2014 Mulled Wine

I don't consider myself a wine connoisseur, but I remember one year when someone I worked with told me about their sampling of mulled wines across all the supermarkets. I thought it was a great idea but this is the first year I've thought about it early enough to have a chance to try all the supermarkets. So, following is a completely unprofessional list of everything I've tried in order and what I thought in rankings 1 to 5...

4 Mulled Wine (Selected by Tesco)
£3.59, 75cl, 10% vol
The first mulled wine I've tasted this festive season, it smells the way it tastes - sweet. Not enough to be sickly, but enough to overpower the other flavours.

3 Mulled Wine (Selected by The co-operative)
£3.49, 75cl, 10% vol
While it's not too sweet, this wine tasted less like one seasoned with spices and more just a mix of all the flavours of a mulled wine. Not bad, but not distinct either.

1 Mulled Wine (Winemaker's selection by Sainsbury's)
£3.00, 75cl, 8% vol
Now this is a bit more like what I look for in mulled wine; I can actually taste the wine.

5 Mulled Wine (Sainsbury's Taste the Difference)
£4.35, 75cl, 11% vol
Unfortunately, this falls back into the too sweet category, and so, with the (marginal) increase in price compared to the others, drops to the bottom.

2 Winter Warmer Mulled Wine (Morrisons)
£3.49, 75cl, 10% vol

While nothing special, at least this wine wasn't too sweet or mixed with so many flavours they all blurred into the background.

So, all in all, a rather disappointing first year testing out all the supermarket's offerings. I would have liked to sample some more but haven't planned well enough for it this year. Next year I'll do a shopping trip at all the supermarkets at the start of the month, rather than trying to head out to one after I've finished each bottle. It has been fun experimenting though :)