I love ALDI. OK, I’m a little biased since ALDI is a German grocery store and I am a German girl, born and raised, entire family is still in Germany and all that stuff.
Anyway, so why I love ALDI besides it being the store I've shopped at all my life before moving to the US?
This is why:
- They offer affordable groceries
- They offer organic-food brands
- They offer gluten-free items
- They've removed some artificial ingredients from its products
- They've removed certified synthetic colors, partially hydrogenated oils, and added MSG from all its private-label products, which make up 90% of what ALDI sells
- They have great weekly specials
- You have to “pay” a quarter for your shopping cart to release it and only get your quarter back when you return your cart to the “shopping cart parking lot”
- The cashiers are incredibly fast
- There are no baggers. In fact you pay for bags, but there are plenty of empty boxes available at the checkouts, that you can use for free
- They have German food brands, especially during "Deutsche Küche"-Woche, which means German Week, where they offer German products like Spaetzle, Soft Pretzels, Apple Strudel, German Bratwurst (very good!), Stollen, Kekse, bread, and more. Oh, and around Christmas they have delicious German Lebkuchen and Lebkuchenherzen (gingerbread and gingerbread hearts filled with jelly). OK, gotta stop. I'm getting hungry and homesick. Anyhooo, ...
- They have their "Wine Cellar" where they offer award-winning wine from around the world. So. And that's actually what this article is all about...
Hah! Interested now? I thought so.
Drum rolls, here it comes:
This year, for the first time ever, ALDI is releasing a Wine Advent Calendar! Can you believe that? Every day from December 1st to December 24th you'll get up in the morning with a huge smile on your face since you'll get to open a new calendar door and will find one of 24 mini-bottles of wine - red, white, rosé and fizz.
The bottles are 200 ml (so, what’s that? Ah, yeah, exactly: 6762804540.3686 oz), so 24 mini-bottles are equivalent to more than 6 normal bottles of wine. The box sells for about $67 which makes it about $11 per big bottle or $2.80 per mini-bottle. The wines are from France, Italy, and Spain.
Now the bad news: The calendar will not be available in the United States, ugh.
However, if ALDI does change their mind this year or anytime in the future, or if you want to try any of the other ALDI products, the closest ALDI stores are currently in Temple and Killeen, with a new ALDI store to open next January in Pflugerville!!
Until then, here are some ideas to make your own wine advent calendar:
Make a beautiful wine bottle wreath
Stuff your advent calendar stockings with wine bottles
Or simply hang some numbers on the wine bottles in your wine rack
Cheers, Prost, Santé, Cin Cin, and Salud!