[Drinking] Buying wine in France

[HeaviestTed]

Cotes du Rhône Village - never had a bad one.

M and s do a lovely one

 

[HeaviestTed]

We aren’t actually on a booze cruise so won’t be a problem. Although the driver has a nice big Volvo there won’t be much room left after the 4 of us have loaded the cases. Although it is tempting to cut down on the wife’s packing to make more room

I’d be tempted to cut down on passengers as well as baggage

 

[heathgate]

Myself and Mrs DS are off to Cherbourg in a couple of weeks and need to take advantage of the hyper market to stock up the cellar (Under stairs cupboard!) We are mainly red wine drinkers and I am after any tips for making sure we get the best reasonably priced wine on offer without making any glaring school boy errors.

Any advice would be much appreciated

Best value will be Languedoc reds,.. mostly underrated, look for wines from that region that come from Carignan grapes...(Minervois AOC))... You will get great wines at a fraction of Bordeaux or Bourgogne prices.

 

[RustyKent]

Stick your finger up the bottom of the bottle, the deeper the you go, the better the wine.

 

[Flounce]

Best value will be Languedoc reds,.. mostly underrated, look for wines from that region that come from Carignan grapes...(Minervois AOC))... You will get great wines at a fraction of Bordeaux or Bourgogne prices.

Cote de Gascogne too, in fact Asda sell white at £7.50 a bottle and very drinkable it is too. Their reds are also very good as are Bergerac reds and unless you are looking for high end just as good as Bordeaux and Bourgogne wines too

 

[knocky1]

Burgundy reds such as Fleurie or Morgon can be good buys and can be drank slightly chilled in the summer. I favour Vin De Pay D'Oc for value reds from the south.

My wines of choice are from the Beaujolais region and the Gamay grape. Mainly as you say because of their lightness. I never realised they were from the south of the Burgundy region. Thanks.

burgundywine.com - Wine - Gamay

www.burgundywine.com

I always buy about 50 bottles and hide them round the campervan. Julienas and a good Beaujolais Villages added to your Fleurie and Morgon.
Always good to drink unlike the mixed box of Gamay wines I got one Xmas from Majestic wines. Not one of them was good.

 

[dolphins]

Ah, this thread has made me rather nostalgic for the day trip booze cruises that chiefly I did as part of a work "jolly boys outing", although I remember doing at least one solo jaunt.

Highlight was going to a really nice restaurant in Calais town, and on one of us selecting coq au vin from the menu, the very pretty young waitress said in her best English accent (which had endearing elements of Allo Allo) calmly told us that "I'm sorry, I have no coq today" while we all did sterling work stifling smiles or sniggers!

 

[RandyWanger]

Cotes du Rhône Village - never had a bad one.

Probably the one I'd go for too. Tend to try buy local to where I'm staying otherwise.

 

[Hotchilidog]

Off to France next week, heading to a small village just outside Duras. Having visited last year I know which vineyard I'll be raiding, great wine costing between four and 8 euros.
Unless you are in Burgundy no need to break the bank. Always worth visiting the local vineyards to get a taste and then make your choice.

 

[Machiavelli]

The French don’t export their good stuff but keep the best for themselves, usually fairly regional.
If you want sparkling, forget champagne and look for a good Cremont. There are regional cremonts which are grown in exactly the same way in other areas but as good. Cremont d’Alsace, for example.

You've got this badly wrong. The best French wine is sold around the world at increasingly high prices. See, for instance:

Farr Vintners - Fine Wines

www.farrvintners.com

 

[Flounce]

Off to France next week, heading to a small village just outside Duras. Having visited last year I know which vineyard I'll be raiding, great wine costing between four and 8 euros.
Unless you are in Burgundy no need to break the bank. Always worth visiting the local vineyards to get a taste and then make your choice.

Duras wine is a well kept secret imo, maybe it’s not a massive producer but not easily found in the UK in my experience. Decent prices in France too.

Buzet wines are just down the road from Duras.

 

[Nobby]

The Alsace wines are flippin gorgeous. We bought a case from an amazing small producer in Ammershiwr last year but had finished it well before we got back
This stuff was so good that we tried to buy some online and they tried to send a case but

Good morning
Unfortunately, I am very sorry but we will not be able to ship your order.
The constraints are finally too high for sending wine to the UK.
There is a good chance that the package will return or that there will be huge customs fees.
We are going to stop orders to the United Kingdom on the website for the time being to organise ourselves, and put in place the best solution for ciustomers.




Another Brexit benefit. Can't even drink the wine we choose

 

[Muhammad - I’m hard - Bruce Lee]

Anything from the Rhone valley region tends to be nice.
Côtes du Rhône is excellent value or from the other side of the valley, you have the king of reds - Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
St-Émilion (Grand Cru) is also an excellent tipple, but unlike the Rhone reds, will need to be opened a good hour before imbibing

 

[Guinness Boy]

Anything from Loire Valley is generally good and value for money ( I could be considered a bit biased though ! ).

This. Having two different relatives in two different places in the Loire we’ve got to know their wines very well.

Saumur and St Nicolas are great lighter reds, Quincey and Jasniers superb whites and you can get some great value Crement and Roses.

Yum.

 

[BNthree]

I live up to the Southern Softy tag in summer and pretty well exclusively drink Provence Rose and I defy anyone to find a bottle in the UK under 10 pounds that comes close to a 4 to 5 Euro bottle in France. I have come to the conclusion that Rose does not travel well as most on sale in the UK are pretty grim in comparison to how they taste in France, even though they are at least twice as expensive.

My favourite French roses come from the Vendee (Fiefs Vendeen) and I've never even seen them on sale in the UK even in specialist shops like Quaff or Butlers in Kemptown. In the Vendee they're about 4 euros a bottle.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Personally I like fizz a lot so would be on the lookout for whatever offers the supermarket has on “cremant de (insert area here)”. Pretty much always made to same methods as champagne but not in the Champagne region so can’t be labelled as such. Cremant de Dordogne is very drinkable.

Saumur fizz is just as good as Champagne and a fraction of the price.

 

[Muhammad - I’m hard - Bruce Lee]

Very nice but very expensive £20 plus a bottle. We get through 3 bottles a week and cant justify cost of English wine

If you are near a Majestic, check out their Spanish red called the Guvnor.
As a committed French red drinker I was taken completely by surprise with this.
It was on an email from them as a recommendation so I tried it as the reviews were all very positive.
Around £8 a bottle and up there with my favourite reds now

 

[Thunder Bolt]

You've got this badly wrong. The best French wine is sold around the world at increasingly high prices. See, for instance:

Farr Vintners - Fine Wines

www.farrvintners.com

People don’t pay those prices to drink it, but as an investment.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

My favourite French roses come from the Vendee (Fiefs Vendeen) and I've never even seen them on sale in the UK even in specialist shops like Quaff or Butlers in Kemptown. In the Vendee they're about 4 euros a bottle.

My holiday area of choice, having returned from a fortnight away, just last Saturday. The weather was awful this year, but, as you say Fiefs Vendéen is an excellent rose.

 

[wellquickwoody]

You've got this badly wrong. The best French wine is sold around the world at increasingly high prices. See, for instance:

Farr Vintners - Fine Wines

www.farrvintners.com

Thank God someone saw sense and called this up. Grape growing and viniculture is a business earning billions of euros, you cannot just bottle up the average stuff and then charge top money to international experts. Granted there will be some very palatable cheap wines that are kept for private use but on the whole if you have a real winner you charge good money for it, not just guzzle it out in the garden with your home made bread.