If you fancy doing the same – combining cake and wine that is, not behaving badly in a tearoom – then here’s your chance! Enter English Mum’s Baked With Love Bakeoff and the winner gets pink fizz. I’ve heard that the judge is open to bribes and that my her favourite cake is coffee & walnut. All details over at Becky’s, closing date is the 14th Feb.
Current white in the fridge: Asda Chilean Chardonnay 2011, £3.98, Asda
A friend told me that the children’s clothes in Asda were really very good – basically Boden-a-like at a fraction of the cost – so off I went to stock up on jeans, tracksuit bottoms and long-sleeved tees for the boys, hair clips and tights for the no-longer-a-baby-she’s-nearly-three girl. Mission accomplished, I picked up a bottle of this Chilean Chardonnay mostly because I liked the groovy camper-van label (turns out it’s a cable car) and wasn’t in the mood for surprises (Chilean Chardonnay is usually a safe bet). This was just right; bright and fresh with a flash of tropical fruit. Not a game-changer, but sometimes simple is good. My mum loved it, and she ‘doesn’t like Chardonnay’, apparently.
Current red on the side: Asda Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2010, £3.68, Asda
This was the red I went for, mostly because it was so flipping cheap and I needed some wine to stick in a slow-cooked beef stew. Turns out it was actually rather lovely, with black cherry fruit and a sprinkle of spice. Made from the Montepulciano grape from the central Italian Abruzzo region (as the name suggests), this is warm, friendly and not at all serious. We finished the bottle with some Sunday night telly and a plate of cheese and crackers. Living the dream (not joking).
Chin chin x
Ooooh, ooooh, am looking for inexpensive wines to sell on at a massive profit at the school quiz night in a couple of weeks' time…. have I come to the right place?!?!?! Were these on special? Should I drop everything and dash to the nearest Asda (and I'm not even sure where that is…)?
Liz – these weren't on offer so really unbelievable value at under £4. For things like this where you are serving wine to a crowd it is best to stick with something simple and fruity rather than searingly crisp (white) or oaky (red). You can't please all of the people but this should please most. I usually go for Chilean or Australian own label when providing for a crowd, but these two Asda wines would be perfect too. Just seen Isla Negra is on offer on Tesco.com too, at £4.74/bottle, these are great crowd-pleasers. Good luck, hope you have a fab night!
This is so helpful, I really appreciate this! Thanks so much.
You're judging?! Where do I post the cake too….?!
I know! I think I qualify to be a judge on grounds that I'm greedy and love cake. Definitely not on technical grounds. Fact that I come with free booze might have swung it too.