This is why punters tell me they don't like French wine...

[Harryburgundy]

...bloody fools I think to myself....French wines can be the finest in the world, how can you say you don't like french wine...mentally pocking fingers in eyes.

Ah

Finest


Tesco Finest


Bought their 'Finest' Chablis for market research.

What utter utter utter crap! Nothing in the wine even hints at the origin of Chablis...no smoke or stone...no terroir...zip. Worse still..it's utterly bland.

Nearly speachless...but clearly not.

 

[marin man]

Yep your right the asda hidden vineyards red ...and produced in norfolk as well is far superior to anything from tescos

 

[RobMac]

Come on Arry spit it out dont you like it?




.

 

[ringo]

Ah

Finest


Tesco Finest


Bought their 'Finest' Chablis for market research.

For a fiver what do you expect! I got a bottle and thought it was OK, but I have a pretty poor pallette!

What should a decent Chablis cost?

 

[Harryburgundy]

Ah

Finest


Tesco Finest


Bought their 'Finest' Chablis for market research.

For a fiver what do you expect! I got a bottle and thought it was OK, but I have a pretty poor pallette!

What should a decent Chablis cost?

Of course I didn't expect much...and that's exactly what I got..well, a bit less than not much. It's advertised at down from £8.50....which is just bullshit. Supermarkets are duping customers with these bogus offers, and destroying the reputation of classic wines to boot. I'm annoyed at the producers too but they are having a bad time and need to shift wine and convert it to cash...so I guess they pull down their pants and bend over to the likes of Tesco.
Nowadays a proper villages Chablis would cost 12-15ish...a bit more for the better producers. I sell Laurent Tribut. Premier Crus are a lottery...there are too many 1er Cru ACs and most of them not worthy of the elevated status (and price). Again...the best producers from the best 1er Cru vineyards are worth the extra...forget cheap 1er Cru.
Grand Cru....mmmmmm....now you are talking
I might have to lie down now.


The Tescos stuff isn't good Chablis or even okay wine....it's tasteless shite...but clean and devoid of any technical faults.

 

[marin man]

Send me a good bottle of chablis up with my frame carl,I will of course pay you for it as well as the postage.....

 

[Harryburgundy]

Send me a good bottle of chablis up with my frame carl,I will of course pay you for it as well as the postage.....

No worries Scotty...shouldn't be too hard to steam a grand Cru label off a box and relabel some Tescos stuff. I'll try and get a box tomorrow...no, BHs and Sunday...Tuesday I reckon

 

[sylus]

Two words guarrantied to spell crap... French & wine

 

[Harryburgundy]

Two words guarrantied to spell crap... French & wine

of course you're right

 

[dbmtb]

Did you read any of this thread Sylus?

Basically what I understand happens is that the winemakers sell their best stuff direct to the consumer or the restaurant trade/wine merchants.

What happens with the rest is that it gets sold on to a négociant who will make his own branded wine out of it. This is the stuff the supermarkets usually sell. So for example a Chateauneuf-du-pape wine will often come from a variety of winegrowers from across the district.

You need to look for "mis en bouteille a la domaine/au chateau" on the label to be sure the wine is made by the people that actually grew the grapes. "Mis en bouteille par" means a blended product.

Wine cooperatives can however be so big that they also deal with supermarkets direct. I've seen one of my favourite Rhone wines from the Visan co-operative in my local supermarket last year.