Le Cave ...
 

Did a bit of a search, but couldn't find any discussion on the cave and how they are set up within the community. We have quite a few around here, large on the main roads or smaller in town. We are a busy area for producing wine, rosé and white varieties especially, but I tend to use only one small cave where I refill the old 5l wine box(es). But, locals come with all sorts of containers and there is always a box of 1.5l empty water bottles to use to perhaps buy a small amount of a wine you may not have had before.
There is a lot of bottled wine on offer, but locals generally go for the en vrac, not least because of the good price.
I prefer red wine, which is available as merlot, côtes du rhone and gigondas. The first two come in at €1,62l with the Gig at €2,05l, but it is 13.5% and a very nice wine it is. There's a melon, chardonnay and a cinsault rosé.
You are always offered a petite verre du vin while you wait for the boxes to be flushed out and if the locals are in, general chatter. It's a simple small barn style building (an old forge) down a side street and one is assured of a warm greeting and handshakes all round.
Summer it opens six days as the tourist season kicks in and business booms. Winter it is closed two days and relies on the regular local trade. I'm not certain if the restaurants, often those who offer a free small carafe with the lunch €10-12 menu stock up at this or other caves.

Re: Le Cave ...
 

I don't (or rather won't be) liv(e)ing in a wine producing area, so caves are simply outlets which can be a decent alternative to LeClerc or similar.

Moreover I have yet to stoop to 5L refillable boxes. No doubt it'll happen sooner or later. :)

Re: Le Cave ...
 

Hi, all the Caves Coopératives in our area sell locally produced wine, never from anywhere else. And they don't offer a free glass or chat, either!
(Be careful, it's feminine. Un cave is a poor sucker!:eek:)

Re: La Cave ...
 

Apologies for my male/female hiccup. Several white and rosé wines may in fact be local, but not badged as such - the Mareuil area has many good vineyards with the products sold locally in the various supermarkets and the in-house caves of the growers.
Bottled wine at the lower end of the price range is a tad more than the cave offers, but the cave is more than just a cheap 'station du vin', it is, as I said, where people meet and chat over a glass gratuit. To be honest I don't have wider experience of caves, though there are many in this area. This is a small cave perhaps reflecting the social wine buying habits of locals.
As to the 5 litre box, I've been known to fill many a 10 litre, notably when going back to the UK for a period.

Re: La Cave ...
 

No need to apologise! I just wanted you to avoid any misunderstandings! I always used to get "poêle" and "poêle", "manche" and "manche" muddled up, but the most embarrassing was in German when I once announced that the weather was "gay" (homosexual), instead of "close", by not pronouncing the Umlaut.:o
P.S. Your cave isn't a cave coopérative then....

Re: La Cave ...
 

I love that bit of German, I shall share with a German speaking French friend who will understand the English humour of it.
No, not a cooperative, as far as I know, but I will ask as a trip is due Wednesday. Gay and Close, I just love it (so to speak).:thumbsup:

Re: Le Cave ...
 

A period of what CJM?

Re: Le Cave ...
 

We don't use the local cave.

We have somehow got in with one of the local domains, so rather than going to their shop we go direct to their domain.

The wine is lovely, we haven't found a nicer shop bought one yet, and a 5l carton is about 12e

Bottles are about 4e a go I think and they have a an "expensive" Merlot which only comes in a bottle, a bout 6e I think.

Not sure on the bottle prices as we just buy the cartons.

Re: Le Cave ...
 

Well, my last two month visit to UK required 50l, which I will say I shared with family friends and neighbours.;)
At €2,40 loy loy from the domain is a good price.

Re: Le Cave ...
 

My pals in Charente, who introduced me to the delights of France and motivated me to move there in the next few months, made a monthly ritual of going to a cave about 20 miles away, chatting to the local chaps, bringing home several large plastic cubes of wine, bottling it ... and finally serving it. On my last visit, we went to Lidl and bought some splendid French (and Chilean) reds for about 1.99 euros a bottle. No contest, although not quite so romantic.

Al

Re: Le Cave ...
 

In the autumn in La Sarthe all the large producers would gather together in the supermarket car parks on a Sunday afternoon, so that you could try a taste and then once you ordered they would deliver it to your home in containers for you to bottle. Most of the village where I lived would go together and we therefore bought quite large amounts of one or the other and then swapped. Great fun. That being said there are some excellent wines in the non refillable BIB's over the last few years, used to be just the rough stuff, but it has changed dramatically over the last while.

Re: La Cave ...
 

Bugger. I'm going to have to ask. At first I thought I knew that, but in fact I don't. Please elucidate. Close is schwull isn't it, at least phonetically?

Re: La Cave ...
 

Hi, "schwül" is close, "schwul" is gay!:)

Re: La Cave ...
 

Ah yes. In my defense it's been twenty years since I lived there, although I did go back for a month each year until 2008. I find (shock) there're not many opportunities to speak german in Canada. ;)

Re: Le Cave ...
 

