Something for the weekend (Wine)

Oups, sorry @silu..should have said that it's a dry white! I like red, but it doesn't much like me, sadly. We really will have to organise a GC open day trip over here, before the drawbridges go up and the portcullises slam down and you'll need visas and vaccinations to cross the Channel Despite Mr O'Leary's recent trials and tribulations you can still pick up flights to Bergerac for £20 return!
We're surrounded by little-known wine-growing areas (Buzet, Brulhois, Côtes de Duras, Côtes de Gascogne) with Bordeaux and the big guns only 70kms away. Wine is the only thing that is still relatively cheap here, as long as you only want to drink French wine, of course
The largest element in the UK price is tax. Same story here with spirits.
I struck lucky with the Colombelle as the French have cottoned on to 'Black Friday' and I just happened to fetch my year's supply that day. €3 a litre. It's being marketed just like Beaujolais nouveau but a lot goes to the States. What a waste!
Have to disagree about the wine/curry debate, though. Dry white or rosé is good....it dissolves the capsaicin in chillies which beer doesn't do very effectively. The only advantage of beer (if you like beer, that is ) is that there's more of it (usually) .
Better not get started on the subject of eau de vie.....we've still got itinerant distillers who go around the countryside turning your fruit juice into firewater for a small fee

 

No worries @noisette47 I like white too but prefer red.

OMG this reminds me of when we stayed 1 night in Arras in a fairly cheap and cheerful hotel before catching the ferry back to the UK. We got "talking" (more pointing and charade type behaviour as our French and their English was dreadful) to some locals in the bar. After far too many glasses of vino collapso, I mentioned something about liking Calvados, as if by magic the locals produced a bottle of clear liquid and gave us a shot type glass of it........... Let's put it this way, I remember having a 2nd glass of the fluid and after that everything is a complete blank.
We slept in, missed the ferry and when we got the next 1 I spent most of the crossing in the ladies

 

@noisette47 some of us wont have the drawbridge/portcullis problem, so wont need the vaccinations or visas either.

 

@Fat Controller I'm almost certain I have a ginger wine recipe that is well over 50 or 60 years old. If I can remember something longer than a goldfish can, I'll post it.

Being only a couple of hours drive from Germany, I dont really have any problems with the price. Like most others in this area, booze cruises are in order a couple of times a year.. (hic!)

For those that aren't aware, alcoholic drinks are only available here from state owned and run outlets. The positive thing though is that we have a choice of up to 18 000 different alcoholic drinks!

 

We'll be doing the same but down to England @Sandy Ground as our oh so PC government have decided to bring in minimum pricing for all alcoholic drinks. This is "meant" to help those who have problems with alcohol. Do I think it will help, good god no, just leave those poor sods who are alcohol dependant even less likely to have enough money to feed themselves properly. I was engaged to an alcoholic a very long time ago. Despite going "on the wagon" many times, regularly going to AA meetings and had many people supporting him he never really cracked the addiction and would always fool himself that he could be a social drinker which he could not.

 

Been there, done that in Normandie My next-door neighbour has a stock of eau de vie from the days when her husband and FiL both had a permit to distill. She mixes it with fruit juice to produce an innocent-tasting apéro. You don't drink more than two, twice!

 

And down here, it's a quick trip over the Spanish border for spirits and, bizarrely, detergents...

 

Ahhh..freedom of movement within Europe....luxury! Do you still have British nationality, Sandy? I'm going for French but will be able to keep British too, at least as things stand at the moment.

 

Yes, going for dual also. I wonder how many of the ex pats will be unable to do it, and be forced to return to the UK?

 

A lot! All the ones in Spain for a start......no dual nationality permitted!

 

Depending on the source, thats close to 1 000 000 people! @noisette47 you are correct, thats a lot...

 

being decidedly ignorant regarding the implications of departing the EU, does that in effect mean the many people who have retired to Spain but still draw their British state pensions might have to take out Spanish citizenship? and consequently would that mean them losing their state pension? Could see a lot of cheap villas coming on the market in the Costa regions if this is the case.

 

A good point you make there, and that could very well happen.

There is one thing that I wonder about though. When I looked into the number of British in Spain, I read on a couple of sites that there were only about 300 000 registered, and the rest weren't. At a guess, I would expect that the 300 000 would be paying taxes, and other social fees in Spain, and the rest werent. Although I dont know, and have no way of knowing, these people will presumably still have a UK address, be paying UK taxes, etc. So the question is, how much to these people contribute to the Spanish economy, other than by purchasing things?

Back when I moved here, Sweden was not a member of the EU. In order to get a residency permit, I had to apply from the UK, and could not do this from within Sweden. It seems reasonable to assume that the unregistered people will be forced to at least leave Spain temporarily, and apply for the required permits from the UK. As could residents of other EU countries.