It's that time of year when the France's enormous wine industry turns to the public to come and help with the Vendanges. Traditionally this is in exchange for bed & board but some wine yards offer a small salary based on how many kilos of grapes you pick. Evey year I say I'll do it, and every year life gets in the way! But I do my bit by buying the wine!
One of the many reasons I don't fancy moving back to the UK is the price of wine! One of my favourite wines in France is Champlure Rosé and Lichette White.
Averaging at between 1.40€ - 2€ depending on the supermarket. To my surprise I stumbled across this lovely no nonesense wine in Tesco on my last visit home for the whopping price of £6.99 a bottle! What is that about??
There are hundreds of "Vin de Tables" (Table Wines) for under 3€ in France, the only wine you find for that sort of price in the UK is Lambrusco!
The French of course can be very snobby about their wine, and even though these table wines are perfectly lovely they are not what one would bring to a party! The unwritten etiquette is from 4€ upwards or at least at decent Cotes de Provence Rosé at around 2.90€ will be acceptable.
Why aren't the French always mortal at these prices I hear you cry? Well, they also have a drinking etiquette. Drunkeness is acceptable at very special occasions but otherwise it is very much looked down upon to be anything other than nicely "pompette" (tipsy). Also there are no small, medium or large glass options, wine is served in 15cl glasses, known as "ballon" (balloon of wine) compared to the buckets that you can find in most British pubs and bars!
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| French Wine Size |
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| British Wine Size |
Much like their eating etiquette, everything in moderation!
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