If Kwik Save was once the supermarket that did exactly what it says on the tin, the discount mantle has now passed to Aldi. The pennies really count for Aldi customers who value its no-frills approach. According to Daniel Gibson, Aldi’s wine buyer, when the price of the summery thirstquenching rosé, the 2007 Vina Decana Rosada, slipped from £2.99 to a grand total of £3.29 after the budget, the company lost an immediate 40 per cent of sales, even though there’s no disputing the value of the wine, even at £3.29. Aldi prides itself on the fact that because it’s virtually 100 per cent own-brand with control over the quality and cost of products, it can offer products ‘of the same quality as, and often better than, competitors and at prices 20 - 30 per cent cheaper’. As a recent Mirror survey of a 22-item shopping basket found, Aldi was 12 per cent cheaper than the Big 4.

Like the mythical German giants Fasolt and Fafner, the brothers, Karl and Theo Albrecht from Essen (German for ‘to eat’) are the two Big Cheeses who preside over Aldi’s distinctly non-mythical worldwide complement of 8000-odd stores. Aldi North is Theo’s half of the Aldi empire, covering much of northern Europe, while Aldi South is Karl’s territory, including 374 stores in the UK and 54 in Ireland. ‘There’s no stigma attached to Easyjet or Ryanair, is there, so I see no reason why there should be any stigma attached to a discounter like Aldi’, says Gibson. With commendable loyalty, he won’t say what their margin is (10 – 15 per cent perhaps compared to the average 30 – 40 per cent?), but claims that Aldi’s costs are the lowest in the industry. ‘With no big brands or marketing budgets, we can put our wines on the shelf more cheaply than anyone else’.

Gibson runs Aldi’s no-frills wine department in the UK with 65 wines almost all own-label making up the complement of its overall core range of 870 products. The range has width, says Gibson, in other words you can do a full shop, but not depth, so you get one tomato ketchup and not 16, one muscadet and not so many that you can’t decide which one to choose. Aldi’s average wine price is £2.99, which may seem pretty incredible given that the euro is so strong and the Government now takes £1.72 in tax on every bottle of wine. But Aldi’s customers insist on a good deal. Does that mean screwing suppliers to the floor? Gibson gives a pained smile and says he prefers to look at it as getting the best prices thanks to buying well.

At their respective price points, there’s no quibble about the value of Aldi’s crisp, dry 2007 Châteaux Selection Bordeaux White from Calvet, £3.39 or the appley, refreshing 2007 Muscadet sur Lie, £3.99. The buttery 2007 Mâcon Villages from Lugny, £4.99 is a respectable drop of white burgundy, and better still, even though I’m not pinot grigio’s number one fan, the Linot Grigio Le Dolomie I Trentino, £4.99, is a genuinely well-made, really refreshingly spritzy apple and pear flavoured Italian dry white. From Chile, both the 2007 Tierra del Sol Chardonnay Torrontes, £3.49, and the 2007 Tierra del Sol Sauvignon Blanc, £3.49, deliver flavoursome examples of their kind that would not disgrace the dinner table. The one pricey white on the Aldi list, the 2007 Latuilière Sancerre, £8.99, offers the requisite herbaceous quality and tangy bite to customers in search of a treat.

On the red wine list, the 2006 Cellier du Rhône £3.69, delivers a juicy cherryish mouthful at the price and there’s no arguing with the fresh, berry fruity Tierra del Sol Argentinian Shiraz Bonarda, £3.49. From Australia the 2006 Bushland Premium Single Estate Hunter Valley Shiraz, £4.99, genuinely punches above its not inconsiderable weight for the Hope Estate’s impressively spicy, blackcurrant fruit quality. Daniel Gibson puffs up his chest too at the 2005 Valpolicella Ripasso Cantina di Merlara, £4.99, a Venetian red whose juicy cherryish fruit is given added oomph thanks to the traditional ripasso method. To call Aldi’s Philippe Michel Crémant du Jura Brut, £5.99, poor man’s champagne might sound like damning it with faint praise but as a sherberty party fizz and a good base for kir or Buck’s Fizz, it’s cheap at the price.

Aldi’s 374 stores are currently based mainly in the Midlands and the North West, so readers in London and the south-west may not be as familiar with the discounter as they’d like to be - yet. In the last 12 months, Aldi has seen the number of ABC1 customers shopping at its stores increase by 17 per cent, with the more well to do now accounting for 50 per cent of its customers and a recent TNS survey confirmed this middle class drift to Aldi. Not to worry then if you’re not yet within the Aldi radar. Aiming to expand southwards with 1000 stores in the UK long term, Karl Albrecht has plans to turn Aldi into a store near you.

Under a Fiver

2007 Cuvée Chasseur Vin de Pays de l’Hérault, £3.29, Waitrose.

Try serving this in a decanter to your friends and see if they come anywhere near the derisory price asked for this bright and spicy blend of the southern French workhorse carignan with grenache added for good measure. A bargain for such a juicy red with hardly a rustic note there.

Under a Tenner

2007 Pouilly Fumé Les Cascadelles, Caves de Pouilly-sur-Loire, £9.99, or buy 2 = £7.99, Majestic.

The perfect summer sipping dry white, this is classic nettley sauvignon blanc from Loire Valley vineyards whose soils impart a bone dry, mineral character to the wine sometimes referred to as flinty but in any event combining fruit and minerality in perfect balance.

Splash Out

2006 Corton Bressandes Grand Cru, Prince Florent de Mérode, £33, Jeroboams.

There’s no denying this isn’t given away but burgundy never is and frankly, for a grand cru whose thoroughly delicious powerful raspberry pinot aromas and pure fruit quality is delectably smooth and drinkable, even this young, I’d almost go so far as to say it’s a bargain.