Beaucoup de choses en France me semblent chères : l'immobilier, les appareils électroménagers, l'essence, les vêtements. Mais il y a une chose qui est, en général, très raisonnable - le vin.
Bien sûr, il y a des vins qui coûtent des centaines d'euros, mais il y en a aussi beaucoup qui n'en coûtent que 5 ou 7. À la différence des USA, où il y a un rapport qualité/prix presque parfaitement inverse, ici les vins bon marché sont souvent bons, même très bons. À ceux qui ne le croient pas, je vous conseille de visiter des vignobles et faire une dégustation, ce qui évitera toute surprise en ouvrant une bouteille.
Je suis toujours surprise que les producteurs ne proposent pas de meilleurs prix que les magasins ; il me semble tout à fait logique d'encourager les clients à visiter les vignobles avec une petite réduction sur le prix à la revente. En plus, il n'y a que très rarement des promotions si on achète une caisse. Aux USA, on vend presque toujours une caisse avec une réduction de 10 ou 15 %.
Mais j'ai quelques astuces pour les amateurs de vin futés (mot du jour).
Prononciation de vins français
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English translation Please scroll down for the side-by-side translation.
Cheap wine
Many things in France seem expensive to me: real estate, electrical appliances, gas, clothes. But there's one thing that is generally very reasonable - wine.
Of course, there are wines that cost hundreds of euros, but there are also a lot that only cost 5 or 7. Unlike in the US, where there's an almost perfect inverse relationship between quality and price, cheap wines here are often good, even very good. If you don't believe me, I encourage you to visit vineyards and do a tasting, which will avoid any surprises upon opening a bottle.
I'm always surprised that producers don't offer better prices than stores; it seems very logical to encourage customers to visit vineyards by offering a little discount on the resale price. In addition, there's very rarely a special offer for buying a case. In the US, a case is almost always sold for 10 or 15% less.
But I have some tips for cunning wine lovers.
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Side-by-side translation
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Vin bon marché Beaucoup de choses en France me semblent chères : l'immobilier, les appareils électroménagers, l'essence, les vêtements. Mais il y a une chose qui est, en général, très raisonnable - le vin. Bien sûr, il y a des vins qui coûtent des centaines d'euros, mais il y en a aussi beaucoup qui n'en coûtent que 5 ou 7. À la différence des USA, où il y a un rapport qualité/prix presque parfaitement inverse, ici les vins bon marché sont souvent bons, même très bons. À ceux qui ne le croient pas, je vous conseille de visiter des vignobles et faire une dégustation, ce qui évitera toute surprise en ouvrant une bouteille. Je suis toujours surprise que les producteurs ne proposent pas de meilleurs prix que les magasins ; il me semble tout à fait logique d'encourager les clients à visiter les vignobles avec une petite réduction sur le prix à la revente. En plus, il n'y a que très rarement des promotions si on achète une caisse. Aux USA, on vend presque toujours une caisse avec une réduction de 10 ou 15 %. Mais j'ai quelques astuces pour les amateurs de vin futés (mot du jour). |
Cheap wine Many things in France seem expensive to me: real estate, electrical appliances, gas, clothes. But there's one thing that is generally very reasonable - wine. Of course, there are wines that cost hundreds of euros, but there are also a lot that only cost 5 or 7. Unlike in the US, where there's an almost perfect inverse relationship between quality and price, cheap wines here are often good, even very good. If you don't believe me, I encourage you to visit vineyards and do a tasting, which will avoid any surprises upon opening a bottle. I'm always surprised that producers don't offer better prices than stores; it seems very logical to encourage customers to visit vineyards by offering a little discount on the resale price. In addition, there's very rarely a special offer for buying a case. In the US, a case is almost always sold for 10 or 15% less. But I have some tips for cunning wine lovers. |
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Comments
Hi Laura,
I’m constantly surprised by how horrible supermarket wine is here in France. Even a relatively expensive bottle is poor compared to an American or Australian equivalent. Looks like I’ll have to find a vineyard to buy from – and I’m looking forward to hearing your astuces :0)
Keep up the good work!
Ooh no, buying supermarket wine in France is much like supermarket wine in Spain, UK, US, etc. It depends what you buy (and where and even when – the “foires aux vins” are often interesting) – they’ve generally got a lot of rubbish but a lot of good stuff as well.
Over the years, I have found good (even very good) wine at low (even absurdly low) prices in grandes surfaces (supermarkets) such as Asda (UK WalMart), Sainsbury, Tesco, Casino, Leclerlc and, above all, Lidl (recently selling off decent Gran Riserva 2003 Spanish wine at €1.99 per bottle).
I have also found a lot of rubbish, so I invariably buy a single bottle to try before bulk buying – I have spent about €100,000 over the past 20 years – significant chunks of which have gone each on direct buying, specialist cavistes and supermarkets.
Hi Laura – First, thanks for a website that has taught me so much!
Second – can you talk a little about the placement of the mot du jour “futés” here and why it would not be…”pour les amateurs futés de vin”.
May be a dumb question but I’m still learning.
THANKS!
shouldn’t you write “aux E-U” ..?
While I don’t drink wine, I think the price should be about the same in vinyards and stores. That is supprising there is no reduction in price when buying a case. I think I’m getting really good at french-I could understand about 85-90% of the french article. Je fini deuxime annee francais.
I thought an inverse relationship between quality and price meant that when the price goes up the quality goes down and vice versa. And a direct relationship meant that quality and price go together (i.e., higher prices = higher quality, and lower prices = lower quality).
Hi Laura! I just want to say that your articles are great they help me to learn more about french culture.
Thank You from Santo Domingo
Like most things in this world, producing a quality wine costs a little more than a “bottom shelf” product. Your supermarket willbe driven by profit, so for the same cost as a supermarket wine you can purchase a better quality wine elsewhere.
THe reason for the vineyard sales to be no cheaper than other retail sales is that there is a general agreement that the vingernon will not discount his price and undercut hie retailers whom he depends upon for the bulk of his sales. Cellar door sales profvide a bit of extra pocket money.
Ms.Laura would it possible to attach an audio of the same so that I could learn the pronunciations as well.
I’m not a big wine drinker but I was delighted to come upon your article and the links to wine pronunciation. Learning every facet of French living beyond the language is so important to me in becoming immersed in the French culture. I feel like I have a personal tutor in this learning experience.
Luckily, we have a cave with our apartment here in Paris, so we can take advantage of the seasonal wine sales (which offer reductions at around 20%). We’ve been very lucky at obtaining these reasonably priced wines from some of the wine store chains like Nicolas at under 10 euros per bottle.
Also, on our trips to the vineyards, we have never paid for the wine tastings, so we consider that the trade off–the chance to try the wines first and its great fun. Plus, we usually manage to get either a very small discount (or even a free bottle of wine!) when we buy more than one case.
Off the subject, my wife and I both love your blog and articles. We need French for our jobs here in France and you have helped us get through some pretty tricky grammatical constructions. Thanks!
–Ed and Julie
Paris
Our native French neighbour, (who, by the way, gets most of his wine from a cousin’s vineyard) at who’s table we have never had anything but excellent wine, told us that if he does buy wine at a supermarket, he has a little trick. He confesses that he is no expert, so he looks for a place where, on the shelf, almost every bottle of one particular wine is sold. Of course there could be any number of reasons why that might be so, but he has found that it often indicates that there might be a little gem there, and he purchases a bottle or two from remaining few.
Salut Laura,
Excellent article. One question, why the “en” in “n’en coûtent que” as opposed to “ne coûtent que” ?
Merci.