Pinot? Did you say that Tassie for you was more savoury?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh but I didn't think it at first until we went to Mornington. And then I looked back on it and went, all of a sudden, Tassie looks savory. Oh, that's well, three very different wines. Oh wow. Oh, it's very clean. That's very um It's ethereal. It's ethereal.

SPEAKER_00:

My guess is, and I think the darker wine is the and the more plush deep red fruit Pinot is Aldi. Completely wrong.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow, the second one is Aldi.

SPEAKER_00:

And I have to say that was my favourite. And I'm not being wanky here. Like I do sound like a sucking up the bum of Aldi, but seriously, that was my favourite wine. This is a mind-blowing episode.

SPEAKER_01:

They are three really, really, really good Pinot Noirs, aren't they? Oh my gosh. And and I love Can you just tell me the price difference? These wines are so this whole range for Aldi is$19.99. The known wines are$48.50.

SPEAKER_00:

So all very impressive. Three completely different styles of wine.

SPEAKER_01:

But interestingly, they are all giving Tasmania. Yes. But they express it slightly differently. Yes. Yes. Like they all have different expressions of Tasmania art, which is really cool. And this is what we have always said about Aldi is that Aldi does a really good job of reflecting the region.

SPEAKER_00:

Yummy wines. All good.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Got Australian Pinot's good. Don't fuck around and find out with Burgundy. Just seriously go to Australia and to the regions in Australia. Al Pinot is so.

SPEAKER_01:

Al Pinot is so good.

SPEAKER_00:

All of those are amazingly good wines.

SPEAKER_01:

Excellent. Okay, this is really cool. Now, we don't have a competitor for the cab salve, so we're just gonna treat ourselves and try it for fun. Um, Meg, why don't you tell us while I'm pouring what you would expect from a cab salve from Margaret River?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh so Margaret River moderate climate, so moderate acidity, um, decent hang time on the vine because it's um it's fairly constant unless they've got any rain, which they don't tend to have. Um lighter colour usually than say uh cunawara. I expect less purple, I accept more of that sort of ruby kind of spectrum. Tannins are I'm gonna sound like a wanker here. Bordeaux. Oh, what's new? Bordeaux. They there's there's a there's a graphite lead pencil structure to the the tannins, or it's not from oak, it's actually from the cabernet, whereas cunawara is much more chunkier. You know, we talk about the Lego blocks. Cunawara is more chunky for me. Um the thing I love about Margaret River Cabernets is that tannin structure.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

The fruit, I get some black currant, but often more I get blackcurrant leaf in other regions, so it's a little bit cooler. I get more of um blackberry, black currant, sometimes some blueberry. Blueberry muffin is often a descriptor, you know, the smell of blueberry muffin? It smells like blueberry muffin. Not blueberries, but blueberry muffins. Specifically blueberry muffin. It is it is a weird thing. There's a terrible bakery in my shopping centre that you walk past and it has these muffins. I mean, muffins are the most overrated things ever. But anyway, and that when they're baking the blueberry muffins, I can smell it, and I just think, oh, it smells like Margaret River Cabernet. Does. Nice oak in there. There's a actually a little hint of bay leaf, which I don't really associate with Margaret River.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I would associate that more with the Yarrow Valley. What year is it?

SPEAKER_01:

23.

SPEAKER_00:

It's a baby. I love cabinet. I would almost say this is one to put into your cellar. It's just a little bit of a baby. Or go out and buy yourself some seriously nice steak. Because you need some protein with this one.

SPEAKER_01:

Give it a can. Did you just tell people to go buy algae wine to sell her?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, yeah. I mean, get the tannins in check.

