Alan Carr Visits Chip Alley, Complains About Easter Eggs and Lee’s Wine Tasting Disaster

26:11Alan Carr:How many would you buy? 120 each time. Wow. And hypermache? Hypermache. Calais wine. And there used to be a Majestic over there as well. And Calais wine would pay for your crossing as well if you committed to buying wine. So you get a free day out too. Oh my God, that's the kind of day I would go on. Yes. Me too. But Brexit and COVID put a stop to all of that. So I find myself back in the UK going, oh, all the wine's a lot more expensive than I used to paint. So, but then you see one supermarket's got an offer on one week. The next week, someone's got an offer on. The week after that, someone else has got an offer on.

26:43So I just started to talk about that on Instagram, did a little wine exam, which was like a light bulb going off my head to sort of say, oh, I now understand this world a lot more than I used to. And just found that people were really interested to know what's an offer this week, what's an offer next week. You know what, I love you. You're like Martin Lewis.

26:59Alan Carr:Martin Lewis of wine. Martin Lewis for people like me, Alkis. Yeah. A drunk Martin Lewis. Yeah. Yes. but drink responsibly yeah always drink responsibly we've got Easter Easter bank holiday coming up what should people be putting in their Tesco trolley or Sainsbury's trolley or Little Trolley or Asda or farm food anyway I've got time for this there is something about the bank holiday where all the supermarkets think that the great British public is just going to go out there and get loads more wine and that's a good thing for us great thing but in terms of What you put in your trolley, I mean, anything that's on offer, anything that's got a bargain on it, particularly those...

27:40Anything that's got a bargain on it. Come on, love. If it's what you like. You know, the wine game is about buying what you like at the end of the day. So if you like something and if you want to drink Blue Nun, I don't want to drink Blue Nun, but if someone does, then they should buy that if it's an offer.

27:54Alan Carr:Would you judge someone if you saw someone with Blue Nun in the basket and a black tower and what is it, Lembrini? A little bit. A little bit. A little bit. A little bit. a little bit only because there's so much better out there there's so many other wines to enjoy there's so many great flavours and so it's just I would love people to just experiment a bit more than that if you're I think really anyone who just buys the same wine day in day out week in week out is just missing out on so much that's out there because also I guess with wines you don't have really ever have individual bottles reduced down do you but you have like multi-buy offers that's the main thing as long as you get a mix of six so you can get any six bottles and then you get the discount off all of that But the real trick is if you get the double discount.

28:38So my favorite, people say, you're the affordable wine hunter, you do six pounds wines, but sometimes, but what I'd rather say is, look at a bottle that's normally 10 or 11 pounds, in fact, like this one. It's then on offer down to like 8.25. They then do mix six on top of that. And suddenly you're getting this 11 pound bottle of wine for just over six quid. That's how to buy a six pound bottle of wine, not to go start from the bottom up and go, I'm going to get this one at six pounds.

29:03Alan Carr:Ah, because what I like to do is pretend to have a baby in a pram, little five-finger discount, push the pram out. You get it all free. Yeah, that's great advice. Martin Lewis would condone that. Even Martin Lewis is going, wow, what a saving. The Martin Lewis broad ball. A 100 % save. It's a different Martin Lewis. No, no. Oh, that's really good. That's really good. What is your, what's your go-to? What's your favourite wine? Well, I also want to know what's your favourite supermarket or is it like Sophie's Choice for you? You can't choose. It is a bit like Sophie's Choice. I think that they've all got some great wines in them.

29:45Some of them are better than the other ones, but they've all got some good ones to get in.

29:49Alan Carr:I guess, do the savings, you know, push you into different stores? So whichever store has the best saving. But how do you find them out? Are you just always going around supermarkets, nebbing at the savings? Quite often. I mean, certainly to start with, but now on. Nebbing around. Nebbing, what the name? Nebbing, like nebbing around. Is that a Grimsby phrase? Probably. Nebbing. You've heard nebbing. I haven't. I haven't heard nebbing. Because that's giving me like nebbing. Yeah, nebbing's like, oh, what are you nebbing at? You're nebbing, you're nosying. Noseying at the savings, you nebbing. So I do a lot of that, do a lot of nosying about, but I get to go to a lot of the supermarket press tasting.

