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I must confess I don't drink 1er Cru every day but I was alluding to the last two cases of Mersault I bought which were for my son's wedding breakfast and were not cheap.
I spend September in Provence and buy most of my wine from there. Alas we do not take the Plus 4 but use our VW California but this enables us to bring back a reasonable quantity for everyday glugging.
Will be drinking a Bandol Rose from Tempier (not far from you) later today.

A man of style!

P.S. More of a claret guy myself...

I must admit that I often do a price compare to a case of wine.....
It does seem to make things look reasonable, and justifiable.
We tend to go for Rhone wines (better value than some regions), but my absolute favourite for white is Alsace. And there's a tasting evening in Sheffield later in May, but on a Tuesday. We'll probably have to go..... and probably stay over.

Straying a little from factory servicing costs I know but what the heck :
We spend alot of time visiting wineries in Provence particulary when staying with an old NHS colleague who was President of my old university wine society. He lives near Vaison and is on good terms with makers in most of the Luberon and Vaucluse .We share similar palates and seldom disagree .
Suggest you try some of the splendid reds from Sablet,Seguret,Gigondas,and Vacqueras. Domaine Tempier Rose is to die for and whilst I love white Burgundy ,we discovered a garagiste producer near Cucuron who produces a fantastic Viognier .
Have spent the afternoon strimming the orchard so am looking forward to a couple of glasses of Rose with the barbecue.
Tchin Tchin
Gerry

I think we're heading for a new thread........

Gigondas and Vacqueras both suit our tastes, so I'll keep an eye out for your other names. Viognier is also high on my favourites list - old world suits better.
Tonight we have a white Rhone (Chateauneuf) to start followed by a west bank (Pessac) claret........

I've just caved in and booked the Alsace tasting for me + MrsW. Daren't tell MissW though - not really viable from Derby on a Tuesday night.

As suggested by Dave, I have moved what is developing into an interesting subject to its own particular thread.

I do know of the Cotes de Provence wines, but they are not our most regular tipple, though we are mainly red wine drinkers. For whites, we prefer the minerality of the Burgundy whites to the Bordeaux offerings; though do like the occasional Sauternes as a pudding wine. We also like some of the NZ whites in particular, but hate the somewhat over-oaked Chardonnays in particular of Australia.

Viognier is an interesting hedonists choice that is now becoming very popular in the New World, and I recently bought a case of a South African 'industrial strength' Chardonnay that you might like to try - Uva Mira if you like the full-bodied style of white wines.

We do not drink a lot of rose, apart from champagne, as although you are having fantastic weather in the UK at the present moment, I think sometimes what tastes just right on a sunny day in Provence (or in whatever sunny clime it was produced ), can be a bit insipid and under-whelming on a grey day in England! Just a personal opinion mind you and I know that Domaine Tempier is one of the elite!

Lastly another recommendation, you may know of the famous oenologist Michel Roland who was once considered essential to get a high Parker score, who owns a number of estates but produces a wine in Argentina (with six other friends as investors) - La Clos de los Sieta - and this is available in Waitrose at £12.38 per bottle. It's hard to find, but excellent value for the quality of wine.

Barbecue time soon and it will be washed down with a Saint-Émilion - why is it that the French still make the most of the Merlot grape and much of the New World offerings lack structure and character?

Cheers
Brian

We became regular consumers after MrsW read somewhere that Cab Sauv was good for your heart. I didn't argue. Then we found that if we had a proper dinner on a Saturday night with wine, MissW didn't go out, so it was a subtle control mechanism. So that became a family tradition which continues even though she's left home. More often than not we start off with an Alsace white, which is usually Gewurztraminer. But I like to try others (obviously) - and find Italian whites to my taste (Gavi de Gavi is one such). As mentioned above, we also like Rhone whites. But I'm no fan of Chardonnay. I also like NZ whites, and Esk Valley do a nice Sauvignon Blanc, which is excellent value at under a tenner.
Reds are another matter, and although we tend to avoid Italy & Spain, anywhere else is fair game.
Wine is a great hobby.

All those Alsace wine fans, just cast your eye slightly further East, ie the Pfaltz area of Germany. Visit and you will find the wines at less than half price of similar wines from Alsace and in my opinion a lot better.

And dont forget the German reds. Once you have stopped chuckling to yourselves, these are very much under rated by us British as we dont see German reds in the UK, but trust me they are fantastic. Even the e1.50 supermarket wines are equivalent to £5-6 here

Funnily enough were are working through a case of German Reislings right now. I do like the German version, but find it lighter, and therefore more quaffable than Alsace Reislings, so more of a summer evening thing.

Just finished Madame's birthday bubbly.
Back to the scrumpy

Cheers,