Wine trip to Cherbourg

RachWatch

Was supposed to go to Roscoff for our wine trip last Friday but forgot our passports :mad: now rebooked but have to go to Cherbourg where we have never been before.
Would appreciate any tips on where to go for good cheap wine??
tks

P. Breathnach

There is a bit of a trade off between good and cheap!

For fairly acceptable wines at low prices, there is Auchan, a hypermarché about 4km from the ferry port.

Personally, I prefer the Normandie Wine Warehouse about 1km from the ferry. The staff are knowledgeable and helpful, and the quality of the wines on offer is just a little bit higher (as are the prices - and I mean just a little).

RachWatch

P. Breathnach wrote: »

There is a bit of a trade off between good and cheap!

For fairly acceptable wines at low prices, there is Auchan, a hypermarché about 4km from the ferry port.

Personally, I prefer the Normandie Wine Warehouse about 1km from the ferry. The staff are knowledgeable and helpful, and the quality of the wines on offer is just a little bit higher (as are the prices - and I mean just a little).

Thanks a million pbreathnach!!

mimihops

I found Normandie Wine company great as well and we stocked up on loads of lovely cheap wines there. Went across to the Carrfour as well which is just across the way I think and got some good wines there too, but the Normandie Wine warehouse was best, they had some delicious sparkling wines too.

Decoda

Plus 1 for the Normandie wine warehouse. Very friendly and gave us a few free tasters to help us with some new wines we hadn't tried before. They also threw in a few free bottles when we were settling up.

Will definitely be returning,

DC

P. Breathnach

Perhaps I should invite people to keep the endorsements coming. I'm in France right now, and will be buying wine in Cherbourg on Wednesday. If I show them this thread, I might get an extra bottle or two thrown in.

barfizz

I've bought wine from NWW a few times and they were always very helpful and nice.
The first time I was there the sales guy asked me did I want to buy what was on the bottle or in the bottle.
He offered some great suggestions that i would never have thought of trying.

well worth the trip.

nompere

On a related note, can any of you recommend somewhere in the vicinity of Calais for wine buying? I'm not looking for cheap for the sake of cheap, but somewhere to get decent wines at a sensible price.

Thanks.

RachWatch

Normandie Wine looks like the one! thanks all...

barrybones_wx

how much money did you spend to get a few extra bottles in NW? any particular recommendations anyone?

going over this evening on the ferry - lets hope the weather holds... lovely evening for a sailing.

munchkin_utd

RachWatch wrote: »

Normandie Wine looks like the one! thanks all...

with a Celtic Link boarding pass they even knock another 10% off the price aparantly!

zagmund

I've never had much fun with the wine places around Cherbourg. Mainly because I can't find them. They seem to be the only places in France that don't have a sign on the approach road.

I came through last year with plenty of time, not on a Sunday, during the day, etc . . . so they should have been open. I went to that big place at the top of the hill and found DIY shops, supermarkets, car parks to beat the band, bathroom shops, clothes shops, electrical shops, etc . . . but couldn't see any wine shops.

The previous time we came through we already had a few boxes in the back (passed through the Champagne region a few days earlier), but as it happens we found out the hard way that French shops don't do Sundays.

This year I loaded up in advance in Nantes. We grabbed a few individual bottles and had a tasting in the hotel on the Friday, then stocked up on the Saturdays at the local E Leclerc. The only problem was that they had all their bottles out of boxes . . . have you any idea how much of a bowsy you look like walking through the supermarket with 144 individual bottles of wine stacked in the trolley ? Boxes at least bring the tone up a little. OK, it wasn't 144 bottles but it was a good few.

Back on topic - coming from outside Cherbourg on the only approach road - where are the wine shops ? And more importantly, how do they compare in value to shops elsewhere ?

z

P. Breathnach

Don't follow the signposting for the ferries: that bypasses the town.

Take the road signposted for Cherbourg itself. After a long downhill bend, the road straightens out for more than a km. That is Avenue Carnot, and leads eventually to the ferry terminals. About 2/3 or 3/4 along that straight you will see a large block-like shopping centre to your left, set back about 50m. from the road. The Normandie Wine Warehouse is on your right, just after McDonald's. You need to be attentive, or you will miss it.

Bicycle

nompere wrote: »

On a related note, can any of you recommend somewhere in the vicinity of Calais for wine buying? I'm not looking for cheap for the sake of cheap, but somewhere to get decent wines at a sensible price.

Thanks.

If you head to Cite Europe, which is in the same general area as the Channel Tunnel there is a huge Carrefour which has an excellent range of wines. The shop is so big that some of the staff use scooters to go around the store.

