La Mascota Malbec 2012 (Argentina)

Nose:  Dominant oakiness with a hint of fruit

Taste:  A bit sweeter than the nose would suggest, reasonably full-bodied and velvety.

Finish:  Quite powerful tannins at first - this got better as we kept drinking.

What we say:  S - 'Pencil crayon!'  S - 'What's that taste?  It's almost smooth - chocolatey.  Caramel?  We've had it before'  V - 'The tannins are almost a little bit tongue-numbing at first - it took a bit to get used to it'

What they say:  Expresses and aroma of black fruit, jam, and vanilla with a subtle hint of liquorice.

Rating: 6

Price:  kr. 100

Vendemmia Amarone Della Valpolicella 2011 (Italy)

Nose:  Very fruity, mostly dark berries, a bit of oakiness

Taste:  Very slight sweetness at first, but then moves into a peppery finish

Finish:  Reasonably strong tannins with a definite pepper flavour

What we say:  V - 'Smells a bit like an expensive alcoholic dessert'   S - 'Yeah, it's a bit sweet, and flavourful.'  V - 'There's something slightly different about the nose from your typical red'

What they say: Dry with fruity notes of plums and prunes and soft tannins

Rating:  5.5 (S - 5; V - 6)

Price: kr. 210

Spier Vintage Selection Shiraz Mourvèdre Viognier 2012 (South Africa)

Nose:  Deep oak with underlying cherry notes.

Taste:  Pretty smooth with a good mix of fruit and oak.  A little bit sweet?

Finish:  Medium tannins at the end

What we say:  S - 'A hint of zest in the nose.'  V - 'What kind of zest?'  S - 'I don't know, it just tickled.'  V - 'The taste is lighter than I expected given the nose'  V - '♫ I'm so tired of being alone... These penitent walls are all I've known... ♫'  S - 'It's not that exciting, but it does the job'  'Hey!  I caught the fly!  I just pulled an Obama!'  V - 'I think it's growing on me a bit'  S - 'It's not bad, it's drinkable, it's just really straight-forward'

What they say:

Rating:  6.5 (V - 7; S - 6)

Price:  kr. 99

Frederiksdal Kirsebær Vin 2011 (Denmark)

Nose:  Other than the obvious cherries, woody and a bit damp.

Taste:  Quite thick, semi-sweet, definitely cherries, with a little bit of wood at the end.

Finish:  Doesn't really finish sweet - but no tannins whatsoever.  A short woody finish.

What we say:  S - 'Well, smells like cherries, I guess...'  'It tickles the nose.'  V - 'I think there's some sort of spice on the nose - cinnamon or nutmeg?'  'It's actually quite odd, because there's that definite red wine oakiness amidst the cherries.'  S - 'Does it smell like gum?'  V - 'The nose is like a cherry pie that you sucked the sugar out of'  S - 'And added gum?'  'I wonder what you would drink this with?'  V- 'Man, you wouldn't want to get drunk on this.' S - 'Yeah, but it's good though.  It's interesting.  It's something that you only have a  bit of.  Maybe with a picnic in the park?'

What they say:  Good with blue cheese, salty cheese, pâté, chocolate desserts, or raw sugared summer berries.

Rating:  7

Price: kr. 140,00

Blaxland Estate Verdelho-Chardonnay 2012 (South Eastern Australia)

Nose: citrusy, maybe a very light floral.

Taste: sweet. Melon-y. Exotic fruity and not citrusy at all. Pear maybe?

Finish: a bit of a sour finish, but it doesn't really linger and it's not overpowering.

What we say: V: 'It's quite nice. I like it, which is good 'cause it's in the risotto!' V: 'I think this is one of the better whites we've had.'

What they say: Notes of lemony-citrus on the nose and a palate of tropical fruits, citrus peel, and a well-balanced acidity.

Rate: 7 (S=7, V=7)

Price: £5.50

Planeta Alastro Grecanico 2012 (Italy)

Nose:  Fresh and citrusy, a little bit sweet - maybe honey?

Taste:  Honey and a bit of floral.  It's pretty fresh though, not sickly sweet at all.

Finish:  Citrusy, with kind of a sour/bitter finish, but it doesn't linger

What we say:  V - 'Maybe a bit of green apple or melon in the nose? Because it's sweet with that tinge of sour.'  S - 'I think it tasted like black liquorice for a second there.' V - 'I find the nose even more bizarre now that I've tasted it.'

What they say: Fruity with a sense of white melon, fresh citrus and white flowers.

