Paris, France —It is that absolutely fun time of the year in Paris and throughout France when the large supermarkets and not so large supermarkets throw open their doors onto their fall wine fairs. It offers a fine opportunity to work on your wine cellar with carefully selected wines from all over the country being offered at nice prices. A time of good value is had by all. You can go for those under 5 dollars for that nice cocktail hour wine, or a little higher up into the 5 to 20 dollar range for a fine dinner in with friends or the great vintages at 30 dollars and up for the very fine bottles. The Gourmet Gazette has selected a few white wine favorites in a range of prices and from a host of regions.

But really the best thing to do is to explore on your own, whether you live in town or are in for a vacation to try in your hotel room or for an outside picnic. Dates and venues are shown below, although many bottles can last longer on the shelves. Each supermarket chain has a dedicated team of expert wine buyers who go forth into the country’s wine producing regions to find the best of the best and for a good value price, although some expensive wines can be found on the shelves as well. A case in point are the Intermarché supermarkets which are found throughout France. They have brought together some 1,600 different wines from 17 regions representing 390 labels of origin. Champagnes on offer include Bollinger and Perrier-Jouët as well as a lesser known but delightful house, Champagne Delagne et Fils, more than reasonably priced at 16.99 euros.

« Pleasure, Emotion and ensuring excellent value are the bywords of our 2022 selection. Among the 3,000 bottles that were tasted by our experts, we are delighted to offer 1,685 quality wines at accessible prices with 53 gems ranging in price from 3.90 euros to 26.50 euros, » said Stéphane Friez, the head of the wine segment of Intermarché. (editor’s note: the euro and the US dollar are at near parity).

Meanwhile over at the Auchan supermarkets and giant supermarkets, a fine selection is on hand as well for both connaisseurs and newcomers to the wine purchasing market. There are the classics but as well a choice of organic wines and wines that are produced in a sustainable fashion. Some 279 wines are on offer with 109 priced as under 5 euros. There are also nine out of the ordinary wines on the agenda.

©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette
Intermarché-September 5th to September 26th
Auchan Super- September 5th to September 26th
Auchan Hyper -September 27th to October 11
Monoprix-September 16 to October 2nd