I tend to spend around 4-6 euro for a picpoul de pinet which is a local white and around 8-10 euro for a decent local red. What about you? Do you tend to stick to your area? Do you choose only French or do you try Spanish/Italian/Aussie/Kiwi/Chilean/Lebanese...?
As we are in wine festival time - let's talk wine...oh go on then why not over a glass of it?
lol no one has mentioned Lidl! We buy Lidl Corbieres for everyday drinking, and have also enticed our French neighbours away from their en vrac brown plastic barrel wine to buying Corbieres (it's around 2 euros a bottle - why pay more for a drinkable wine?).
Posh red is usually a Buzet or a Madiran (we lived nearby once), and really posh for us is a Gigondas Cotes de Rhone or a Chinas, but that's when someone special is coming to eat with us, and they only cost around 12 euros!
In summer I drink mainly white and rosé so it's Picpoul every time and the bags of Olmarine Rosé from the producers at Pinet, or the co-op cave at Brignoles (we pop in and stock up twice a year en route to visit friends in Provence)...
How low can we go? I'll offer Auchan Cuvée (aka Curvy) Beatrice rosé 1€20.
I don't disagree with you about snobbery or €80 bottles, but I would also argue that Merlot is an easy drinking but quite dull grape. Many of the assemblages in different regions expressing their history and traditions are worth trying even if they may cost a little more. The variety and rapport qualité/prix of French regional wines is well worth exploring.
No, even in Limoges 1€ is common for an expresso at least, anything fancier like a grande creme is usually 3€. But no, most of the places in the small town around here seem to charge 1€. Peraps its just "la France perdu"?
A lot of wine and champagne seems to be "emporers new suit" imo. I do realise that a pallette need educating, a new vocabulary is needed to describe the different and more subtle tastes but I have to say my usual is a BIB Merlot from SuperU
One of the many admirable things about France is the enthusiasm of winemakers for their local traditions. Living in the Hautes-Pyrenées our closest wines are Madiran and St Mont for reds and Jurançon for whites, and we do what we can to support the industry. Some years ago when the Pope (John Paul 2) visited Lourdes the local paper filled many pages with the debate on what wine should be used at the Mass he was going to celebrate. It was axiomatic that it should be a Madiran but which one. It must have been good business for the winner.
For wines such as these I tend to find that those priced at around €5/8 are often preferable to the vigneron's prestige offering at around €12/15. The latter often taste rather contrived and (to me) don't justify the extra money, though there is a commercial logic in the way they structure their dégustations.
For champagne it is nearly always best to avoid the grandes marques as there are many excellent small family houses that produce excellent wine for €12/15. We also drink Blanquette de Limoux which Lidl offer at less than €5.
There is no doubt that wine tastes best in good company and, however good the wine, the pleasure of drinking it is inversely proportional to the pretension with which it is served.
Price and origin to me is not important as long as I like it. But when it comes to white wine I prefer French as it less oaky and tends not to be mucked about with. St Mont do a great cheap white Colombelle priced from 3/4€ great value and very drinkable. But if I want quality I pop hall a mile down the road to Domain Bories a local Madiran producer who produces some of the best Madiran wines I have ever tasted and I have sampled a good few. His white is a dry Pacheranc stunning but not as cheap as many his sweet Pacheranc is amazing very expensive but worth every penny. His reds are also around €11.50 a bottle but the 09/10/11 are just amazing he has come away from traditional Madiran wines and blends the local tannet grape blending around 20% of other varieties. So if you ever find yourself this way I really recommend you try him.
Love most South African wines and quite a few from South America can’t stand wines from USA. Once tried a bottle of USA Chadinay it cost over £120 a bottle I spat it out yet it one loads of awards so you drink what you like and you don’t have to spend shed loads of money to enjoy a good wine
Patrick, is that with lunch? that seems to be the only way I get a coffee for that price although I have to admit most of my purchases are on the main roads or motorways.
I think you are right, the taste may not change, the after affects of acid indigestion or head aches hopefully do ha ha.
Did the champagne tour a few years back and informed the chap that the Mercier swill he was giving out was worse than a cider. I confine the whole episode to "the emperors new suit".
Considering the depth to which the roots of the vines will reach (maybe 20-30M) I doubt that any contaminated ground a few kilometres away is likely to have any effect.
