What wine to buy in France?

muckety

Travelling to the vendee on a family holiday this summer. As we will have the car full with kids and luggage there won't be much room to bring back lots of wine, unfortunately. But I thought we might buy a few boxes as these would be the most space-efficient. However, my experience of boxed wines are not good!

Does anyone know if there are GOOD wine boxes available in France? Since we won't be too far from the Loire valley I am hoping to be able to get a decent couple of Sauvignon Blanc or Muscadet. I am not familiar with the red wines of the area so any advice here would be appreciated also. Thanks,

BeerNut

My personal hypermarché tactic is one developed more for bottled wine than boxes, but it may be transferable. It's this:
1. Look for medals, awards etc on the label
2. Buy the cheapest
3. Buy a variety

This way, if you do get something that's only good for cooking you're not stuck with a load of it and it didn't cost you much. I've bought some wonderful wines for under €3 this way.

babaduck

My fave boxed wine from la belle France is Roche Mazet Sauvignon Blanc... tastes great either in the box or the bottle. Their Cinsault is also really gorgeous (should have bought more last year!!!)

muckety

Thanks for your replies... The Sauv Blanc looks good - though I hope to find something local to the area (loire).

Do you know are any producers using a box for AC wines? I had read recently that the cost of producing glass wine bottles has increased significantly so wine producers in France were seriously considering other materials (eg cartons, and the bag-in-a-box). This is what gave me the idea of buying boxed wine.

Beruthiel

If I were buying to bring back, I'd get the following:
Châteauneuf-du-Pape
St. Emillian
And a bottle or two of Chateau Margeux as a real treat!

muckety

I love both Ch. neufdupape but its not local to the Loire valley... same for St. Em or Ch. Margeaux (though they're not as far away!) - was thinking more along the lines of wines from Tourraine Vouvray, Muscadet-de-sevre-et-mains, Sancerre etc. The Loire is mainly renowned for its whites and rose wines (Anjou) but there are also reds, however, I don't have much knowledge of these... (have tried red Sancerre but preferred white!). So my query is really around quality loire wines available in boxes, if anyone knows of these?

shrapnel222

wines they do in boxes over there and are AC and decent will be your rose d'anjou (lovely), the coteaux du layon for white and check out a few of the gamay in red as it can be a lovely wine ( taste this one first though as can be hit and miss)

also a must, get a couple of bottles of pineau des charentes to drink on a warm summer's evening in the garden, nice and fresh with a couple of ice cubes. that's just made me thirsty!!

muckety

Thanks shrnapel222 - thats good info. I am not a fan of the Gamay grape but had thought there were some producers in the region doing things with pinot noir. Have you tried any of these?

shrapnel222

i think you're right, but i'm certainly no expert. i'm not sure though if there's an exclusive pinot noir wine in that region, although plenty will be 50% pinot noir, 50% gamay, or other combinations of the 2 and or more

Haz33

babaduck wrote: »

My fave boxed wine from la belle France is Roche Mazet Sauvignon Blanc... tastes great either in the box or the bottle. Their Cinsault is also really gorgeous (should have bought more last year!!!)

Excellent advise. I have just come back from 2 weeks in France having spent 3 days in Normandy where I found an Intermarche selling this for €2.20 a bottle.
Dont get hung up on boxes to save room. a case of this (six bottles) will not take up anymore room than two boxes of wine, ( 2 boxes contains 8 botlles equivallent) and you will appreciate the difference. ( €13.20 for 6 bottles and average €18.00 for 2 decent boxes)
I drank various wines in France in different outlets ( from shop to vineyard ) to get a handle on a decent takehome, and I have to say anything I brought home from local french shops is far better than the french wine available in the Wholesalers ( geared at tourists ). So taste plenty and bring home what YOU like. That is what wine appreciation is all about. Enjoy your trip!

Hennybug

BeerNut wrote: »

My personal hypermarché tactic is one developed more for bottled wine than boxes, but it may be transferable. It's this:
1. Look for medals, awards etc on the label


Don't get sucked in by this anywhere! Anyone can stick a medal winner on a label it means nothing. The fancier the label/bottle, the less money going into the wine so go for something simple = better quality in the bottle.

Haz33

Hennybug wrote: »

BeerNut wrote: »

My personal hypermarché tactic is one developed more for bottled wine than boxes, but it may be transferable. It's this:
1. Look for medals, awards etc on the label


Don't get sucked in by this anywhere! Anyone can stick a medal winner on a label it means nothing. The fancier the label/bottle, the less money going into the wine so go for something simple = better quality in the bottle.

Very true. The more you look around the more you realise there are a thousand different awards for all sorts of things. Some of these awards are given to themselves. i.e. 2004 best vineyard choice, meaning, of all the wines we made this year this one is the best. How many awards would you give yourself???
At the end of the day the average French producer is getting 50c to €1.50 a bottle so make your own mind up as to who is profiting from awards and labels!!

lostinsuperfunk

Many small vignerons will fill a box for you and they usually have several box sizes from 3L upwards. So if you find something you like locally, you can visit the vigneron and ask them for a box. And you get to have a look around the vineyard!

BeerNut

Hennybug wrote: »

Don't get sucked in by this anywhere!

No, of course not. And obviously I'd favour awards from publications or organisations I'd heard of. But when choosing between six unknown bottles in the €1.50-€2 range, little gold circles are as good a criterion as any. Or a nice picture of a chateau.

Hennybug

BeerNut wrote: »

No, of course not. And obviously I'd favour awards from publications or organisations I'd heard of. But when choosing between six unknown bottles in the €1.50-€2 range, little gold circles are as good a criterion as any. Or a nice picture of a chateau.

GO for the nice picture of the Chateau rather than the gold circles

stillhere08

the aforementioned Chateau wines are often a dissapontment I find, I have tried some Vin de Pays DOC recently and have been pleasantly surprised, these are often sold in 3L boxes also

muckety

I agree with the VDP idea - though I'm looking for wines local to the Loire Valley rather than D'Oc wines - glad to hear that local producers will provide a wine in a box if you request it. I'd be interested in any vineyard recommendations around the northern Loire (espescially for a Muscadet).