30:25So I get to taste them all in advance and go whether I like them or don't like them. And then I kind of wait until they're on offer and that's when I start promoting people.

30:33Alan Carr:Because what we forget is when we go, oh, supermarket wine and all that, but they have a dedicated team. They have probably the best sommeliers they know. So in a way, it's a bit snobbery. Oh, supermarket wine. And now I don't want to put you on the spot, but who's got it right? Just name a supermarket that they've always, they always sink ahead. They, you know, is there anyone like, can you at least give us one that you like? I think it depends on price point. I'll spin it that way. If you're comfortable spending over£10 a bottle, then, you know, the likes of Waitrose. Your Waitrose customers are going to spend a little bit more and maybe your Sainsbury's taste of difference and all that.

31:10And if you're in the lower end, then your Aldis and your Littles are your better bet to go. They have some good wines in there at quite low prices.

31:16Alan Carr:Yes, Aldi. Aldi wins best wine. We did with Alex James from Lure. We did a Whispering Angel dupe taste test. And it was actually the Screaming Devil from Asda, as it was, that came out on top. Can I just get this off my chest with Tesco? He ain't going to slag off Tesco, is he? No, and it's fine, but you go to Tesco, this is£20. But if you've got a club card, it's 4p. Like, they are forcing you to get a club card, which I do have, but those club card discounts are massive sometimes. But at least you don't have to pay for a club card. No, you don't. But, you know, we've invited him on to talk about supermarket wine, let's not gripes.

31:57Alan Carr:There was a spillage, you know, in Lidl the other day. I was there for an hour. I was cleaning it up. How can you come on here? He's here to talk about why. He's not Mr. fucking Tesco. So what did you, because this is your full-time job now, but what did you do before this? I did a very big corporate job. I did lots of Excel and PowerPoint and other things like that. Okay, so you've really changed. I've really changed. This is just the last four or five years. just pursuing passion projects. Yeah. And wine is one of those. Well, that's like us, isn't it? We just love wine. We love wine. So listen, what's this then?

32:34Alan Carr:What are you going to teach us? Well, watching the past shows, I think you've learned a lot along the way. You've done many... Thanks for saying that. Thanks for lying. You've done mouthfeel. You've done length. You've learned lots of things. Gus. We can't wait for that episode. That might be another one. That's coming up. Bring it on. It's time for you. You've covered, one of the themes I do is lesser known grapes and regions are your friends. And I think you've learned about that because you've done some Romanian wine, you've done some Lebanese wines. Another theme I've got is the neighbours of the famous.

33:08So this is sort of levelling up a little bit for some of the basics you've done before.

33:11Alan Carr:Neighbours of the famous. So is this in terms of like regions? Because you know what? I'm the same with a rosé. If I see Provence, I go, oh yeah. And like Malbec, if it's Argentina or Chile, I got, oh, that. So if you want to save a bit of money, sometimes maybe just look to the left or the right of that place and you can still get the same thing. Well, you've teed that up very nicely. Thank you. So Provence Rosé, if you break it down, it comes from the south of France. We know where that is. Yeah. It's made from predominantly three grapes, Grenache, Syrah, and Sanso, and it comes from that area.

33:47So what's next door is Languedoc Roussillon, which is the bit between Montpellier and Spain, basically, still in the south of France, still the same climate, and they make their rosés out of the same three grapes a lot of the time, and that's exactly what we've got here. So you've got one just next door to Provence that's essentially the same kind of wine and is usually a few pounds cheaper.

34:08Alan Carr:Isn't it? So it's a bit like, you know, if you're in Brighton, Hove, you're paying for the postcode, you know? It is, isn't it? Like... Postcode lottery. Yeah, yeah. You'll get a lot better bars and clubs there than you might have been in Worthing, though, I don't know. Well, yes, exactly. But you're still getting the same experience. I got duped when I came down from Manchester. I lived in Manchester, Stretford. And then I moved to a house and went, oh, Crouch End Borders. And I felt like High Asimph Bouquet because I went to the bank, watch your postcode. I said, End and Crouch End Borders, Upper Holloway.