Not sure where you buy your coffee but here in Haute Vienne an expresso costs 1€, 1.20€ for a noisette. As for wine? You are all tooo refined for me, imo a 15€ bottle might taste no better than a 3€ bottle, perhaps my pallet is less refined, or that its more to do with the accompaniment. If we're talking about a session - its only the first glass that one really tastes anyway :-)
My wife is partial to champagne but after a holiday in the foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees the local Cava converted her to the less elevated prices of frizzante and pellitante.
Philistine, moi? Perhaps, but in France, wine is one of my five a day and I haven't had a bad glass yet!
Considering in France a very small cup of coffee can't be had for less than €2 that makes wine cheap. Too much wine snobbery around. The first glass may taste one way to the palate but by the 3rd it could be giving me acid reflux. I won't do cheap wine say less than €5 a bottle.
Niece was dating a vinichemicalist or what ever they call themselves, turning undrinkable vinegar into red wine with the the hype and nonsense that goes with it. People won't drink this or that and worry about chlorine in a swimming pool but pour copious amounts of horrible stuff down their throats.
Considering the ground around Champagne is some of the worst in france, blue bag rubbish tip, I prefer local Touraine fizz.
It's a Pomerol by choice though.
One of my nephews has just been to a friend’s wedding in China. He was paying £10 for a can of English lager there so I suppose it’s all relative.
I understand that at the Beaune auction a few years ago the Chinese were buying solely on price. No matter the grower, the appellation etc etc. If it cost less than the equivalent of £1-2,000 a bottle (and the sale is by the barrel remember) they weren’t interested.
As to rose it never ceases to amaze me how much people will pay for unremarkable Provence rose. Truly bonkers. A nice lunch time gargle in the sun but no more. Pace Brad Pitt.
Of course if you are Chinese what you'll pay bears no relation to what the wine is worth.
Friends in Cotes de Blaye sell a large proportion of their medal winning production to China.
But what costs a member of the public 7 euros 20 bought direct from the vineyard is now being sold in Chinese restaurants (in China) for 79 euros
Since I understand that I live in the poorest region of France -- Languedoc Roussillon -- I have made it my duty to buy local as much as possible... not difficult, really, when it comes to wine, fruit and veg.
The whole of my alimentation canal was wonderfully warmed by a 5 € cab sav from les Maitres de Cabestany, and I recently sipped the most interesting rose I have ever tasted in a local tapas bar (12 € for a half bot). The well-designed label, dubiously named "Seduction", said it was from a Rivesaltes vineyard -- but when I searched for further info online, the only source I could find (exactly same label) was Provence... Nothing for it, I suppose, but to return to the bar and ask for the lowdown there.
An American friend and I could be glimpsed at the end of a France 7 programme that featured a bio wine bar (Via del Vi) that we frequent before and/or after concerts at the newish Archipel Theatre in Perpignan. Both food and wine have always been really tasty for a reasonable price (15-20 € a bot). One could, but I can't, spend much more...
As you can probably tell, I'm not really a wine buff -- I only take notice when I come across something outstanding, IMO -- but for daily imbibing, supermarket wine for 3-5 € will do me fine!
Shock horror, but I really do not like wine at all and much to the dismay of some friends of our who are high quality wine merchants, they have still yet to give me a glass of wine that I like. :-)
BiB is great but make sure to check that they use the same wine in BiB as they do in bottles. Some do but others use a second pressing which is considerably inferior and not good value.
Michael - I have some champagne from 10 years ago (our wedding) and it still tastes fantastic! Not an expensive one either!
We have some great BIB - bag in box wines too - the local co-operative red wine is good as are a couple of the reds and rose's by local vignerons we know and of course when we go to local restaurants or cafes it is indeed the 'vin maison' wine that we choose by the carafe. I totally agree that sometimes a 5 euro wine in good company can taste amazing, especially with good food. I like to try different wines though at the weekend and I don't have the time or motivation to go round vignerons (as much fun as it is during holiday times) so it's great having a wine club or someone who seeks out and 'filters' the selection for you - as a supermarket buyer does of course. Now is a good time to stock up as it's foire aux vins and some good deals can be found.
In the UK I find that I have to spend at least £8 or £9 for anything decent. I am in a wine club, so tend to go by what is on offer - I haven't been disappointed so far. Unlike supermarket wines.
When in France my price point can vary - I like to try some at 3 or 4 Euros, and up to 10 Euros. In general I have had some really good wines. Ooh, and also have tried the places where you take a 1 litre water bottle and have it filled up for a few euros. Good for a casual drink - and if it's no good I turn a white into a kir!
Unfortunately (!) I don't live in France (yet) but it is one more 'pro' on my pros and cons list. :)