Well, maybe a few.
In September all the grocery stores have what's called a foire aux vins...or a festival of wine. In a nutshell what happens is that they stock up big time on wines from all over France and expect you to do the same by providing beaucoup incentives, prix choc!, and unavoidably inticing advertisements pushed through your post box. Beckoning. Buy more wine.
As we've heard from a couple of friends the thing to do is go to the grocery store with your advert flyer or 'PUB' in hand or with your favorite oenophile and stock up. They've made it easy really, categorizing wines by region and AOC of course but also by letting you know what's good now (tiny wine glass), what might be okay now but better later (tiny wine bottle upright), and what you must not drink now under any circumstances or you will self-combust or at the very least go down in the hall of French shame (tiny wine bottle on its side, resting). Rather you must put it in a cave for a range of years, some extending from 8-10, and drink it later, later, later. Patience, please.
What does all of this mean to me? It means that my beloved husband who is learning about the various gradations, regions, tannin levels, etc as quickly as he can drink the wine has gotten the bug. He now wants to buy cases upon cases of wine, an electric cave (read: fancy refrigerator) and store them for years to come....for that day 5 or 8 years from now when we can break out the big wine guns and toast our cleverness. This is all fine and good--it will be nice to have a few special bottles to remember our first years in France.
I'm all for having nice wine always at the ready--five years from now!
But really I'm more interested in buying a few cases of 6 bottles to get us through the winter. We can chose the wines with the little wine glass symbol which means 'it's ok to drink this now' and store it happily at 17 degrees Celsius in our garage.
I'm sure we will come to sort of agreement and buy some for now, some for later. We're sensible people after all.
If you have any tips for me I'd love to hear them. Or a bottle of 2002 Bourgogne that's finally ready to drink?
Hello Aidan,
ReplyDeleteTimely post!
Here's my tip: make an outing of it, go direct to the nearest vintners instead...
http://www.petitfute.fr/detail-les-1001-meilleurs-vins-a-moins-de-10---617-8-16-1-PF.html
Get this little guide to the 1001 best wines under 10 euros. You'll most likely have a nice chat with the owners and learn more about the wine to boot.
Like we really need to be beckoned to buy more wine!
ReplyDeleteTammy-Thanks for the tip. We actually went on a short trip up to Pic St Loup last month and came back with some great stuff..it's gone now though. And it was much more fun than going to Hyper-U!
ReplyDeleteThe book will help me find good wine AND keep me reading French which I've found to be a great help.
SL-No kidding! Are you stocking up?
I wish I had room to stock up.I'd have to cover the cases with a tablecloth and use them for a coffee table! And I just can't get a case in my rolling shopping basket! But I've been checking things out at Carrefour. Found a great Cotes du Rhone that I really liked...went back for more...and they no longer have it. It's just all...so....confusing!
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ReplyDelete