The joy of a wine sail
Nicola Byrne bags huge savings by joining the wine cruise to Roscoff
On every good weekend break, there’s a moment when you sit back, take in the view and congratulate yourself on how relaxed you feel. A recent example was a particularly tranquil crossing from Roscoff in France to Rosslare, sitting down to dinner at the swish Berneval restaurant on the Irish Ferries ship, Oscar Wilde.
Heavy linen napkin on lap, a bottle of St Emilion being uncorked by our waiter, children far away minded by granny and a car load of delicious wine three decks below, we both thought at the same time: ‘Why don’t we do this more often?’
The wine run between Ireland and France has long been a favourite of budget-conscious bride and grooms. But wine retailers at Roscoff say that, increasingly, the Irish are not coming to buy for a one-off event but to stock up for annual personal use.
And if you are, let’s say, enthusiastic wine drinkers like us, it makes a lot of sense. You probably don’t need reminding that we have the highest duty on wine in the EU. Other taxes mean that the Government now takes over half the price of a €10 bottle of wine in tax. Add in around €3.50 for distribution and packaging and your bottle of wine costs approximately €1.40. Unsurprisingly, it usually doesn’t taste very nice either.
Our first encounter with bulk wine buying came at the end of a family driving holiday to France last year. What we managed to squeeze into the back of our estate car around the suitcases and kids’ toys, lasted us for eight months.
Apart from the huge saving – we estimated the wine cost us less than a third of what it would in Ireland – there was the pleasure of having your own small cellar at home. In our case, it was the bottom of our wardrobe and it was great to be able to chose wines from our own selection.
We tried many wines that aren’t widely available here – light reds from the Loire valley, whites from Chateauneuf-du-Pape and fine burgundies that would be out of our price range in Ireland.
We also became acquainted with bag-in-box wines, available in three, five or 10 litres. Sneered upon by some here as the worst plonk you can buy, bag-in-box has a much better reputation in France. In fact, all of the wine sellers we spoke to told us it’s what they drink at home.
Many wine estates offer their vins de pays or table wine in a bottle or a bag, the advantage with the latter being that it stays good once opened for up to two months. Also if you fancy a mid-week tipple or need just a glass for cooking, you don’t need to open a bottle.
The first service of the year between Rosslare and the picturesque Breton town takes place each May and attracts lots of wine enthusiasts (the service between Rosslare and Cherbourg goes year round).
To mark the occasion, Irish Ferries lays on a special wine cruise with tastings on board by some of Roscoff’s wine retailers. You can order your favourites on board and collect at the other end. All of the big retailers, such as Wine Beer supermarket and The Wine Centre have websites where you can place an order and collect on arrival. They offer 10% off on orders over €100 and 12% over €300.
In Roscoff, the Wine Centre proprietors came out to greet the first Irish customers of the year like long-lost friends. In fact some are friends, thanks to the annual wine pilgrimage. We selected a number of wines for around €5 or €6 – which were promptly opened for us to taste. The same quality probably costs upwards of €16 per bottle at home. Bottles of wine in all the big retailers start at €2, with bag-in-box costing upwards of €2.50 per litre
We loaded up and headed to the nearby town of Saint-Pol-deLéon. In the supermarkets, here you don’t have the option to taste the wine but, if you know what you want, there are good bargains.
A bottle of red Bordeaux that I bought in SuperValu in Killester last month for €14 was €2.75 here. And it’s not just alcohol that’s cheap. A favourite Lindt chocolate bar that costs approximately €2.99 in Irish supermarkets, costs €1.20 in French ones.
In the E.Leclerc hypermarket, a lovely pair of elderly men from Limerick encouraged us to buy the new potatoes, heavily laden with the light brown soil of nearby farms. ‘We always get them and they’re delicious, better even than Wexford ones,’ they said.
We took their advice and they were right. And there are other local treats too. We loaded up on delicious white asparagus, only available from expensive speciality grocers in Ireland. The cheese counter was also extremely tempting but eventually we pulled ourselves away.
Back in Roscoff, with all our shopping done – it took just over two hours and there’s till four and half until the ship sails – it’s time for lunch.
There are lots of little cafes, bars and traditional Breton creperies. But if it’s a treat you fancy, three are several Michelin star restaurants, serving reasonably priced lunch menus.
At just €30 for three courses, it would be rude not to. The same amount will get you a bad carvery lunch in some south Dublin pubs. The one-star Rackham restaurant is particularly lovely, overlooking, as it does, the harbour.
Back on board the Oscar Wilde later that night, the entertainment was getting going in the ship’s three bars.
Ed, a young retired executive, told us: ‘It’s something we do every year. We’ve just spent €2,000 on wine today and it should last us a while. Plus we get a lovely trip thrown in. The whole thing is a no-brainer, really.’
Our five-star cabin, pictured, with its own lounge and showroom, meant a 10-hour sleep before breakfast. In terms of relaxing, you couldn’t do much better than a weekend on this ship.
Even better if you combine it with wine buying – then it pays for itself and you still save money.