Following on from the Little Penguin Shiraz from the other week I decided to keep with the animal theme, this time with a Koala Bear.

I saw this bottle in the Co-Op for around £5. Reading the label it seems Angove's are actually using sales of this wine to aid the cause of the Koala Bear via the Australian Koala Foundation. Not that I need an excuse to drink wine, but thinking "I'm having this glass for the bear!", that's quite cool

This wine is described as vibrant and spicy, with aromas of redcurrant and cherry. Those descriptions are quite accurate I'd say. Shiraz is one of my favourite types of wine, but shiraz carignan is not a blend I an overly familiar with. It works nicely. There is definitely something rich about this wine, without being overpowering.

I must say I did wonder how I would be feeling the next day after having a wine that had "Angove's" (sorry, bad joke!) on the bottle, but I was seriously impressed with this wine.

First the Pengguins, now the Koala Bears... how many animals can I save with my wine drinking?

To the bear... cheers!

Save £7.37

Just as the weather is picking up we are starting to see the first of the summer wine deals. This is a great price for the Gallo White Grenache. This normally sells at £5.79 a bottle so this deal is BETTER than buy two get one free.

This seems to be cheaper than you can buy this online.

This bottle was described as a light "rioja-style" red, which spends 3 months in American Oak barrels. Like the last bottle I reviewed that spends time in American Oak this bottle had a bit of a sharp bite to it to begin with and would possibly benefit from being decanted.

There is not too much to say about this wine, it wasn't offensive but then it wasn't "special" either. Like the Dragon Tempranillo, this wine goes up against the Campo Viejo Crianza and from that respect loses out a little.

Purchased at Sainsbury's for £4.65

I must admit I chose this wine due to the cool looking penguin on the front of the bottle. Sometimes I like things like this, as it is a great talking point if you are taking the bottle to someones house. Of course it has no bearing on the quality of the wine, but if you are picking up a wine for review then why not?

On the bottle it says "Little Penguin Shiraz is spicy with bold flavours. Pair with pizza or red meat dishes". It also says "Little Penguins are very sociable and often gather to forage for delicacies. We invite you to do the same with the great wines from The Little Penguin". That made me smile, it's like this Little Penguin has a personality!

Ok, the review...

This is not the cheapest supermarket wine, so the bar is set high by the McGuigan Estate Shiraz, Hardy's Stamp varieties, amongst others.

First impressions are good. This is a very rich, fruity wine with strong flavours. They say to pair it with pizza or red meat, but in my mind it would also hold it's own against spicy dishes or a curry. It is not overbearing like some of Shiraz I have taster, on the contrary it is very smooth.

The website says it has elements of chocolate, spice and juice strawberries and this is actually quite apparent, it really is quite nice.

That said, like many others in this price bracket it does not bowl you over as being very "different" to it's competition, it is what I would class as a "safe" wine, one that everyone will like. That is not a bad thing though and I would definitely buy this bottle again.

The Little Penguin did very well here. This is a very nice wine, although I think the difference lies in the branding more so than the wine. It's a good wine with a great brand.

Sainsbury's have the McGuigan Estate Shiraz at £3.99 again.

I reviewed the 2005 vintage of this wine a while ago and I loved it. I subsequently tried the 2008 and that is really good too. This is one of those deals where you are actually getting a really good wine for a low cost, rather than the falsely inflated prices supermarkets put on some of their stock, just to sell it "on sale".

I can heartily recommend picking up a few bottles of this wine. It is not on offer very often but it is always very popular when it is!