Aldi has always had the occasional wine gem and last week I stumbled on their white Pinot Noir from Oregon. It was a bit more expensive than their usual wines (£12.50) but that's still about half the price of most wines from Oregon in the UK, and there aren't many of those. So I snapped this one up and it didn't disappoint.

We had a great meal at New College Oxford with our son who is studying there. It reminded me of the meals at Emmanuel College. We had a crabcake salad, then lamb on the bone, and lots of good wine. When I waa studying, which was more than 40 years ago, the wine would be served from the college cellars. Nowadays, this seems to be reserved fkr top table only.

This Sicilian wine is a blend of Frappato grapes, a local varietal, and the classic Syrah. The wine has flavours of cherry with subtle notes of liquorice, cedar and thyme. Quite a successful experiment. The wine packaging is also innovative with the label printed on a white paper wrap rather than the usual adhesive rectangle.