Foires Aux Vins

The foires aux vins season is with us again.  For the uninitiated, this is a twice a year event where French supermarkets stock a much larger range of wines than usual and have some special offers.   They happen in late March / early April and late September / early October.  Each supermarket has its own dates and each branch may have varying dates as well – check on the internet for these.   The web site Vinogusto.com is a good starting point.   Here are a few of my tips.

1.  Know in advance what you want to buy, otherwise the selection is so bewildering that it won’t be an enjoyable or fruitful experience.    There are a number of strategies here. (a)  A few years ago I used these Foires to really learn about French wine – I used to buy a bottle or two of any appellation controlee that I had not tasted before. (b) Decide to buy mainly from good vintages, thus today you might look for any 2005 wines (especially Bordeaux and Burgundy) still on offer, any 2007 Rhone wines and any 2009 Beaujolais.  (c) Pick wines from your favourite producers – for me that will mean looking for say Chateau Villa Bel Air Graves which is a great value superb Bordeaux at just over €10 a bottle. (d) Look for wines from good value appellations eg Quincy, Macon, Muscadet for Whites, 1er Cotes de Bordeaux/Blaye/Bourg, Languedoc for Reds. (e) Look for wines that have gold or silver awards or are recommended in Hachette or other guides. (f) If you are a burgundy fan but can’t afford the very best then look out for the Premier Crus in the €10 to €20 range.  Don’t expect to buy a drinkable burgundy for much under €10 unless you are very lucky and it is a good year. (g) do experiment and try something you wouldn’t normally buy,  Variety is certainly the spice of wine if not life.   Try and avoid the big brands such as J.P.Chenet and Piat D'or, for a bit more you will get something much less bland.

2.  Take some wine boxes/carriers  with you as they are not always available in the store.

3. If you want to buy more than 12 bottles of any wine that you don’t know, you should consider buying just one bottle and trying it in the car park before going in to buy more (don’t forget a corkscrew and glass if trying this).

4.  Know your UK prices as not all wines are cheaper in France.  However, in the €3.50 to €10 category there is some good value to be had.

5.  Auchan is one of the best hypermarkets for wine but Leclerc is good too and I have also rated Carrefour on occasion.

September 2008

My wine of the month for September is an incredible value red wine at only £4.49 from Lidl (yes, Lidl!); it is Baturrica Tarragona Gran Reserva DO (both the 2001 or 2002 are available and excellent). I cannot remember a wine I paid under five pounds for in the UK tasting so good for a very long time. It tastes very similar to a Gran Reserva Rioja and has a good balance of oak and fruit and that lovely vanilla I seek in Spanish reds. The grape varieties are Tempranilla and Cabernet Sauvignon and it has been aged in oak for at least 24 months before further ageing in the bottle as part of a total 5 years minimum ageing. I suggest you go and snap some up today. We have already enjoyed 6 bottles of this wine and blind tasted it against Gran Reserve Riojas at three times the price with surprising results!

You find bargains like this by searching for wines from unknown regions; it is highly unlikely that you will find a wine from Rioja this good at this price. The Tarrogona wine region is best known for growing grapes for sparkling Cava and also for sweet red fortified wines, as well as being famous as the port that has shipped communion wines all over the world for many years; maybe church attendances would increase if they served this Gran Reserva instead!

Serve this wine with lamb; it can take quite strong flavours so why not try roast lamb stuffed either with black tapenade and garlic or alternatively perhaps stuffed with Chorizo, red peppers and green olives.

My white wine of the month is twice the price and can be puchased at £10.00 from Laithwaites. However, the wine is so beautiful it almost seems a bargain! It is a 2005 Vouvray Reserve Champalou. This is a slightly off dry white made with Chenin Blanc grapes and comes from one of the top producers in the area. This wine is a real pleasure to drink and shows off how good this grape variety can be when made as a dryish wine.

People are put off Vouvray because there is such a mixture of styles from dry to sweet and very often no indication on the bottle as to the style. However, this is a wine to change people's minds about this appellation.

If a wine of this quality was made in Sancerre or Burgundy it would fetch a much higher price, so thank God for unfashionable wine regions!

Serve this wine alongside a cold pea soup with crispy pancetta and seafood (langoustines, prawns or monkfish). I had this dish recently in Bourges, France and my wife Jane has managed to create an excellent version since I told her about it.

Talking about eating out we visited some lovely restaurants in August. Pride of place went to Raymond Blanc's Manoir aux Quat' Saisons; this was faultless and the wine sommelier very interesting as he guided us away from any wines we knew in order to give us new experiences. His suggestions of a Cuvee Frederic Emile Trimbach Riesling 2001, a Vins de Pays des Cotes Catalanes 2006 blanc, and a red Sicilian wine made entirely with Carignano grapes (Turrigoz 1999) were excellent. More local, Kei's new Chinese Restaurant in Runfold is excellent and we enjoyed a lovely Rioja rosé wine with our meal.

Later in September we will be making our six monthly pilgimage to France for the Foires aux Vins. The exchange rate is not so favourable at the moment but we hope to still pick up some good value French wines. Amongst those wines we will be searching for will be some Christophe Cordier Macon Charnay Vielles Vignes 2007 (€9.95 at Carrefour), Domaine du Clos de Fourchis Macon Aze 2006 (€5.75 from Auchan) and some Le Clos Delorme Valencay 2006 (€6.90 from Monoprix). We will report back in next months blog.

Also in next month's blog we will report on tasting a South African Pinot Noir at over £20 a bottle and let you know our wines of the month for October.

Our next wine tasting in Tongham will be in November just after the Beaujolais Nouveau has arrived. We will be featuring wines from Beaujolais and Macon alongside some of Jane's famous French cooking. Details next month.

Good tasting and do let's have your comments.