Arras wine

[Swann RAnger]

Thank you one & all, I didn’t realise I’d mail Berry Bros directly!

I’m no wine expert so have decided to visit the large Carrefour on the outskirts of Arras.

maybe two mixed cases of Saint Emilion or similar & a couple of boxes of everyday white for my better half will do.

as Gwyn mentioned the days of filling the car to overflowing are in the passed.

and a selection of fromage of course.

 

thanks

Paul

[Dragon]

21 hours ago, Hedley Malloch said:

. So stock up while the going is good, before your duty free allowances disappear behind a tariff wall.

 

I too remember the former limits. I  presume, though, we will be able to declare the wine and pay the duty. The wine would probably still be cheaper than in a UK wine merchant, if indeed it's available in the UK. I have the view that if I'm going to poison my system with alcohol, I'm going to be selective about how I do it.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[horrocks]

16 hours ago, Dragon said:

 

I too remember the former limits. I  presume, though, we will be able to declare the wine and pay the duty. The wine would probably still be cheaper than in a UK wine merchant, if indeed it's available in the UK.... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is certainly true. The UK wine merchant (I am one) is compelled to add his/her margin to the duty element of the wine too, as it has to be financed.

 

Because excise duty is set by alcohol content rather than value, it disproportionately hits at the budget end, and has progressively less of an impact as the wine increases in value. Duty and its attendant VAT (tax on tax) on a 75cl bottle accounts for £3.07 before you've even started. The UK average price for a bottle of wine is £5.75, so removing the taxes and a modest theoretical retailers margin of 25%, you have about £1.36 to account for capital costs, production, labour, bottling and distribution, a modicum of profit for the producer, and finally, the actual wine, probably something between 10p and 20p worth!

 

On a bottle retailing at £7.50 the residual figure grows from £1.36 to £2.45, and on a £10 bottle, to £4. Given that production and capital costs will be broadly similar to those of the £5.75 bottle, it is clear than the value within the costs of the actual wine rapidly and disproportionately increases if you spend a bit more.

 

Value for money takes on a meaning that extends way beyond merely 'cheap' in the UK wine market.

Edited 7 March , 2019 by horrocks

[jonbem]

For a home tipple, I buy a kit in the £35-40 range that makes approx. 23 litres/5 gallon/27-30 bottles. Thus approx £1.30 per bottle.

It can take me anywhere from 3 to 6 months to get through it. The wine is quite drinkable. (improving with a little age) I try to keep a couple back for "maturing".

Some of the cheaper end kits that retail around £20 or under can be a bit cheek sucking!

[Dragon]

1 hour ago, horrocks said:

 

This is certainly true. The UK wine merchant (I am one) is compelled to add his/her margin to the duty element of the wine too, as it has to be financed.

..., it is clear than the value within the costs of the actual wine rapidly and disproportionately increases if you spend a bit more.

...Value for money takes on a meaning that extends way beyond merely 'cheap' in the UK wine market.

 

What an interesting job! And an interesting explanation, too. I do understand that the wine merchant has to earn a living. Value for money isn't necessarily the cheapest bottle on the shelves of a nationwide supermarket. Though I wouldn't be using riesling Clos Ste-Hune to make a fondue...

 

We had often vaguely thought that it would be a good challenge to set up as an importer of Alsace wines (do it properly and legally, I mean) - it would fit in well with exploring the Vosges, which we enjoy. Sadly we didn't do any serious thinking through the idea before this lot (if it happens) put an end to thoughts of a career diversion, at least for the time being.

 

Gwyn

[horrocks]

Gwyn, Alsace wines are sadly ignored in the UK retail market, though pretty universally adored by the wine trade.

 

I suspect it would be hard to make a living as a specialist importer of Alsace wines, though one should never discount a niche. Oddly enough, of all of the French regions I find it to be the one that attracts the greatest numbers of cellar door buyers. I have clients who know far more about Alsace producers than I do!

 

An aside, I love your photographs, particularly the Black & Whites, very atmospheric.

Edited 8 March , 2019 by horrocks

[Dragon]

Hi - I wasn't thinking about making a living! There are people like you who have specialist knowledge which probably took years of experience to accumulate. It could have been a sideline, that was all. We see Alsace wine in, say, the Wine Society and think it's regrettable that they stick to well-known (and often expensive) names, but I suppose they know their market. Clients are missing out, though.

 

I wrote something about the role of the Gourmet (Weinsticher) recently but it looks as if I forgot to blog it, just put it on Facebook. Briefly, the Gourmet’s role was to broker deals between the producer and the client so that the producer sold his wine at the rates most favourable to him and that everyone involved in the transaction acted in good faith. If a foreign purchaser came in search of a wine producer, it was the Gourmet’s role to take him to a suitable viticulteur who could best satisfy the purchaser’s requirements. The Gourmet would then ensure that the proper price was paid. He didn’t accept gifts, but he received commission, though after the Revolution the amount of commission which he could be paid was restricted. (Inevitably producers took advantage of this new regulation to keep the profit of the Gourmet as low as possible.) Commission was around 2% in 1780. [… Fast forward to 20c...] Just before and after the Great War, wine fairs were organised to promote Alsace wines. Clients had the opportunity to taste local wines and choose their wine suppliers on the spot. The role of the Gourmet finally disappeared.

 

Zellenberg and the home of le Gourmet. My postcard: those buildings are still there, in the same family. BTW Zellenberg is one of the villages with a Germanised war memorial.

 

 

Thank you for the comment on my snaps.

 

 

 

 

 

[seaJane]

Is Gewurztraminer an Alsace wine or am I barking up the wrong tree? (vine?) 

[Hedley Malloch]

It's a grape.

[Dragon]

Yes, gewurz is one of the grapes grown in Alsace. Initially the family was 'traminer'. Here's an early label - I have a set, with the old grape names.

 

The building at the top of the hill is Haut-Koenigsbourg, a ruin given by the town of Sélestat to Kaiser Wilhelm II of Great War fame and rebuilt by him as a romantic-style castle, completed in 1908, as a power statement. It absolutely pelted with rain on the grand opening pageant, which amused local people considerably.

 

Edited 10 March , 2019 by Dragon
Date

[horrocks]

21 hours ago, seaJane said:

Is Gewurztraminer an Alsace wine or am I barking up the wrong tree? (vine?) 

 

It's a grape, and a wine. Alsace, uniquely in French Appellations Controlées, can use the grape name as the wine name.

Edited 9 March , 2019 by horrocks

[seaJane]

Thanks all! How interesting.

[chaz]

Says it all really, as posted in skindles. Our house in France has been visited by light fingered larry, apart from a couple of bottles of Leffe and some coka cola".. Our selection of beer and wine in the cellar was untouched. Either he didn't approve or thought it wasn't worth the time. He is now in custody. Btw, he didn't take two packs of Leffe from cellar only a couple of bottles from kitchen.u

 

just raided the cellar for a bottle of rose.... Ye gods, I can see why he wasn't interested. Half bottle left anyone?

Edited 10 March , 2019 by chaz