SPEAKER_01:

It just is gonna be wine mind-blowing for people though, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Like this is why you know there are very few cabernets, unless you're talking at the$10 mark, that don't benefit from a little bit of settle down. And I think that this I just think that all the flavors there, the oak's there, it's all well constructed. I just think the tannins are still a little bit blocky and they need to sort of develop into that lovely dusty tannin that I associate with Margaret Rivera. And I think time decanting may do it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, it is under screw cap. But yeah, if you're gonna buy it, decant it, it needs a steak. Get yourself a good chunk of ribeye like I did last weekend. Send your husband out to barbecue it because then you don't have to talk to him for half an hour.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow, next we should start a relationship podcast.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, you told me I should start a parenting podcast. I'm not quite sure why. I I do think my children are pretty cool, but I'm not sure that they would agree that I was the best parent that ever walked the planet.

SPEAKER_01:

I think you are a pretty cool parent, personally. Although I I only hear it from your point of view, so maybe one day I'll interview your children. Okay, look. Um what is our takeaway from this episode?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh god, Australia's making some bloody good wines. Yeah, aren't they? Um and I am impressed by the adventurousness of our the Cabernet's a little bit more traditional.

SPEAKER_01:

It is, the green.

SPEAKER_00:

The Chardonnay, they've gone down the more minerally flinty style, which I love.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

The Gris, more of an Alsatian style, the Pinot, well, because Pinot's such a difficult variety, and we had three iterations of Tassie, and I'll be honest, I'm not all over Tassie. Like I'm not I'm not really in the weeds with what happens in Tasmania, but um based on our little tasting a couple of weeks ago where we talked about that regionality of Tasmania, the Blackstone represented what we kind of our conclusion from the episode.

SPEAKER_01:

But they are all, you know, seriously good wines. I think it is definitely notable that Albi wines held their own against some of the top names in wine in Australia.

SPEAKER_00:

It's quite scary, to be fair. I just think, oh my god. Um done. It it it all comes back to their their team and knowing what they want to represent in the bottle for what's on the label. And I think that that's and it's great to see them actually promoting Australia like Tassie.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. You know, in Aldi. Like actual regions and yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, but Tassie, I don't think it's on many people's radar for Pinot.

SPEAKER_01:

Now, um I do need to disappoint our South Australia and Queenslandlessness because those stores from Aldi do not sell liquor. So you're all gonna have to book a holiday. Wow. Yeah. But everyone else in Australia, check out your local Aldi store. You will have a range of Aldi wine that you can explore. I do have to say, from what we've tasted, this Blackstone paddock range is different, I think. Everything we've had before from Aldi has been a good example of the region that it comes from. Almost it just a textbook. This is the first range I've ever seen from Aldi that has stretched a bit.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I agree.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um it's serious wine people's wine.

SPEAKER_01:

It is, it's wine people's wine. Wow. Okay. Next week, um, we're gonna do something really cool. And we are going to actually speak to the man who is in charge of sourcing these wines.

SPEAKER_00:

Jason Bauer.

SPEAKER_01:

So it's like you think of it. He's like a normal human being, but he's kind of got superhuman skills. Sometimes you think of um something like Aldi and you think of it as like a corporation.

SPEAKER_00:

It's it's funny to think like there's a person that is No, look, this guy goes round to wineries and stands in tasting rooms and says to you, No, this is what I need to achieve. That is at this price point. I want you to can you do this? He's not sitting in a desk. Wow, like just deciding he's he's out there in wineries.

SPEAKER_01:

It is very, very cool. So we are gonna meet the man who makes this happen. And what we are going to do, Meg, between now and then is I have about eight boxes of Aldi wines sitting in my house. And we are going to divide them. And when we meet Jason, we are going to say we tasted, look, we have tasted almost every wine at Aldi. Bye, but it surely there can't be that many more wines. Like the amount of wine that we've got to do. No, because I saw the list and I just went, holy shit. Between us, we are going to taste every wine at Aldi. We are going to sit down with Jason and say these are our top picks. We'll pick a few each and we will get him to tell us how he does it, how he does it. So we will be back with you with that next week. But until then, enjoy your next glass of wine. Drink well.

Head Shot

Meg Brodtmann MW

Co-host
Head Shot

Mel Gilcrist

Co-host