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Arras wine


Swann RAnger

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Good afternoon,

 

Are there any recommendations regarding where to purchase wine in Arras to bring back to Blighty?

 

cheers

Paul

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Cannot see wine in Arras being cheapish, best getting stocked up at a wine and beer wholesale place on way back to coast, Ian.

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we always get our wine from Carrefour starts around €1.60 per litre, Lidl also do some and there are some of theirs that are available in England.

really depends on what you want our favourite is a sweet white,at 1.69, a sparking demi sec we use for birthdays etc at 1.69. I bring back red for upto 2.00 a bottle for a friend. 

the tunnel has offers on around €30 Jacobs Creek, Echo Falls, Hardys depends what they have on offer.

St Omer beer around €7.50 for 24 bottles is around £8.00 in duty free, supermarkets sometimes have 2 +1 free on Leffe 12 packs.

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It depends when you are going. I try to combine my trips to France with a visit to any foire des vins which happen to be on. These are occasions when wine producers hire a salon and set up shop to sell direct to the locals. Prices are very reasonable, huge choice, you get to meet the producers and you can taste before you buy.

There is one scheduled for 26-29 April in Seclin, half-way between Arras and Lille.  See:https://www.vins-de-terroir.com/ for further details. Seclin is on the A1 Paris to Lille and easy access to Channel ports.

You can combine business with pleasure and visit the Fort de Seclin, A WW1 installation used by the Germans, and the local cemetery has a very impressive German plot.

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Hello Ian, Chad & Hedley,

 

I’ll be be going to Arras in 2 weeks. Visiting High Wood, Gommecourt, Bullecourt & the Chemical works + Wancourt areas

your comments are very much appreciated.

 

kind regards

Paul.

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22 hours ago, chaz said:

we always get our wine from Carrefour starts around €1.60 per litre, Lidl also do some and there are some of theirs that are available in England.

really depends on what you want our favourite is a sweet white,at 1.69, a sparking demi sec we use for birthdays etc at 1.69. I bring back red for upto 2.00 a bottle for a friend. 

the tunnel has offers on around €30 Jacobs Creek, Echo Falls, Hardys depends what they have on offer...

 

You're not actually meant to drink any of that stuff, you use it to chemically strip all the dirt, rust and corrosion off of the unit badges that you pick up in the fields, to render safe any munitions that you find, and if there's any left over, to clear your drains when you get home. Don't use it in your petrol tank though, it will eat through the fuel lines.

Edited by horrocks
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Guest Ricard 51
On 03/03/2019 at 21:34, chaz said:

we always get our wine from Carrefour starts around €1.60 per litre, Lidl also do some and there are some of theirs that are available in England.

really depends on what you want our favourite is a sweet white,at 1.69, a sparking demi sec we use for birthdays etc at 1.69. I bring back red for upto 2.00 a bottle for a friend. 

the tunnel has offers on around €30 Jacobs Creek, Echo Falls, Hardys depends what they have on offer.

St Omer beer around €7.50 for 24 bottles is around £8.00 in duty free, supermarkets sometimes have 2 +1 free on Leffe 12 packs.

 

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My preference is to buy fewer bottles but better quality. If buying from a hypermarket, you risk that the wine may be awful, so one way round that is to buy it at the beginning of the trip, drink it during and go back to buy more if you like it. I believe there is a Majestic in Calais and I have read recommendations of (the terribly named) Franglais wines in Fréthun. My main interest is Alsace wines, which we always buy from the viticulteurs, and I had a look on Franglais' site at the Alsace section: there are some reputable, reliable names on there at a range of prices.

 

Having said that, there are some perfectly nice world wines available in the UK at inexpensive prices these days, so for me, bringing back a bootful of cheap French wine doesn't have the appeal it once had.

 

Gwyn

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There is a good wine shop in Haillicourt near Bethune. 

 

Michelle

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Complement your wine with some fine cheese from Bethune or Arras

image.png.05e8c707a29ea9898d5ac8cc8e879baa.png

Edited by jonbem
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Arras shop

image.png.40371dd21e7786d4cc2174abbfa550b6.png

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I always buy from Guy Boursot's shop in Ardres, 30 minutes south of Calais. He is a Brit who used to work at Berry Bros. You get excellent advice, a personal service and your wine will be loaded into your car for you. Even his cheapest red "Le Petit Pont Rouge" is very drinkable at 4.50 euros a bottle. See http://www.boursot.co.uk/index.html

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28 minutes ago, Robin Garrett said:

I always buy from Guy Boursot's shop in Ardres, 30 minutes south of Calais. He is a Brit who used to work at Berry Bros. You get excellent advice, a personal service and your wine will be loaded into your car for you. Even his cheapest red "Le Petit Pont Rouge" is very drinkable at 4.50 euros a bottle. See http://www.boursot.co.uk/index.html

 

What an excellent tip, some very interesting wines on his list, and no mass-produced pap at all.

