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.

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.

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!)

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.

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.
P.S. Your cave isn't a cave coopérative then....

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).

A period of what CJM?

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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

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.

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