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Retailer slams high street wines
A French specialist retailer in the UK has denounced most high street wines as “mediocre”.
Online retailer Seabright & Seabright, which launched in the UK last month, is hoping to demonstrate to UK consumers the quality and passion that can now be found in French wines.
Speaking as his company launched its ‘Twelve Wines of Christmas’ campaign, director Andrew Seabright said: "It’s crazy that, with France on our doorstep, the wines for sale on the high street are largely mediocre, mass produced and mass-marketed.
"All our wines are acclaimed in France for the quality and passion of their vignerons, and we capture the unique flavours of the most wonderful wine-making regions in the country," he added.
Wines included in the retailer’s festive case have been chosen with a Christmas link in mind. For example, the Vent d’Est of Cabardés, which is only blended in years when the prevailing wind is from the east, pays homage to eleven pipers piping.
For more details, visit www.seabrightandseabright.co.uk
Jane Parkinson, 25.10.2010
Come off it. The lions share of the great British public don’t give a toss what wine tastes like as long as it is cheap! This can only be achieved through mediocrity, mass production and mass marketing.
At a higher level, France’s growers are hugely innovative and have made enormous strides to fight the competition and produce flavours and styles of everyday wine that are great. However their wine legislation and political philosophy (as illustrated by the current strikes) leads to prices of like for like that sadly are often higher than their competitors and rejected by many consumers and distributors.
I have to say that I disagree with John Brownsdon. Whilst there is undoubtedly a large percentage of the population that are happy to pop to Tesco for a cheap bottle of something there is an increasing appreciation for good wine.
I must also say that it is also a bit of a myth that French wine is expensive compared to a lot of similar ‘new world’ wines. I found that the wines from Seabright and Seabright are extremely good value for their quality, particularly when placed against their high street competitors (from different countries) and it’s great that it’s possible to get good value french wines.