34:44Alan Carr:I'm like, excuse me. But I was told they sold it to me. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but it's a one-minute walk down the road and you'd be in Crouch End. If I did wine in Upper Holloway, it'd be the same as Crouch End Borders. But slightly cheaper. Exactly. I don't know why I started this story. Well, I'm hoping that this slightly cheaper has got better results than some of the other slightly cheaper stuff. What you're saying essentially is you're going to get pretty much the same tasting wine for... Same soil. Same soil, same climate, same way it's made. in many cases, like you said with this bijou, same grapes, but a different price point.

35:25Alan Carr:So rather than being sat in a cafe or a restaurant or bar, whatever, going, hmm, Coates de Provence, they might say, Coates, what is it? I started so well, Lee. I know, I thought, I'm on it, yeah. Oh my God, I'm...

35:45How do you say that? The Languedoc Roussillon. Now, quite often you have to look on the back rather than look on the front. Oh, OK. So the back of this will tell you... Coteau de Bezier. That's the Coteau de Bezier is an area within the Languedoc. But on the back, it'll say Languedoc. On the back, it'll say...

35:58Alan Carr:You've got a bit of an accent. You can say all these things. Are you bilingual? I've been to France over Calais. But I do get pulled up a lot. Calais on a booze cruise. I mean, he's not Michael Baylin. I'm sorry. You're so right.

36:17Alan Carr:Bonjour. Ten bottles of red, please. Silvu play. No, I'm not. No, you're quite right. But you have a lovely accent. But going to a hypermarché. The wine snobs do sometimes come after me and say, oh, you haven't pronounced that correctly. It's not about that. It's about this is the bottle. This is what it's called. This is how much it costs. And as I said, this one here,£11, you can pick it up for probably about£6.50 if you get those bargains right. Wow. Which is very good for us. It's so delicious. I mean, if you gave me that, I would just guess it was Cote de Bravante. It's got the colour, the nice paleness that I love.

36:54Alan Carr:No clack. No clack. Hate the clack. Hints of strawberry. Let's have a go. Strawberry. Yeah, it does. You can't taste strawberry. You can just taste wine, can't you? Wine. I'm getting wine. In a glass. Before we move on to this red, um what do you have like a secret hack where like do you need to know loads about wine or what's your kind of hack in terms of like because you might see loads of discounts but not know what the best one is like I don't want to if something is a bit cheaper because I've got this thing now and it's probably in my head if it's cheap I sometimes think hangover yep and I'm like god this is going to make me feel a bit like bad tomorrow so I would rather pay a little bit more you know avoiding that what's the hack where i can find you know what discount what discounts are the ones where you can still trust that i think what you're sorry this is what you're saying is what because we're the same it's buzzwords isn't it you're in you're after work you just look at that what is the buzzword that you look for on the back of the thing you go oh this i'm in safe hands yeah that's quite that's hard because it's about what you like so yeah you're So if you like red, say you like a red, what would you look at?

38:11Well, I think there's one hat for red is you can't go wrong with Cot de Ron. Now, the peddance will get in there because it's really the rhone, but that doesn't rhyme. So I would say you can't go wrong with Cot de Ron.

38:20Alan Carr:Can't do wrong with Cot de Ron. There's some great ones around between£5 and£6. There's some great ones around at£20, but you can never normally go wrong with that one on the reds. That's good to know. And it rhymes, so you can remember it. Just don't tell the lot to know people. We had a Cot de Ron last week with Tom Gilby, actually. he brought them in. He knows his stuff. It was the one where we preferred the three-year one, wasn't it? Oh, yes, yes. And there was another one that was 20. Oh, it stank like an Oxfam. So let's move on to... Let's move on to this red. So what's this? So the neighbour...

38:57Alan Carr:You know, where's this live next door to? Well, I know that you like Chateauneuf-du-Pape. I love Chateauneuf-du-Pape. This is a move, Andy. God, Andy Right Do you like a Chateauneuf de Peer? I do like a Chateauneuf de Peer I used to drink that back in the day and you used to think I was it I used to love But it's expensive It is It is Sometimes they have that on you know sometimes they're in the supermarket Club card offer I know I know I'm like that and I go this has been a mistake I know so get it while you can I know before they find out It's normally 20 quid 25 quid as they did one before Christmas for 10 They dropped it like that for a week Yeah.