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19 hours ago, horrocks said:

 

Don't use it in your petrol tank though, it will eat through the fuel lines.

 

That'll be the remains of the fuel lines after the martres have been in the engine space. ...les martres adorent votre auto

 

I've seen martres visiting cars in Alsace. One more thing to worry about... ;) 

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All these recommendations are fine as long as it's to your taste. We like the cheap white, in the past i was told to try certain reds that were twice as dear in England . To our taste they were like vinegar, we buy a single bottle and try. If ok photo the label and buy more if not, leave on the shelf... It's personal taste, 

 

another thing we we have found after multiple visits, is that if any good the locals buy it. Shelves full of it but a few empty spaces, get there late in the day and check shelf tags.

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37 minutes ago, chaz said:

All these recommendations are fine as long as it's to your taste. We like the cheap white, in the past i was told to try certain reds that were twice as dear in England . To our taste they were like vinegar, we buy a single bottle and try. If ok photo the label and buy more if not, leave on the shelf... It's personal taste, 

 

another thing we we have found after multiple visits, is that if any good the locals buy it. Shelves full of it but a few empty spaces, get there late in the day and check shelf tags.

 

True of course. Wine, like so many things, is a very subjective matter.

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I would recommend Guy Boursot in Ardres, on the Calais-Saint-Omer road. He knows his wine. Tell him your budget and your preferences and he'll sort you out.

 

My other piece of advice would be to get as much as you can because we don't know what the HMRC personal allowances for wine will be post-Brexit. At the moment it's all you can drink as long as it is for 'personal consumption', which I understand translates to 55 bottles per person. That's a lot of wine. 18 cases for a car with two people. Make sure your car springs can take it. But hang on: some of us old hands remember the bad old pre-European integration days when one's duty-free ration was - and I well remember the offending phrase - 'two litres of still table wine' per person. That's not even three proper bottles!! And not any old wine - it had to be still. Only a HRMC official could make it sound boring. So stock up while the going is good, before your duty free allowances disappear behind a tariff wall.

Edited by Hedley Malloch
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6 hours ago, Hedley Malloch said:

I would recommend Guy Boursot in Ardres, on the Calais-Saint-Omer road. He knows his wine. Tell him your budget and your preferences and he'll sort you out.

 

My other piece of advice would be to get as much as you can because we don't know what the HMRC personal allowances for wine will be post-Brexit. At the moment it's all you can drink as long as it is for 'personal consumption', which I understand translates to 55 bottles per person. That's a lot of wine. 18 cases for a car with two people. Make sure your car springs can take it. But hang on: some of us old hands remember the bad old pre-European integration days when one's duty-free ration was - and I well remember the offending phrase - 'two litres of still table wine' per person. That's not even three proper bottles!! And not any old wine - it had to be still. Only a HRMC official could make it sound boring. So stock up while the going is good, before your duty free allowances disappear behind a tariff wall.

 

HMRC has nothing to do with it now, it’s the Border Agency that control it.

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On 04/03/2019 at 20:40, horrocks said:

 

You're not actually meant to drink any of that stuff, you use it to chemically strip all the dirt, rust and corrosion off of the unit badges that you pick up in the fields, to render safe any munitions that you find, and if there's any left over, to clear your drains when you get home. Don't use it in your petrol tank though, it will eat through the fuel lines.

Hear, hear. I can feel my stomach lining disintegrating just thinking about it.

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14 minutes ago, healdav said:

Hear, hear. I can feel my stomach lining disintegrating just thinking about it.

 

Had a rather cheeky red from the supermarket behind(?) Cloth Hall. Two Euros! The cheese cost six! The next morning get on the bus I was slightly delicate. 

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1 hour ago, Scalyback said:

Two Euros!

More practice/training seems affordable.

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7 hours ago, Scalyback said:

The next morning get on the bus I was slightly delicate. 

Must have been something in the cheese ;)

 

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5 hours ago, jonbem said:

More practice/training seems affordable.

I had proper gut rot as a child. Revenge from the French side of the family...…………….no training needed. 

 

5 minutes ago, seaJane said:

Must have been something in the cheese ;)

 

The cheese was a dining delight in itself. More rubber, truth be told. 

 

 

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