Wine recommendations in France/Spain

lso

I'm getting married early next year - my parents are going on holiday to northern Spain and western France (via ferry) in September and have agreed to buy my wine there and bring it back. I'm looking for wine recommendations as I will have to be quite specific on what to buy (they're not accepting responsibility for the decision making)

I'd rather buy French or Spanish wine either at a wine merchant/vineyard or in the hypermarkets than New World wines at the warehouses near the ports.

The dinner options will probably be rack of lamb and a white fish, most likely hake.

Budge of approx €10 per bottle - I'm getting away without paying corkage at the venue, so I can stretch this, but think I should be able to get relatively decent plonk for less than that,

I have a friend who speaks fluent french and will ring up any vendor to organised a bulk purchase if necessary.

Also if anyone has any recommendations for a spot to pick up champagne, I'd appreciate that as well.

Thanks for any tips.

Blub2k4

A tenner sounds like an awful lot for a bottle of French table wine, I'd say you'll be closer to the 2-2.50 mark per bottle after a bulk discount, maybe lower.
I wouldn't have thought you'd be looking for a brand either, I'd recommend going along and tasting your way to the one you want, any merchant should accomodate this, and take what's good at the time. I'd have thought that the best way to do it would be just to get a recommendation of where to go region wise, but not a brand name.
I intend to do this sometime before next year for my own wedding, so I'm watching this thread with interest.

lso

As I mentioned it's my parents who will be doing to shopping for me. As much as I'd love to spend time in France tasting wines, I won't be able to.

They will definitely not want to accept responsibility for choosing my wine. So I will have to give them very specific details.

As for price, it's not a huge wedding and I'd like to have a nice wine - I'm not fussed about a lot of the other paraphaneilia (sp?) surrounding weddings, but I do want good food and nice wine. Obviously if someone knows of a good wine that costs less, I'd love to hear about it.

Again if anyone has recommendations, I'd really appreciate them - particularly Spanish wines, as I have a few French recommendations already.

Theta

Dunno if it will help but there is a nice wine that you can get in France called
Cantelaudette
It comes in a good white which is around a tenner and a better white the Graves de Vayres for around 12 I think.
It comes in two reds aswell for similar prices and a tasty rose. If you want to try it before you send someone off to buy it I know McHughs bring it in. They might be able to help you!!

jropero

Hi!

First of all, sorry for my English: I’m Spanish.

There are a lot of very good wines here in Spain for 10€.

I think, the simplest way to buy them is to go to a shopping center and buy some boxes (about 12 bottles per each).

You've said the menu will be:

First:
- rack of lamb. Here you would drink a red wine. The most known are the Rioja ones. I can recommend:

- Vino tinto El Coto Crianza (bottle 5.99 €). It's good, very used here and available in all the restaurants. It's the typical wedding wine here. The grape is Tempranillo 100%, the spanish grape. Nice and not strange.

- Vino tinto Marqués de Cáceres Crianza (bottle 4.16 €). More complex, better wine. It's Tempranillo (85%), Garnacha (8%), Graciano (7%), so it's more elaborated. Also a typical weeding wine. Very good, also. Good if the meat has a strong taste.

- Vino tinto Paternina Banza Azul Crianza (bottle 5.85 €). Tempranillo, Garnacha tinta y Mazuelo. Also complex and also very good. Good if the meat has a light taste.


If you don't like Riojas:

- Vino tinto Gran Feudo Crianza (3.95 €). From Navarra. 70% Tempranillo, 25 % Garnacha, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. A french touch. Very good. It's also perfect for both the lamb and the fish.


For the hake, here we'll serve a white wine.

- The best are always the ones from Galicia.

- Ribeiro's one are always good. And they are cheap.
- Vino blanco Viña Costeira Joven. (5.25 €)
- Vino blanco Viña Leiriña. (4.80 €)

- But if you want a real good white wine you must look to Albariño's, the best of the best. They're like the Vinho Verde from Portugal, if you know

- Vino blanco Condes de Albarei Clásico Joven (8.65 €)
- Vino blanco Martín Códax Joven. (9.45 €) (this is maybe the best white wine in Spain)


Hope it helps :-)

jropero

Hi again!

I did not mention where to buy these wines. I've taken the prices from Carrefour.

I've been discussing with my girlfriend about which wines would we choose for our own wedding and we’d choose:
- Red wine: Mil flores. 5,60 €. A great rioja with a beautiful bottle, very international taste and a present for the table.
- White wine: Marqués de Riscal. 6,20 € A delicious white wine, we like it very much.

I’ve got a doubt: Do you serve usually wine in the weddings? Do you serve red and white wines or only one of them? Do you drink wine in other places or social events? It’s just curiosity.

lso

Thanks for all of the suggestions above.

Normally at Irish weddings wine is served with the meal - a choice of red and white as generally there is a choice of main course (well at all of the weddings I've been to).

Wine is becoming a far more popular drink here as well - 20 years ago I think it's fair to say that wine was drunk very rarely in Ireland, perhaps a bottle at Christmas and maybe special occasions. Now it's a lot more popular.