39:36So I put that all over my Instagram.

39:40Alan Carr:I'm like a Pavlov dog, can't help it.

39:45Alan Carr:Auto glass repair. Auto glass replace. Nice. So, neighbour of Chateauneuf-du-Pap. Chateauneuf-du-Pap. What makes Chateauneuf-du-Pap? Again, you've got the grapes, okay, that go into it. There's a load of those, particularly around Syrah. Grenache is the main one. there can be up to 14 it's in the southern rhone this is delicious and uh it's so what is just across the rhone river is an area called lirac and it makes i've heard of this yeah and the other distinction of that area is that it has these large stones in the ground on the ground that warm up during the day they're about this big they're called galley roulet and they warm up and they retain heat and in the evening they then pass some of that heat back onto the grapes as well so So that helps keep the warm at night, which helps to concentrate the flavors of the season.

40:35So it's one of the things that makes Chateauneuf-du-Pape what it is. In Lirac, just across the river, they've got all this as well. It's just people don't really know about Lirac so much. So Chateauneuf-du-Pape, 20-25 pounds. Lirac, this one's from Majestic, 12 pounds.

40:49Alan Carr:And how far, in terms of minutes getting there, is it? How far away? To a Majestic, about 10, 10 where you live, really. It's one in most towns. It depends where the taxi goes for the route. From Chateauneuf to Pappes, I mean, how far is Lira? Well, the Rhone is about as wide as the Thames around there. So how fast you can get across the river. Just popping over. Popping over, yeah. Oh, my God. So find the nearest bridge. This is so brilliant, honestly. I know you heard of Lira. I've never heard of Lira, and I would just, I wouldn't take a chance on that. But this is really delicious. and so what would you say then is the best region that you can bank what would you go right you're in safe hands which wine though which colour why well the Rhone the Cote de Rhone which is the broader region around where these both come from as well actually is generically is quite good so you're always in safe hands with the red and the Rhone you're always pretty much in safe hands with the reds that are there yeah white is a harder game and white I find is so much more difficult is it subjective it is Some people really love Sauvignon Blanc.

41:57Some people hate it. Some people love Chardonnay. Other people hate it. So it's really hard to say which one's which. I mean, I actually like the ones in the middle. You've had a couple of Viognes on here, I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they don't necessarily come from a certain region. But if I was saying to someone, they go, what should we have for a party? I always say, avoid the Sauvignon Blancs, avoid the Chardonnays, because they're too divisive. They're a bit divisive, yeah. Get the things like the Viognes, which everybody loves. They're real crowd places. Pitbull's pretty much there as well.

42:22And so it's not so much a region. It's more the grape. I would say, and you can bank on something that's a crowd pleaser.

42:28Alan Carr:How can you tell, this is the thing though, how can you tell, you know, if this is a£6 bottle of wine with a discount, how do I know that that's going to be good still? Ultimately, you still don't. I mean, ultimately, there's no one way that's there's a little code in the bottom corner that says this is great, you like it. It's where you do have to sort of know what you like. Yes, I made this research in there. Know what you're familiar with and, yeah, or trust someone like me. I would say, well, there's lots of other people do what I do as well. But it's like, go with someone who you know their recommendations.

42:57You tend to have a similar palate to them. And if they say, oh, I like this one, I like that one, then just go along with that advice. It's easy. And is it a bit like food?

43:04Alan Carr:Is organic wines mostly usually more expensive because of the organicness? They can be a bit more expensive. It depends. There's a lot of, you know, organic. Is it natural? There's a lot of different phrases. Is it biodynamic that kick around in the wine world? And they get a bit more complicated. Not necessarily better, just different. and do you have a thing on your Instagram like where you alert people where you go listen currently if you want to go out and get this head over to Asda, Sainsbury's Tesco, whatever I just post it a couple two or three times a week depending on what's an offer and a few stories if I'm going around a supermarket I see just an absolute banger of a bargain it's like see I wish we got those instead of like earthquakes and stuff you know on your phone you get a love yeah much happier Oh, my God.

