ALDI Wine and Food Review!

I am a frequent ALDI shopper!  I visit my local ALDI usually once a week to stock up on grocery items.  I was thrilled when I was selected for this ALDI Blog Tour from Mom Central!  I was given a gift certificate to purchase some items to review and had a great time selecting the foods and wine to try out!  My local ALDI is always clean and inviting!  When I first started shopping there, my husband was skeptical.  He was used to name brands growing up, so it took a little convincing to get him to try shopping at a discount grocery store.  Now he asks for certain items that I can only buy at ALDI!  This store has saved us so much money!  I am an avid coupon user, but I can rarely find coupons for meat, milk, produce etc.  For that reason, I frequent my local ALDI Store!  Their milk and produce prices are much lower than any of the other grocery stores in my area. 

During this holiday season, entertaining can be very costly!  We brought wine and side dishes to at least 3 parties.  Not to mention the expense of hosting a party in your own home.  Wines are very expensive at the grocery store.  My go to bottle of wine usually costs around $8 and that's on the more inexpensive end, am I right?  Well ALDI now carries a large selection of wines for only $4.99 a bottle!  The most expensive bottle of wine they had was only $7.99 a bottle!  I was loving these prices, but the real test was how it tasted.  I bought three different bottles to try with various foods.  I was also given a recipe for Baked Brie with Cranberry Sauce that I am excited to share with you!

First off, I'll talk about the appetizer and wine that I chose.  ALDI had a Six Cracker Assortment of Savoritz Entertainment Crackers that was only $2.49 at my local ALDI!  The crackers came in a tray for easy serving of the cracker selections!  I love that everyone could try all of the different types of crackers, which were all delicious by the way!  To go with the crackers, I served a very easy to make recipe called ALDI Baked Brie with Cranberry Sauce.  I paired the appetizer with the Burlwood Cellars Chardonnay - only $4.99 a bottle.  It complimented the cheese and crackers well!  This wine was actually an ingredient in the Baked Brie recipe, so I knew it would pair well together!  I brought this over to a holiday party and everything got rave reviews!  Everyone was surprised to find out that the wine and all ingredients were picked up from our ALDI Store!  The final cost for the Baked Brie, Burlwood Chardonnay and Savoritz Cracker Assortment: $13.35.  (I had leftover blackberry fruit spread, and dried cranberries to use at home.)

ALDI Baked Brie with Cranberry Sauce

Serves 10

Recipe courtesy of Chef Kates, ALDI Test Kitchen

Ingredients:

• I wheel of edenVale Brie Cheese
• 1/2 cup Southern Grove Dried Cranberries
• 1 cup Burlwood Cellars Chardonnay
• 1/2 cup Berryhill Blackberry Fruit Spread

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place unwrapped brie on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Heat in oven 12-15 minutes or until brie is warmed through and soft to the touch.
2. Meanwhile, bring dried cranberries and white wine to a boil in a small saucepan.  Add fruit spread, reduce heat to medium high and simmer 10-15 minutes, stirring often.  Sauce is ready when liquid has thickened and coats to the back of a spoon.
3. To serve, pour over warm brie.  Can be eaten alone or spread on crackers.

 

My husband and I made a baked salmon for dinner the other night and paired it with the Villa Malizia Pinot Grigio wine from ALDI.  This wine features floral and honeysuckle aromas and is accented by flavors of peach and pear.  It is recommended to pair well with lighter meals, soft cheeses, and seafood.  My husband and I really enjoyed the flavor of the wine with our salmon!  It was a delicious compliment to dinner and you can beat $4.99 a bottle!

Dessert is always my favorite part of any meal!  ALDI has some great dessert selections for the holidays!  I chose between a cheesecake sampler, milk or dark chocolate truffles and mini eclairs or cream puffs.  I chose the Grandessa Signature Cream Puffs and they were delicious!  I paired the eclairs with my favorite of the three wines - Landshut Riesling.  The eclairs were the perfect mix of chocolate and cream!  My whole family really enjoyed them!  For only $3.99, it was such an easy and wonderful tasting dessert!  Normally I am not a fan of Reislings but this was the very best Riesling I've ever tasted!  It was not too sweet and not too dry - perfect!

For your entertaining needs, give ALDI a try!  You won't be sorry!  Your wallet and taste buds will thank you!

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of ALDI and received a gift certificate to facilitate my review.