I'm DONE - Aldi Advent Calendar - or 24 Days of Cheap Wine

Aldi, the discount grocery store chain that also owns Trader Joe’s, put together an “Advent Calendar” for adults. It’s a case of 24 small bottles of wine (187ml), a variety of reds and whites from all over the world. They started selling them locally on Nov. 7 at 9:00 AM. By 8:58 they were all gone.

There were a few news stories about it, and my wife convinced me to go get us one. There is an Aldi just 2-3 blocks from our house, so I walked over. She said they would sell out immediately, as each store only got a few. So I made sure I was there before 9:00 to be there when the store opened.

I got there early, and the store had opened early. I went in and started looking for the “calendars,” and soon realized everyone else was scurrying around looking for them as well. Well, they had them at the checkout, and you had to get a number, like it was a golden certificate. Three or four people had gotten theirs, and then the rest of us figured out how it worked. A line formed, and we had to wait for them to purchase theirs first. I was first in the new line, and maybe only another 3-4 were able to buy one - they had that few in the store, and you could only buy one. We were joking in line about everyone swarming over a box of cheap-ass wines. But, hey, what Christmas without drinking a lot of cheap liquor.



As I said, the “calendar” is actually a case of small bottles, 24 187ml bottles, that I then lugged a half mile back home.



The top of the box has a number for each day, and you punch-out the tab and pull-out the bottle. Note to Aldi for next year - those tabs do NOT want to come off easily.



It’s easier to slice open one side of the box and go straight for the bottles.

Today being December 1, is Day-1. I’ll post TNs. Temper your excitement. My expectations aren’t very high.

You should get some Lunchmate to go with the wine, sort of their version of charcuterie

I also got their cheese calendar. Not sure if they are aligned to pair or not.

That has win written all over it!

Do you have a disgusting “thunder bucket” in case you need to dump some of the wines?

Day-1 Prosecco
Italy
11%
Part of the “Festive Collection”

First thoughts were that this wine is VERY fizzy, wants to explode in your mouth. Otherwise, crisp and dry. Very much on the pectin side, lots of pear flavor. Light, straw color. Towards the end, it began to get a bit yeasty.

Not bad; it’s drinkable. I wouldn’t race over to buy more of it. That said, I would have thought the bottles would be of wines they sell, or labeled that way - so if I liked this, which Prosecco there is this one?

Is there a similar calendar for a box of fresh but aging chicken, as wine pairing?

“Aging chicken”? Like steak?

Kind of a cool idea if someone could put decent wine in one. How much did it cost?

Paul, what kind of closure is that? Did it twist off?

I look forward to the daily review. I am surprised they don’t make a ton of them. I could see a large population of wine drinkers who would love this. As mentioned above it would be cool to see this with better wines. I could see something from Washington State that offers some good, not great producers at a reasonable price.

Robert, it cost about $70.

Craig, it was a giant plastic twist off. I’ve seen these on other lesser priced sparklers. I putzed with it for a bit expecting a pop. In the end it just twisted off with little fanfare.

I find the idea of a box like this kind of fascinating as well. I’ve seen online a couple of other versions of a wine calendar. What I’ve seen more of are calendars with whiskey. $70 is more than this thing is worth. Some of the whiskey ones can get really expensive. I’ll try to find the website for one of the others.

Day-2 Cabernet Sauvignon
from South Australia
Non Vintage, 13.5%

Not much aroma, nothing much on the nose. First taste I was kinda, “Hmmm…” but it did begin to smooth out some. Black fruits, some smoke and tar, with a touch of cinnamon, and a little vanilla. Had a meaty profile. Thought to myself that this might make a nice marinade wine. It slowly got better to the point of an ok wine at the hotel bar, or at a business reception.

Here is one place I was thinking of:

They got quite a bit of press last year, but they are based in the UK.

Some others:

I’ve seen some other wine ones that come in tubes. I’m betting some of these outfits are buying bottles of wine/whiskey/etc. and then pouring them into small bottles. Just a guess. Just google for “liquor advent calendars” or something similar and you’ll get a lot of hits.

Thought to myself that this might make a nice marinade wine.

That’s awesome!

I just read that whole tasting note to my wife. The hotel bar and business reception – perfect and classic. Thanks for taking one (or 24?) for the team.

paul,

with reference to the no.1 berserker thread of all times, please add some pics of your wine adventures !

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=107484

i’ve been following this site for a looong time and love it; this beeing my first post, TNs are to follow !

matthias

Day-3 Chardonnay
Australia
13%

Golden color. Somewhat floral aroma. Toasty. Medium/full body, soft, a little creamy, a little waxy. Not much else. Got to be honest - this just tasted like hot Chard. I’m not a big Chard drinker to begin with (somewhat ABC), and this just reminded me of why I don’t drink much Chard.

No ripe tropical fruit with bursts of melon and peach? Damn it! False advertising…