September is wine bargain time in France when the various hypermarket chains have done their best to lure new customers into their stores with the promise of often fine wines at bargain prices.
The September issue of France’s only consumer wine magazine La Revue du Vin de France is stuffed with information about prices and their ratings for the wines on offer, often as much as 18.5 points out of 20. Price reductions can be as much as 50% although of course the prices weren’t necessarily competitive to begin with.
As RVF points out, some of the most alluring offers are on websites and therefore open to us all. They are particularly enthusiastic about the 150 wines on offer at ChateauOnline.com and, especially, Wineandco.com where some prices have fallen by 60 per cent.
Many of us are just taking delivery of our 2004 red bordeaux bought en primeur more than two years ago. Compare and contrast with, for example, Ch Grand Puy Lacoste 2004 at 31.10 euros a bottle or Ch Smith Haut Lafitte 2004 at 36.50 euros a bottle from wineandco.com – although of course it is not cheap to have wine shipped outside France, and many of our members have had serious problems getting ChateauOnline.com to deliver – a not inconsequential detail. (See ChateauOnline's shortcomings and several more recent postings on members' forum.)
My advice is simply to those in France at the moment that they arm themselves with the current RVF, make some sober decisions at home and then head out to the shop floor as soon as possible for maximum availability.
It hardly needs saying that virtually all the wines in these Foires aux Vins are French.