our selection of bottles with the best value for money – L’Express

From the start of the school year, the Wine Fairs are set up in most major retail chains, at wine merchants and on online stores. After a 2023 edition that was down both in value – 988 million euros (- 2%) – and in volume – 133.5 million bottles purchased (- 5%) – this year’s event will be essential for the entire sector, especially in a context of declining purchasing power. To guide you, L’Express presents its exclusive selection according to the different regions on its central pages, the result of tasting hundreds of samples and analyzing dozens of catalogs. On our website, you will also find details, chain by chain, with the different dates of these bacchic festivals that have become essential. Enough to enrich your cellar at a lower cost.

After last year’s disappointing results, the mass retail sector intends to make its autumn event more successful. Like the grape harvest, wine fairs follow one another, but are not alike. After three years of growth, the bacchic high mass experienced a relative failure last year, both in value and volume: 988 million euros (-2%) for 133.5 million bottles purchased (-5%). Figures that nevertheless illustrate the importance of this unmissable event for the mass retail sector, invented in 1973 by E.Leclercin the good economic performance of the sector (17% of its annual wine sales). The stakes of this 2024 edition are all the more important. In this period of suffering purchasing power, the price appears more than ever decisive.

This is why all the brands are competing in reducing prices. Lidl, which has not forgotten its past as a hard discounter, is offering 90% of its 112 references at less than 10 euros, while E.Leclerc limits two-thirds of its offer to it, and Cora 70%. Auchan is not far behind, with a quarter of the offer at less than 5 euros. The same promise is made by Carrefour and Intermarché, which offer entry-level products under 3 euros. Most brands are also multiplying promotional mechanisms: immediate discount, second bottle at -50%, two free skittles per box of six, etc.

The catalogues have also been redesigned in light of last year’s results. The main victims of consumer disenchantment, champagne (-19%) is giving way to cheaper sparkling wines – natural sparkling wines, crémants, proseccos, cavas, etc. – and reds (-10%), while still representing half of the volumes, are seeing whites and, above all, rosés (+3%) compete for their place on the shelves. However, in an attempt to ward off the inexorable detachment of young customers and women from the former stars of wine fairs, E.Leclerc plays the fresh wine card. “Low tannins, fruity, easy to understand, with neither austerity nor wood, pleasant to taste and which can be chilled, explains Cyril Mondon, head of the brand’s wine division. Light reds, in particular, low in alcohol and fruity are appreciated by generation Z.” The appearance on most shelves of labels claiming a low or even zero alcohol content also contributes to this desire.

As a result of price adjustments, catalogs are more than ever giving pride of place to distributor brands and other products from major marketers (cooperatives, traders). To better guide your purchases, the following tables present L’Express’s selection of 2024 wine fairs, by major production region. The result of tasting hundreds of samples and analyzing 30 catalogs from major retailers, wine merchants and specialized merchant sites, it indicates in particular the quality-price ratio (Q/P) of each selected reference. To your shopping carts!