Price:  £14.99

Rating:  6

La Croix des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2012 (France)

Nose:  Heavy oakiness, peppery, not a whole lot of fruit but the generic 'dark berries' where they exist

Taste:  Dry, a bit fruity.

Finish:  Mild to medium tannins, lingering bitterness.

What we say:  S - "It kind of burns the nostrils"  V - "It's a less chemically fruit roll up smell, so probably cherry?" " I think the most interesting thing about this is the nose"  S - "It's not bad for a French wine"  V - "Yeah, it grew on me a bit as the night went on.  Not fantastic, but reasonably drinkable."  S - "I wish I could score 5.5, because 5 is almost a bit unfair, but 6 might indicate that we'd buy this again."

What they say:  Rich, concentrated wine with flavours of soft summer fruits through to dark chocolate.

Rating:  5.5 (S - 6; V - 5)

Price:  £9.99

Dragon Hills Chardonnay (Romania)

Nose:  Pretty fruity, but not citrusy.  Maybe apples or pears with vanilla.

Taste:  Dry and peary but definitely with some honey - but it's not syrupy.

Finish:  Finishes a tiny bit bitter with lingering dry honey.

What we say:  S - "I like the yellow colour of it - it's almost neon!"  "Do you think it has flowers in it?  I mean, it comes from Romania, it's not like they have pineapples."  V - "I quite like the nose, whatever it is"  S - "This is a really weird wine.  Did you taste a little bit of black liquorice in the end, or am I making that up?"  V - "I think I like it more the more I drink it"  S - "Yeah, and particularly given that it's so honeylicious, you'd think you wouldn't be able to drink a lot, but it's not sickly sweet."

What they say:  Crisp, with ample ripe tropical fruits and a light refreshing finish.

Rating:  5.5 (S - 5; V - 6)  We debated over this.  It's one of the more interesting wines we've had, and fun to try, but we're not sure under what circumstances you'd drink copious amounts of it.

Price:  £7.99

M&S Italian Vino da Tavola (Italy)

Nose:  Definitely oaky, but with something else we can't identify

Body:  Not much at the beginning - pretty watery.  Kind of boring.

Finish:  Almost a sour/bitter finish.

What we say:  V - "There's something that gives it a slightly more sophisticated nose than normal, but I don't know what it is" S - "Yeah, I can't place it.  I really smell the pencil-crayon more than anything else"  V - "Maybe like the glue that you have as a child?"  S - "No, it's still bringing me back to elementary-school art class with the pencil-crayon"  S - "It just has the after-taste of wine"  "Does it have an aftertaste of bacon?  Or like bacon bits?  Which is kind of like, fake bacon?" "You can drink this, but it's just not enjoyable"

What they say:  Juicy Italian red packed with flavours of morello cherries, blanched almonds and crushed black pepper.

Rating: 3

Price:  £4.99

Fincas del Sur Malbec 2011 (Argentina)

Nose:  Rich, dark berries with definite oakiness.  Pretty nondescript in terms of most of the red we've been drinking.

Taste:  Really smooth, with something a little bit sweet.  Maybe a bit caramelly (but only slightly).

Finish:  Pretty balanced tannins, but not much else.

What we say:  S - "It's a little tickly in the nose at the end.  Is that pepper?  I dont' know if it's pepper, but it's tickley in the nose..."

What they say: full bodied with powerful aromas of plum, cocoa and blackcurrants; long finish dominated by soft, sweet tannins.

Rating: 6.5 (S - 7; V - 6)

Marques de Casa Concha Merlot 2012 (Chile)

Nose:  Quite powerful, very big, heavy on the oak, with some dark berries to it.

Taste:  Big flavour, a bit tart in the beginning, and the oakiness carries through.  Big in the fruit as well, but mitigated by the oak and tannins.

Finish:  A bit tart in the finish as well with medium tannins.

What we say:  S - 'Slight hint of pencil crayon... No, wait... It's pretty much the only thing I smell.'  'I'm going to guess from the nose that this is slightly more on the sweeter side.'  V - 'It's a pile of oak, with an aside of dark berries.'  S - 'It's like thick cherry oak, like syrup.  Not in the sense of sweetness though.'  V - 'Yeah, there's nothing subtle about this whatsoever.  If it wasn't for the oakiness this would be fruit-bomb territory, but the oak keeps it down'

What they say:  It abounds in dark fruit aromas that fit perfectly with the generous barrel-supplied vanilla and chocolate notes.  Full-bodied it is a wine of supple, velvety tannins.

Rating:  7

Price: kr. 109