Always been a bit scornful of these but bought back a few boxes of Cotes du Rhone from my last trip to France and actually the stuff is really rather good. Not sure whether having wine permanently on tap is good or not though!
Anyone else buy these things?
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>> Always been a bit scornful of these but bought back a few boxes of Cotes
>> du Rhone from my last trip to France and actually the stuff is really rather
>> good. Not sure whether having wine permanently on tap is good or not though!
>>
>> Anyone else buy these things?
Not in the UK, no. It tends to be pretty yucky stuff available here. You get pretty good wine in boxes in Australia. (if you like over ripe over oaken red wine)
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You get pretty good wine in boxes in Australia. (if you like over ripe over oaken red wine)
No I detest the stuff. Normally stick to European wine, mainly French or Italian.
My experience with wine boxes bought in the UK was much the same as yours but this stuff is really rather pleasant - not great wine but good every day stuff. Think how many boxes I can get in the back of a Golf!
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French red, and new world white at SP towers. New world red is generally madly fruity but they seem to do white rather nicely.
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>> good every day
>> stuff.
>>
One a day (glass, not box) is my prescription.
There are devices now that you screw into a wine bottle through the cork which let you draw out a glass at a time, replacing with an inert gas (Argon?), so the wine keeps indefinitely just like an unopened bottle.
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>> There are devices now that you screw into a wine bottle through the cork which
>> let you draw out a glass at a time, replacing with an inert gas (Argon?),
www.coravin.com/
Can't see it on Amazon but Jancis Robinson mentions £300 in a review:
www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/coravin-the-pros-and-cons
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>> www.coravin.com/
>>
>> Can't see it on Amazon but Jancis Robinson mentions £300 in a review:
>> www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/coravin-the-pros-and-cons
>>
The website shows systems costing $299. You gotta drink a lot of wine to make that economical!
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....don't usually touch the things, but a good stock was a 'life saver' (wallet saver) for last year's road trip through Denmark, Sweden, Finland and back round the top of the Gulf of Bothnia.
The amount was judged nicely, as it ran out on our last night in Sweden before catching the ferry back. :-)
Much lighter and more convenient than carrying bottles, and judging by the bins we saw on our journey, a popular option with all tourists (and possibly the locals as well).
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We buy decent, drinkable French red from several regions in boxes all the time these days. Yes, I do drink a lot of it. It's also an easy way to carry wine when travelling in the UK - I don't expect family and friends to finance my habit and they know I always bring good stuff.
If I want to drink something better by the bottle - the sort of thing people (especially in the UK) bandy words about - I'm spoiled for choice anyway.
After a shaky start the French seem to have got the bag-in-box thing well sorted. 10 litres of acceptable Merlot from the south-west for 20 euros is one of the reasons I'm still here - even if getting out the tap is sometimes a bit of a struggle these days.
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I like a nice red wine the better quality ones.I haven't drank alcohol for months. I was liking the red wine to much.
I am drinking this non alcoholic beer Becks and the Dutch stuff.Taste better than lemonade not much better do.
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Try Bitburger Drive, Dutchie. Nicest alcohol free beer by a long way. IMHO.
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Thanks I might give it a go.Bitburger I write it down.My memory is rubbish old age and poverty.
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Majestic Wine have 6 x 330ml bottles of Bitburger Drive for £3.99. It tastes good because it is fully brewed and then has the alcohol removed, as opposed to some others where the brewing process is stopped early thus preventing the development of the full taste.
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Excellent, cheers Woky. I'd been struggling to find it in the shops. It really is good stuff.
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Bought some last Christmas for guests who had to drive Still got some left. Very sweet and malty. Not really to my taste.
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Bought for Christmas = might be beyond best by date now?
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Probably but it won't be me who is drinking it.
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I like the alcoholic version of bitburger, bought from MW as well. A different taste but quite nice for a change. Some nice beers in there as well, often have stock that is difficult to get elsewhere.
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>> Thanks I might give it a go.Bitburger I write it down. My memory is rubbish old
>> age and poverty.
>>
And Alzheimer do a very good lager too.
