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Talking of wine


Antonia
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which I know we all weren't.
I've just taken a trip to a small fishing village in Brittany. At my first meal in a restaurant I ordered a demi pichet of the house rosé. The waiter proceeded to return with a bottle from which he poured approximately 2/3 of the contents into a flask. Later, at a different restaurant I ordered what I expected to be a half bottle of a particular white wine only for the waitress to bring a full bottle, show me the label, uncork and pour approximately half it's contents into another glass flask. Is this a new trend? Normally when ordering pichets I expect them to come from a box or a barrel. On the other hand I tend to order half bottles of the more expensive wines when available & retain the cork just in case I don't finish them with the meal. What happened to the rest of the wine I wonder? At restaurant one did the next client who ordered the rosé get the remains of my bottle plus some from another? How long did my opened bottle of white wine stay in the fridge before someone else ordered it? I can't for the life of me think it's a covid thing. Has anyone else experienced this?

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Yes, I have frequently experienced this here and in Spain. It is kind of a 'big' version of wine by the glass. It is most often seen in family-run restos. In Spain, it tends to be slightly different - bottle is opened and left on your table to drink what you want and they rarely charge more than half even if you drink somewhat more, unless of course if you finish the whole bottle!

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Not with wine, but I have seen it with "artisanal" cider in both Normandy and Brittany.  They bring the bottle and leave it on your table and, as far as I know, only charge you for a glass if that's all you have asked for.

Mind you, that's not recent, well over 10 years ago, and only in small family-owned and -run bars and restos where we had been more than at least once[:)]

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Yes the leaving the bottle & charging for what you consume makes sense. I've experienced that in Routiers over the years but this was different, the volume of wine was measured out by the waiter/waitress with various levels of accuracy. As I said I'm not too bothered with the pichet but when you are paying for a decent wine you don't expect to be given something that's already been opened. And why make extra work for yourself by using the additional glassware. Surely it's easier just to leave it in the bottle.

Je ne comprends pas.
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Antonia,

Good to have someone posting on the minutiae of French life, and thanks for lightening the tone after a few days of so seriously heavy postings!

I do know of the leaving of a bottle and charging by what you drink, but what you describe is new to me, though I have yet to get to Brittany.

Personally, and like you, I find it most odd!

But then, I'm beginning to find some of French life quite odd ...

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It’s something that’s done in some cafés and bars in our area, particularly well-known in our favourite café-restaurant.

Known as a ficelle, you drink as much of the bottle as you want, just 1 glass if that’s what you want. You then pay for what you’ve had, or you can decide to take the bottle home and drink the rest later.

Wines from the general local area are sold in the shop part of the café-restaurant and any can be ordered at table. It’s a good way of trying local wines and the young staff are very knowledgeable about them.

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  • 8 months later...

I would think that most people on this forum are well aware of where to buy their wine. I buy mine in he supermarkets, not everybody choice but I've found some very reasonably priced wines that I like, and that is all that counts. Buying because of the label is I think a mugs game and possibly those that do have more money than sense.

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