Sweet sparkling Tokaji from Lidl

lidl-sparking-tokajiThe producer of this sparkling Tokaji wine from Hungary is Keurus Winery. It’s 11.5% alcohol, and £7.99 from Lidl. I thought it would be an interesting wine to try, and was sent a sample by Lidl.

Lidl call it a medium sweet wine, while on the label it says sweet. Either of those designations sounds about right to me, but note that it is certainly not really sweet enough for most desserts. The Lidl website suggests it would be good for drinking by itself, or a match for fruit salad, and I would agree. After an initial tasting glass, I drank mine with Indian food, and that worked pretty well too. A lamb biryani if you must know.

The bottle looks the part, but the cork seemed to be of some strange plastic and cork aggregate material that was difficult to get a good grip on to remove, something I don’t usually have a problem with. Hint: wrap the cork with a tea towel or similar before trying to turn it.

This is not a particularly sharp wine, and has aromas of apple and grapes, and towards the finish a honeyed note. The closest point of reference I could think of in terms of sweetness and aromatics was a sparkling Moscato, but this had substantially more alcohol and body.

I was perhaps hoping for a bit more geeky interest, and intensity and bite. But that is simply not the style. It is comfortable and easy drinking, and if you prefer sweeter styles of wine, and even Prosecco usually seems a bit on the dry side for you, this is a good option for your festive fizz. Overall, I give it ***