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foire a vin time again

Hi all,

Here in France we suffer through a yearly supermarket even known as the "foire a vin" (wine fair). These are often banal at best for those of use who like to buy our wine direct from the producer; but the exception can be Bordeaux, where direct sales are limited anyway.

So, having duly received the first circular in the junk mail, I thought I'd see if anyone has experience with any of the bottles that interest us. I'll include the prices in EU with the idea that, practically speaking and in terms of purchase power the EU is at parity or below the $, in spite of the current exchange rates. (The $ is always worthless when a Bush sits in the house...) As usual I hope to get away without spending too many zorros in the process.

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

04 La Louviere €15 03 Dom Chevalier €23 03 Dom de la Solitude €11 00 Ch Beaumont €9.50 * 03 Ch d'Agassac €11.50 * 02 Ch. St Pierre €20 * 04 Chasse Spleen €17 02 Cantenac Brown €17.50 01 Ch Prieure-Lichine €23 * 02 Haut-Bages Liberal €15 04 Clerc Milon €22 * 02 Grand-Puy-Lacoste €23 03 Phelan Segur €19 02 Lafon-Rochet €17 03 Clos du Roy (Fronsac) €7

  • will certainly buy a bit

Thanks in advance!

-E

Reply to
Emery Davis
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Yes, I think I will get a few bottles of the Chasse-Spleen. Will wait to see if the L.B. shows up at the Champion FAV, they're part of the Carrefour group. I don't think anything flies off of the shelf in an hour here though, the Normans are less than impulsive...

Auchan (as you know) is usually the best FAV. Unfortunately the nearest one is down in Le Mans, which is a bit of a hike for us.

French cavistes have to pay French social charges, which pushes the price of anything up considerably. (Of course they also get something for the money, but that's another issue). Usually the best prices will come from a big supermarket, although there the chain is always an issue. I do believe Auchan has a good reputation for treating wine correctly. Sorry I can't help more.

-E

Reply to
Emery Davis

I take it that no tastes will be offered? I'd be tempted by the '02 Haut-Bages Liberal and Grand-Puy-Lacoste, as the '02s I've tried have been quite decent and the prices you list are good by my standards. YMMV, of course.

Mark Lipton

Reply to
Mark Lipton

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No tastings, although there is usually an evening before it opens when "privileged clients" can try certain low end bottles. I'm only privileged at Champion, and now that I've seen what they're offering this year I won't bother to go to the tasting. The only thing of interest is an 05 La Perruche Saumur-Champigny that promises to be quite good.

So, as guaranteed by my having commented on it, the Normans picked this one time to get off their duffs, and the Beaumont was sold out. I ended up with d'Agassac, Solitude, St Pierre, Clerc Milon. Turns out I've already got a 1/2 case of 01 P. Lichine.

I picked up a bottle of Clos du Roy to try, if it seems age worthy I'll grab a case or so.

Santiago, thanks for the monoprix tip. Unfortunately I couldn't see the site on any of my browsers. It even causes linux firefox to crash altogether, something no other site has been capable of in my experience. Very impressive!

-E

Reply to
Emery Davis

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