:)
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Wine that is €2.50 to €3 per bottle sells for £10 in the UK (sometimes). That's my usual tipple at the moment, from the south of France (from the Auchan!).
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>> (from the Auchan!).
>>
Don't know that region.
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It's between the Carrefour and the Le Clerc
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>> It's between the Carrefour and the Le Clerc
>>
................and it Spain it's in the countryside (Al Campo).
Actually, not - there's a big AlCampo in the La Cañada shopping complex in Marbella.
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drinking from a wine box is a bit like driving with a broken fuel gauge, you dont know how much is left ?
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I don't normally drink from a wine box or a bottle come to that. Sitill using a glass.. :-)
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...but the benefit of a box is that you can't see just how much your glass holds.
Pat
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True. Still on my first box and I opened it on Monday so that's pretty good isn't it?
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Fri 22 Aug 14 at 18:03
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>> True. Still on my first box and I opened it on Monday so that's pretty
>> good isn't it?
But it might suddenly and unexpectedly let you down, in the next three minutes maybe. A mere dribble in your post yard arm imbibe.
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Now I've got potentially empty wine-box stress disorder. Best open a bottle
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Its easy to tell if there is wine in the box. It weighs more - pick it up and slosh it about a bit.
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>> Its easy to tell if there is wine in the box. It weighs more -
>> pick it up and slosh it about a bit.
>>
There is always more left than you think - several glasses beyond the point where you have to tip the box, and usually one or two even when it seems empty.
Take the plastic bag out of the box and hold it as if milking a cow.
It's probably better etiquette to do this at the sideboard rather than over the dinner table.
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...then take it into the kitchen and suck what's left out of the tap.
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>> ...then take it into the kitchen and suck what's left out of the tap.
You rip the bag form the box, cut the corner off the bag and tip it upside down into your glass. Nothing is left in the bag that way
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>> Take the plastic bag out of the box and hold it as if milking a
>> cow.
You don't hold a cow in one hand.
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My brother in law would almost certainly contest that statement...
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>> I don't normally drink from a wine box or a bottle come to that. Sitill using a glass.. :-)
OOh, ponce ponce. You should live it up with Hans Breitmann:
'Hans Breitmann gife a barty.
Ve all got troonk as pigsh;
I poot mine mout to a barrel of beer
Und emptied it oop mit a schwigs,
Und den I gissed Matilda Yane;
She schlog me on der kop;
Und der gompany vighted mit daple-lecks
Till der goonshtable made us schtop'
(or words to that effect).
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De Dootch got ravin droonk ash sin,
Dey smash de windows out und in;
Dey bust und bang de bar-room ein,
Und call for a bucket of branntewein.
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>>and it Spain it's in the countryside (Al Campo).
(or field).
As it presumably is in France (Au Champs) Is it Old French?
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...from the south of France (from the Auchan!)
Is there Auchan in the South, then? I don't think I've ever seen one farther south than Burgundy. It's all Leclerc, Super U and (my favourite) Intermarché down here. The bike is stopping much better now with its new pattins de frein from Leclerc. Just as well given the hills round here (Gard / Ardeche borders).
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>>Is there Auchan in the South, then?
www.auchan.fr/magasins/votremagasin
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I see. Surprisingly patchy, and numerous departments without one - including, as it happens, all those we've stayed in since Auchan in Tonnerre was our local in 2002.
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Intermarche is, I think, a franchise. Along with Carrefour's midi-market model theyy seem to have the majority of small towns covered.
This year it was Carrefour in St Girons (Pyrenees) and a pretty large Leclerc in Mimizan.
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Intermarche is owned by Les Mousquetaires along with other chains like Bricomarche
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>> Intermarche is owned by Les Mousquetaires along with other chains like Bricomarche
Les Mousquetaires own the brand but according to Wiki the stores are independent businesses:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Mousquetaires
Differing details on receipts and payee information on card statements when using Intermrache stores bear that out.
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Ah, I didn't know that, thanks Brompton. That explains why the wines on offer in adjacent branches can be so different - and indeed differing in quality. I recall once being on holiday and finding that the local not very big Intermarche had a *very* well chosen wine range; whereas the big Intermarche in the big city nearby did not.
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Wine boxes - Zero