43:52Alan Carr:It's a Malbec half price little. Yeah, instead of like flood warning. Just note about half price. Yes, that's it. Internet will be down for half hour. Boring. So, listen, I know you must be bored shitless of answering this question. But, you know, why are, oh, God, this might be a boring question, But why are some wines in a discount and stuff? Is it just them giving it a little booze? Yeah, how do they decide it? I mean, that's a stupid question. I don't know. No, no. Like you said, sometimes, oh my God, bargain. And then, is it beyond our recognition or do they just fancy giving it? Sometimes they've got something that's on promotion that they've got on promotion.

44:41But other times, at certain times, particularly around Christmas, they just want to get you in the shop. They know if you come in to get a bottle of wine, and you're not going to just leave with that bottle of wine. You're probably going to leave with half a trolley full of stuff as well. Of course, yeah. So if they can get you in with this Chateauneuf-du-Pap's on at half price, which is an amazing deal, you're going to walk out with a lot more of that, especially around Christmas time. So before Christmas, you get a lot of those going. It's all marketing, isn't it? And they might be losing money on that bottle of wine.

45:03Because you know what they do. Which is our game, don't you?

45:05Alan Carr:You know, supermarkets, the milk, always the furthest away. Why? So you have to go through the stock to do it. So you have to go through and you pass that Chateauneuf-du-Pap. I always wondered why that was at the back. Always at the back. And they have fresh bread in the thing. Yeah, always at the back. Because if you're popping in for a loaf or milk, the essentials, nappies as well. You ever seen nappies at the front of the store? No, you haven't. And by the time you get to them, they've shit themselves. No one wants to see nappies. Oh my God, shat enough to pat. Shat, shat, shat. Shat enough to pat.

45:41Alan Carr:You're putting the shat in Chateauneuf to Pampers. Chateauneuf to Pampers. Chateauneuf to poop. Sorry, Andy, we are taking this seriously.

45:55Alan Carr:Oh, God. Oh. No. All right. So, actually, I think that is really interesting. So, okay, let's just... Poor old Andy. We are quizzing him. Let's just recap. If you look... Oh, can I just have a little bit more? Of course you can. So lovely. Honestly, you've opened my mouth. You've opened my mouth. So, if you love a Coates de Provence, which I think a lot of people do, it's very popular, isn't it? It's the big one to go for. And basically, a lot of people just say Pale Rose, you think Coates de Provence. If you want to go to Languedoc, is it? Languedoc. Languedoc. Languedoc. You will get pretty much the same taste for a quarter of the price, okay?

46:40Alan Carr:and perfect if you are having parties as well, if you're buying a load of wine. Yes. If you're buying quite a lot, that ends up saving you 20, 30 quid, doesn't it? Yeah, loads. And so for this one, Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Lyrac. Lyrac. Don't be scared to pop over the river, go to Lyrac to get a nice red. Remember that. Pop over the river, jump in the boat, jump in the canoe, off you go to Lyrac. However you want to get there. And you'll love the results. And that's just two of them. And then there's so many more you can do that with as well. What's your handle on Instagram? At affordable wine hunter.

47:14Alan Carr:Okay, perfect. Lots of bargains there. Oh, thank you so much. You've been a, oh my God, you've just blown my mind. It's amazing. Thank you. And you need to pitch that idea where you do like alerts that push through to your phone. Well, they're all my stories. I'd quite let them go, but I can't push them to you necessarily. You just have to keep checking Instagram. Maybe that's a new platform. But so many people spend the whole day doing this. Do you know what? Just take Alan's number and just send him the text directly. Give a couple of key wines. He'll pay you a monthly fee Yeah And if I'm in there And buying some nappies I'll pick up some wine With the chasseh Hope to poop Hopefully my canoes arrived If you've enjoyed this episode Why not join the Bottoms Up crew Follow us on Spotify and Apple And you'll have a brand new episode Dropped on your phone Every week Yeah, you don't want to miss an episode Please do give us a five star review as well It really, really helps us on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple.

48:09Alan Carr:And do get in touch. We love hearing from you at Bottoms Up Show for your questions, your queries, or your general dilemmas. And don't forget to drink responsibly. Go to drinkaware.co.uk for more info. Bombs Up with Alan Carr and Lee Peart is a Listen production. See you next week. And as ever, Bottoms Up. Bottoms Up.

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