Any suggestions for Cava?

jropero

Hi again!

For Cava our recommendations are:

- Juvé y Camps. But it’s maybe a bit expensive: 12,65 € per bottle. But it’s worthwhile.

- Cava Brut Nature – Raimat. 6.95 €. Also it’s real good. Raimat also does a lot of very good wines.

- Now there are really beautiful rosé cavas. Freixenet Brut Rosé (5.50 €) is great.

But, well, for us the best cavas are the ones from Mont Ferrant, but they’re a bit difficult to find.

We hope you’ll tell us your choice, and if it’s a success. (also if you choose French wines, but I hope not

Another thing. You can also find all these wines and cavas at El Corte Inglés There is one in every big city, like Carrefour.

Good luck!

rockbeer

As an alternative to Cava you could consider Blanquette de Limoux from near Carcassonne in the Languedoc. The vignerons in the region claim that Blanquette has been around longer than champagne - it's a fantastic drink based on the Mauzac and Chardonnay grapes, and a very decent bottle will cost you €5 - €7.

It's available all over France, but Limoux town and the surrounding hills are full of caves where you can taste and buy. I could recommend a great cave where they do an excellent brut for around €7 a bottle if you're interested.

Good luck.

lso

Jropero - thanks for all of your suggestions, but unfortunately I have to admit that I'm going for two French wines, as a friend has arranged for my parents to collect them in a Carrefour near Roscof, as that will mean they don't have to lug them around on their holidays. I have passed on your recommendations though - for their own personal consumption!

The French wines we've gone for (as suggested by my friend) are
White: Chablis "Domaine Pierre de Préhy" (€8.60) and Red: Graves - Chateau Moulin de Clairac. (€6.46)

I think I might ask them to get some of the Freixnet Rose - it might be a bit odd drinking it on an Irish February evening, but what the hell it's a bit of fun!

Rockbear - I might also suggest the Blanquette if they 'd rather collect it all nearer the port. In my limited research I've heard good things about it. I think they will travel up along the West Coast, so not sure if they'll make it to Limoux, but just in case I wouldn't mind getting the details.

Thanks again for your help - I'll enjoy tasting all of the suggestions on future holidays to Spain and France!

justfortherecor

Chablis are usually a good choice for a white. For a red I would recommend a chateau neuf de pape. A belgian friend insisted on buying it for us at a meal one night and it was superb.

MrPudding

I quite like chateau neuf de pape but it is not to everyones taste as it is quite a full bodied, heavy wine. I know a few people that like red but can't drink it. Probably not a good idea for a large group, many of which you won't know the preferences of.

MrP

Beruthiel

jropero wrote:

Vino tinto Marqués de Cáceres Crianza (bottle 4.16 €). More complex, better wine. It's Tempranillo (85%), Garnacha (8%), Graciano (7%), so it's more elaborated. Also a typical weeding wine. Very good, also. Good if the meat has a strong taste.

You know you sh!t jropero!
You don't work for a wine company do you?
I love the Tempranillo grape, and if the wine is 100% Tempranillo, I'll drink it by the bucket full.
I always buy a couple of bottles of Rioja Faustino for the weekend. No V11 is ok, No V is good and No. 1 is delicious.

chateau neuf de pape is lovely mr. pudding, but a good bottle can set you back.

Don't forget your dessert wines Iso, Santarne ftw!

MrPudding

Beruthiel wrote:

You know you sh!t jropero!
You don't work for a wine company do you?
I love the Tempranillo grape, and if the wine is 100% Tempranillo, I'll drink it by the bucket full.
I always buy a couple of bottles of Rioja Faustino for the weekend. No V11 is ok, No V is good and No. 1 is delicious.

chateau neuf de pape is lovely mr. pudding, but a good bottle can set you back.

Don't forget your dessert wines Iso, Santarne ftw!

I am a bit of a tempranillo fan myself. If you like marques de riscal try their rioja reserva. This has taken over from Penfolds St Hugo (can't get it anymore anyway) as my favorite red.

MrP

jropero

Oh no! France won again! It’s the Spanish old story

Congratulations for your choice!!! I hope you’ll taste Spanish wines in your honey moon

And Beruthiel, thanks a lot… I don’t work for a wine company, I just drink wine every day, just a bit…

scotusone

if your parents are in catalonia they should look at the wines of priorat . not cheap but i think they are making some of the most incredible reds in europe today with cab sav and grenache ( ganarcha in spain )

hargo

Gran Feudo Vinas Viejas reserva about €7.50 in Spain, double that here is a great value wine very smooth, or the Gran Feudo reserva for €5.50 is also very good.

Tazz T

It's worth remembering that a lot of people who aren't regular wine drinkers may find rioja a bit heavy/oaky.

Vino tinto Gran Feudo Crianza 3.95 € - that's fabulous value. Is the rose around this price too.

I'll probably be over in Malaga for Xmas. If so, I'd say my wine bill will be much reduced this year.