Welcome to MidWeek Wines Guild
Newsletter No 1
This is a taster edition - for us to test out our first attempt at publishing on Substack, and for you to get an idea of what we are about!
Podcasts
A future Newsletter will list our favourite wine related podcasts. But here, as a preview, is one of them.
“Janina Doyle’s podcast brings the joys of wine to wherever you are in the world. This is the place for fun, casual wine conversations, with tips, wine facts and wine …”
Ep 238: How to Fall in Love with Porto & the Douro.
I particularly recommend this episode. I have visited Porto several times, and her insights and the places to visit were fantastic. If you are a wine enthusiast, and contemplating a trip to Porto, I suggest this is essential listening!
Great Places for Lunch - unknown to most!
Catering College restaurants are great places for lunch, or in this case, dinner. In a later Newsletter I will be covering Catering Colleges in more detail.
We have been to their restaurant many times for lunch, but we thought we’d try this evening event.
The menu was ….
Enotria provide the wines to the college, and for this event their representative, Christine Rethman, gave a short commentary on the 4 wines served.
(Note: in September 2025, Enotria & Coe was acquired by Majestic)
The second wine, 2024 Anima Umbra Grechetto, was particularly interesting. I was not familiar with the Grechetto grape - which had a beautiful salinity. Will investigate further!
A large wall screen shows the action in the kitchen. And there is no lack of service by the eager students.
Note that the event was £35 per person, including the 4 wines served, 3 types of bread to start, and coffee at the end! So not only great value, but one is also supporting the college in enabling practical experience.
Trade & Media Tastings
Guild members attend many tastings, including the twice yearly supermarket events. This gives us an early opportunity to spot great value bottles, and to talk to Buyers about emerging trends or wine areas. We will be reporting highlights of these events.
We are aware that determining “Great Value” is not straight forward, certainly for supermarkets wines.
We all know that most of the supermarkets regularly have offers such as 25% off if you buy 6. This WILL happen. So I have coined the term “deferred price”. This means that a wine normally selling for £10 will almost certainly be available at £7.50 within a few months. So unless you have to “distress buy”, e.g. you need a particular style wine for the weekend dinner with the in-laws, you should note the wine, and buy at the “deferred price” when reduced.
Most of the supermarkets always have a selection of individual wines on offer. Some, not all, may layer any 25% deals on top of these reductions. Happy days! This “double dipping” affords great deals for the canny wine buyers. Our Newsletter, or or readers, in the comments, can alert such deals.
Lidl and Aldi rarely (never?) have blanket 25% offers, but often have a featured wine(s) reduced, sometimes drastically!
Feature Articles
We will be producing articles on a wide selection of wine related topics.
For example Paul will be releasing one on Tannins - what are they, from where they come, the types and how they affect the wine.
Here’s an extract …
“Some grapes are naturally higher in tannins. Thick skinned grapes tend to have more tannins.
Photo by Mauro Lima on Unsplash
Tannat probably has the most tannins, then Cabernet Sauvignon, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Malbec, Tempranillo etc.Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.
Thinner skinned grapes like Pinot Noir and Gamay have less tannins.
In wine tasting, tannins are categorized by their source, grape-derived or oak-derived— and described by their texture and feel. E.g. silky, velvety, grippy or powdery. Or make up your own descriptions that work for you!
Wines in the Press
Guild Member Richard picks from the press …
Charlotte Kristensen, Saturday Mail, lists her 4 best Languedoc red wines for under £10. Commendably, all are under 14%. The St Chinian from the Co-op, caught my fancy.
Jane MacQuitty, in the Saturday Times, covered supermarket branded wines, and their rise in popularity. Recommendations included: The 2023 Exceptional by Asda, Central Otago Pinot Noir, which is well known and liked by MidWeek Wine subscribers; M&S 2024 Loved and Found Braucol, a grape new to to me, but I enjoyed, just last week; 2023 Debat Royal Côtes du Rhône, just £5.85 at Morrisons - I have tasted this 80% Grenache 20% Syrah wine, and thought it would make an excellent house red.
Tim Atkin, MW, in his weekly Friday newsletter, recommended another long time MidWeek Wine favourite, the Corte Alle Mura Chianti Riserva, £6.99 from Lidl for the 2021 vintage. I have previously noticed some vintage variations. And I did leave one bottle on my racks for too long, so don’t think these are for cellaring. Note that Lidl often have multiple vintages on their shelves, so I would go for the 2021s over the 2020s. But good to see the 2021 seems spot on for current consumption.
And Guild Member Paul’s picks …
David Williams in the Observer Sunday 9th November 2025 went big on the Carignan grape.
Two choices from Majestic caught my eye, both, unusually, from Alain Grignon in the SW of France.
Vielles Vignes 2024 red wine £9.75 and Grande Réserve Carignan Pay d’Oc £16, which I also rated highly in a recent Majestic tasting. (But note the ABVs, 13% & 14.5% respectively, as an indicator of styles).
One other highlight in his article was a Wine Society favourite of mine, which is good value. Chilean Undurraga Cauquenes Estate Carignan, Maule valley. 14.5% ABV £10.95
So … that’s an introduction to the MidWeek Wines Guild Newsletters. We will be publishing, free to all, every Thursday, starting in January 2026. In the meantime will continue to look at he features of Substack.
Feel free, even at this early stage, to subscribe or leave a comment.
In the meantime Stay curious, keep swirling and cheers!
In the UK, Morrisons have a 25% off Buy 6 offer - running until 18th November. But note that this must be MULTIPLES of 6. E.g. if you buy 7 (eligible) bottles, only 6 get the discount! Which 6, who knows?
Nice selection Paul. I picked that AG Carignan too serve at my son's wedding breakfast, still a favourite of mine, the reserve is pretty decent as well