I can’t separate summer from memories of road trips through France in years gone by, and if you’re doing that this year, you’ll no doubt pick up some wine along the way at a much cheaper price than you’ll pay back home. Even so, French wine can still offer amazingly good value here in the UK, particularly if you concentrate on lesser known and unfashionable appellations.
Muscadet is a good case in point. Yes, it’s usually eclipsed by the slightly cheaper and jauntier picpoul de pinet, but picpoul doesn’t quite have muscadet’s minerality and finesse. And, yes, if you want a wine to go with seafood, these days many of us will probably opt for albariño, but muscadet does the job just as well, and for less than a tenner, which much albariño struggles to achieve. So, if you haven’t tried muscadet for a while, it’s worth revisiting.
The Loire, which I regularly used to pass through en route to the south, is also home to some of my favourite summer reds: crunchy, cool (once you’ve chilled it) cabernet franc from appellations such as Saumur, Saumur-Champigny and Bourgeuil, especially. The St Nicolas de Bourgeuil in today’s pick is well worth snapping up (it’s not stocked in every Tesco store, but it is available online). I’d drink that with grilled lamb, all types of charcuterie and goat’s cheese, plus it’s the perfect wine to take on a picnic.
Then there are the wines from south-west France. Cahors used to be the original home of malbec, before Argentina muscled in on it (I’ll probably get a bit of kickback from that – Argentinian malbec is amazingly impressive, but Cahors deserves a shout-out, too), and there are few less-than-£10 Argentine malbecs that I’d drink in preference to the Château de Hauterive in my pick.
Côtes de Gascogne is another good summer buy, being similar to sauvignon blanc or even English bacchus (it’s only 11.5%, too, which is usefully low for daytime drinking), and brilliantly good value. Can I also remind you again about Tesco’s Eglise Saint Jacques Bergerac that I recommended the other week, not least because it’s on offer to Clubcard holders at £5.50 for the next couple of days. Bergerac is generally a good substitute for bordeaux, though even bordeaux can be pretty cheap: the other day, I found a passably decent basic one in Lidl for £4.99.
For rosé bargains, meanwhile, I generally recommend Languedoc, which mimics the Provence style but at a lower cost, though you can occasionally find a bargain from Provence at a Languedoc price, such as Asda’s Côteaux Varois, which is selling at £6.99. Or at least it was a couple of weeks ago – prices currently seem to be creeping up every week.
Five great French wine buys for less than a tenner
Maison du Vin Côtes de Gascogne 2021 £6.50 Co-op (£5 off three bottles for members, though not in Scotland), 11.5%. Cool rebranding for an old favourite. Good alternative to sauvignon blanc or even English bacchus.
Muscadet Sevre & Maine Sur Lie Le Fleuron 2021 £9.99 (or £9.49 if you buy six or more) Cambridge Wine Merchants, 12%. Absolutely classic muscadet – pure, crisp and clean. Bring on the oysters.
Les Terrasses St Nicolas de Bourgeuil 2022 £10 Tesco (on offer to Club Card members at £8.50 in selected stores and online), 9.4%. Utterly gorgeous summer pudding of a Loire red. Pop it in the fridge for half an hour.
Château de Hauterive Cahors 2019 £8.50 The Wine Society, 14%. Malbec from its original heartland, blended with a bit of merlot. Lipsmackingly delicious.
Le Cellier de Saint Louis Côteaux Varois en Provence Rosé 2022 £6.99 Asda, 13%. A touch deeper in colour and fruitier than the normal Provence style, but brilliant value. Looks the part, too.
For more by Fiona Beckett, go to fionabeckett.substack.com