Hi

This is interesting... as I dont understand how you keep the wine. I once bought a 2l wine in a co-op using my own ex-water bottle(in Portugal). The wine was delicious - but we didn't finish the bottle. Once air had gotten into it - it very quickly degraded.

I understand how the boxes work as they collapse and stop air getting in. But how do you refill them please? And maintain the quality. If this is what is meant earlier please?

Also is there a way to keep an opened non- box wine for a longer period?.

We buy the 50cl bottles of water in 24 packs from LIDL/ALDI and use them a lot - so we thought we would use them, and ask the co-op to fill say 24 of those = 12l and therefore always sealed/fresh, as you can easily polish off a demi.

All the others remain sealed till usage. I hope that the co-ops would charge the same for 2x50cl bottles as a 1l bottle - is that right please? Then just stick it in a nice carafe....

Thanks
Jon

Re: Le Cave ...
 

Jon, my cave has a U-shaped tool to extract the 'spigot' from the sack neck. They then flush out any residual wine with water from a hose and then fill from a large storage vessel. Hence why the 5l or 10l boxes can be reused.
As to the plastic bottles, these are no different than a glass wine bottle that is not emptied quite quickly. One has a screw top, the other a plug or the cork is pushed back into the neck. The wine, once opened needs to be kept in a fridge or cold area; our atelier adjoining our house is commonly cool. That said, I find 1.5l of CDR lasts about two days or less :eek:;)

Re: Le Cave ...
 

Thanks cjm - Ive never heard of that gadget... really interesting.

When I use bottles and dont finish the wine (very rare) I use the vac-u-vin gadget that takes out all the air via a 1-way valve and works well...for a few days, but buying the 2l amounts means you must drink it quick - and its nearly 3 bottles worth so for us as a couple having a few glasses an evening - that would be too tempting to finish! We could also easily manage a 1.5l in 2 days..... :) I also don't think the vacuum would work in a collapsible plastic bottle - or if the size of the bung is right. I once got a great 5l glass bottle from Italy as a present - fantastic, we finished a lot of it at a party but overnight the remainder 'turned' and it was all milky - weird.

I hope the caves would accept 0.5l bottles and as long as we bought enough of it e.g 5l+ they would have no problem to fill up multiple small bottles... (doesn't mean we would drink any less, but must at least pretend to try!) :drinkwine:

Thanks
Jon

PS People that drink less than 63 units a week have a longer lifespan than tee-totallers. After 63 the T-totallers win (according to QI). I love searching high and low to find the one good piece of work that justifies drinking much more (forget the rest :eek: )

Re: Le Cave ...
 

My cave has a plentiful supply of 1.5l plastic water bottles for free use, plus a range of hard plastic 5l containers (you can buy them full via many supermarkets) if you are stuck. Also an aged 5l container (bag okay, but cardboard nackered from being opened, closed and made wet, though I see many locals with broad width parcel taped boxes, trussed up like a precious object [don't you just love the French approach to economy]) if it is decided to commit the box to recycling you are likely to be offered a spare 5l box (always a few lying around) as a cadeaux for your custom.

Re: Le Cave ...
 

Thanks cjm, very kind re the offer + the info...

Jon

Re: Le Cave ...
 

Jon, it must be the size of glass you are using, or should that be the small size of glass you are using :rofl:

I find a 70cl bottle has about 25% left after only a couple of glasses (the BH is now almost teetotal) which becomes the starter for the next evening.
:thumbsup:

this has been an interesting thread, especially as the only co-operative we have round here is for all the olive growers. I heard of these "caves" a number of years ago but the BH got a job in Granada and have yet to find a bodega that operates this way.

rgds

Re: Le Cave ...
 

:) Aaaah Domino, you drink the UK large sized glass 250ml... that surprises many French. 3 glasses to a bottle. Who says we are binge drinkers.

I went through a phase where we bought only boxes, the logic being that with a box you done feel 'obligated to finish the bottle' a couple of glasses and that's fine. I'm not sure that worked actually... as there seemed a never ending supply - 'one more for the road?' (Even though we were at home).

Lucky you a BH that can be the designated driver:)

Thanks
Jon

Re: Le Cave ...
 

I have been away for a few days so missed this thread.

We have several brilliant co-ops who do both bidons and bag in box - both of which can be re-usable. 20 years ago we used to buy 10l bidons and bottle the wine to keep, far too much faff.

These days we do bag in box - we even get loyalty points!

Re: Le Cave ...
 

Hi Jon, no, no, no!!

It won't keep in an ordinary screw top bottle the same as it doesn't once opened in a non vacuum cubi. It only keeps in the vacuum packed wineboxes.

Re: Le Cave ...
 

I have to say my wine lasts certainly a couple of months in a bag box. As to sizes of glasses, I decided to check my intake and mark a number of glasses. I tried four, not bad I thought, but then (I am using water here) thought I'd use the glass my OH prefers. Three glasses to the same mark. So, I have more glasses, but drink no more than my SOH! :blink: