France - Wine Regions

[infinity]

. Here is my sunset in Chianti right now

 

[little brown dog]

I have just found this thread CruiserElite - thanks for setting this up as I will be reading intently pending my trip through Southern France in October 2015

 

[Cruiser Elite]

View attachment 51201. Here is my sunset in Chianti right now

I have no idea what that vinegar is that you are drinking right now infinity - but I have seriously fallen in love with the Bordeaux red:



And a close up of the label just in case you want to find it in Australia:

 

[Cruiser Elite]

I guess we should move on to the plonk tastings - yesterday we started here:



To sample some plonk from these trees:



And then we moved on to here:



And then on to here:

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Then we partook of lunch here:



And inside view:

 

[Cruiser Elite]

After lunch it was on to here for more tastings:



For nectar from these vines:



We didn't last long here before they booted us out though - apparently tipping it back like a drunk co-ed in a beer pong game aint the done thing! So we moved across the road to here:



Nice drop this dude churns out:

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Finished the day here:



Inside tasting room:



And:



Down in the caves:



We must have behaved here - they let us stay a while:



Certainly a civilised tasting experience!

 

[Cruiser Elite]

And here is what we sampled - 2011 and 2012 vintages.:



Blend was 80% Merlot / 20% Cabernet.

Prices - Special €55 / Special Reserve €80 / Super Dooper Special Reserve €250

Pack / Box 6 botts - 2 of ea - delivered to Australia €1,716 ~A$200/bott - ah nice wine but no thanks.

BTW what is situation with receiving boxes wine say 6 / 12 / 24 botts? I understand under A$1,000 Invoice value no GST - but?

And the pressure to actually make a purchase really significant.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Dined at Brasserie to front of Hotel Grand last night - 27C when we sat down for dinner at 20:30 and still 25C at 22:30:



Great weather - superb location - beautiful Beef Wellington washed down with a bottle of Billecart Salmon takes a lot of beating.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Bordeaux is France's 9th largest city and with such a rich history it boats superb architecture. Cruiserette went shopping this morning and I walked the entire length of Garonne River from City centre south for hours - a few snaps of the beautiful buildings along the way:

 

[Cruiser Elite]

And another bunch:







How lucky am I that Cruiserette decided to go shopping downtown? If she had coming walking with me and spotted this 'market' next to the Cathederal I reckon we would still be there 10 hours later!



There are tram tracks that run almost the entire distance with a beautiful lush green grass surface - was just perfect to walk on - mind you best to dodge the trams going either way!

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Now how beautiful is modern architecture - next 2 pics - imagine you are standing in middle of a clock face staring at 12 - rotate slightly and look to 1 - this is what you see:



Now rotate other direction to 11 and this is what you see:



I know which I prefer.

 

[infinity]

CE I concur the frogs have it over the Italians but only by just a bit in the Reds
But this Tuscan weather is better

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Cer...........rikey mate - batting way out of your league I see!



And what's more on way home you are swanning around up in R whilst the angel is back down in Y? this could end in tears for you mate!

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Just felt like pasta tonight so on concierge's reco headed to Peppone:



This was a fabulous experience - you cannot book ahead - we arrived 20:10 and just lucky a table for 2 out front became available as we walked in - seated in 5 mins so all is good. Waiter calls us to table - delivers bottle water and menu and wanders off. I call him back in 5 mins and ask for wine list - 'NO wine list Sir - you need go down into caves and select your own bottle' - 'OK where is that' - 'Follow that young girl' - OK so I follow - down 20 or 30 steps to find this:



And:



And:



And:

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Cave after cave - the pictures just cannot convey an accurate impression of what I encountered:



And:



And:



And:



And:

 

[Cruiser Elite]

And still I keep seeking:



And:



And:



Finally settled on this (with assistance of mine host who came looking for me after 10 mins):



Now see this next pic - see the people standing against wall - all waiting to get into Peppone - and such mixed reviews on TA - I could not recommend this restaurant more highly as a unique dining experience:

 

[TheRealTMA]

Prices - Special €55 / Special Reserve €80 / Super Dooper Special Reserve €250

Pack / Box 6 botts - 2 of ea - delivered to Australia €1,716 ~A$200/bott - ah nice wine but no thanks.

BTW what is situation with receiving boxes wine say 6 / 12 / 24 botts? I understand under A$1,000 Invoice value no GST - but?

And the pressure to actually make a purchase really significant.

Cruiser, If you import wine via DHL, customs will charge you 35% WET tax on the TOTAL PRICE of the shipment, that is cost of wine AND shipping. ( How this is legal beats me.) Then they will add 10% GST to the total. You can try to be creative with the invoice but the shipping company must have a valid local invoice to initiate shipping and customs and you probably will never see this until it arrives. While there is scope for creative accounting, customs are quite aware of such scams so it's uncertain just how much one can push the envelope.

Case of 12 very nice Boscarelli vino Nobile at €600 plus $400 AUD DHL shipping even with cooperative invoice from producers equated to just over $400 in customs charges. Price per bottle ended up around $120 which was 25-50% cheaper than to buy locally if one could actually buy them here.

If you hand carry in luggage more than your duty free allowance (3 bottles pp) then you lose the allowance and WET and GST are charged in the total value if the wine which ate airport customs you may well be able to be creative with the invoice, although not a good idea to arrived without one since they can easily look up local prices...

These days we (2) buy 6-12 of the best wines we can find during the trip then whiter these diwn to a final 6. Makes for interesting last two nights. Then a small 6 pack wine shipping carton, and if necessary a cheap suitcase, then bring it back as normal luggage.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Cave after cave - the pictures just cannot convey an accurate impression of what I encountered:

I'm surprised you didn't find a dark spot and spend the night here for a person-taste for an AFF wine tasting!

 

[penegal]

Cruiser - I am sitting here very jealous... I will have to compare notes with you when you're back to plan my visit!!