Just remember that they are closed on Sundays. http://en.citeeurope.com/W/do/centre/home

RachWatch

Thanks for the directions PBreathnach.
I must say having looked at Normandie Wine and other supermarkets in the area of Cherbourg - there is far better value to be had in Roscoff. We've been a few times and you can combine good price and quality. Next time we'll be heading to Roscoff again, this time not forgetting the passports grrr

P. Breathnach

Sorry you were disappointed, RachWatch. I think it's partly a matter of what you are used to. I generally get wines to please me in Cherbourg, but the couple of times I have been through Roscoff I found things a bit of a struggle.

Are you on the boat?

RachWatch

Hi PBreathnach - no we're not going until next weekend - I was just comparing the prices and wines on the websites. Of course it's personal choice and probably a bit of familiarity - we know Roscoff quite well at this stage and have found a couple of pretty good shops and nice wine at the right price. You never know, we might be pleasantly surprised in Cherbourg after all

P. Breathnach

There is a "Foire au vins" in Auchan at the moment, and I think it will continue to the end of the month. Some of the prices look very good, but I don't know the wines, and they generally don't offer tastings. You might find things to suit you there:
http://www.auchan.fr/la-foire-aux-vins-de-septembre/achat1/8060003

Our main target this time was table wines, and we are happy to buy boxed wine for everyday use. When they are opened they are good for some weeks (between four and ten, depending on which "expert" you consult). You can also carry more in a car, as the volume and weight are lower - bottles weigh more than the wine they contain.

RachWatch

Just back from a successul trip to Cherbourg Went much better than we thought. Thanks to PBreathnach and others, we shopped in Normandie Wines. They were very pleasant and helpful. They were happy to open any bottle we wanted to try. They gave us a nice 10% discount off the lot. The four hours in Cherbourg was fine - even managed to stroll across the road to the Carrefour shop to pick up a few other bits and pieces.

Very happy now to have two options for our wine trips in the future

munchkin_utd

RachWatch wrote: »

<snip>The four hours in Cherbourg was fine - even managed to stroll across the road to the Carrefour shop to pick up a few other bits and pieces.

thanks for the reminder on that.
From their website they're open till 9pm Monday to Saturday so late enough to pad out time for a ferry with a later departure and pick up some fresh supplies for the ferry crossing! And its only 5 min from the ferryport
http://www.carrefour.fr/magasin/cherbourg

bilbot79

Can anyone venture forward the kind of figures they get up to? How much do you spend overall? How many bottles?

Nodge1965

I was in Cherbourg in March - spent about €1000 on 240 bottles - 40 half cases. Bought from winebeersupermarket.com who are in Roscoff and made our selections on line . Nice english chap there drove from Roscoff to Cherbourg and we loaded our car in about 20 mins. Found this much more efficient that trailing around a supermarche for an hour. As we only had 4 .5 hours on land before boat sailed we were able to make better use of our time by finding a lovely restaurant to eat in. Wine so far has been really good

paul29163

is a trip like this still good value?,

We are planning an extended weekend trip with car, Looking for a mix of some decent wines as well as bulk average plonk, looking at the carrefour site and there appears to be some decent deals available. From reading above it seems to make sense to select online prior to visit which would save on the dreaded traipsing and panic buying,

any advise boarders?

McSween

We are supposed to go tomorrow 28th. I am waiting to see if the sea crossing forecast improves. If it doesnt we wont go. We havent booked ferry as price is still the same. It will be a shame if it is very rough as the hour goes back on sunday. That hour would be very useful.

McSween

Out of interest why is Epsilon dub-cherbourg today with WB Yeats going tomorrow. This i have noticed is quite regular.

granturismo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121289896#Comment_121289896

40 hour scheduled return sail with a 4 hour turn around in each port might explain why the same ship cant leave Dublin on successive days.

McSween

But why is the Epsilon on the route on a friday when im sure the preferred ship leaves the same placea day later

browne_rob5

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121290097#Comment_121290097

I think these were scheduled with the possibility of Ireland being in the World Cup final. The WB Yeats probably went Dublin to Cherbourg yesterday.

granturismo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121290097#Comment_121290097

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121290359#Comment_121290359

The schedule is here:

If the preferred ship is the WBY- it leaves France on Fridays, it cant be in Dublin on the same day.

Its the same sailings leaving Dub on Thur (WBY), Fri (EP) & Sat (WBY) and leaving Cherb Fri (WBY), Sat (EP) & Sun (WBY) for 48 weeks of the year, the schedele is here:

https://www.irishferries.com/globalassets/visiting-france/france2023/images/schedule/2023-ireland-france-schedule.pdf

McSween

Thanks smart arse still doesnt explain why they use the Epsilon is used in addition to WB Yeats (sorry if i didnt call it that earlier) on a skeleton voyage at this time of year

‘If the preferred ship is the WBY- it leaves France on Fridays, it cant be in Dublin on the same day.

40 hour scheduled return sail with a 4 hour turn around in each port might explain why the same ship cant leave Dublin on successive days’

The Nal

Not worth it anymore. Just buy wine in Lidl or Aldi.