by It wasn’t the opening of the Advent calendar, the stirring of the Christmas pudding, or the hanging of the mistletoe that marked the start of the holiday season in my house. No. Christmas always started with the family trip to France to drink alcohol.
The British tradition of a day trip to France for the sole purpose of buying large quantities of cheap alcohol – the “booze cruise” – reigned supreme during the 1980s and 1990s. Every weekend, endless queues of cars and vans White women snaked onto the back of the Dover ferry for a day trip to Calais and filled it with very cheap cases of Stella Artois, gallons of Le Piat d’Or and cases of Benson & Hedges. from EastEnders Cash & Carry, a grog department store run by Dave West, a famous East End businessman nicknamed “Booze Cruise King”.
I grew up in Newhaven, an industrial port town on the Sussex coast, and my parents regularly took advantage of our proximity to France to travel to Dieppe on the Sealink ferry. I still have memories of those tough December treks when the ever-present threat of vomit cut my holiday spirit to its core.
When the Channel Tunnel opened in 1994, it became even easier to source of pain, of wine, of Boursin since you could be in Calais in 35 minutes and shopping in French hypermarkets and wine cellars before you can say a cheerful “bonjour.” As the euro gained strength in the 2000s and the price of wine in Britain fell, the booze cruise fell out of fashion.
This year, however, after a sharp rise in supermarket prices in Britain, I decided to revisit Calais’ drinks offering. Less than three hours door-to-door from my home in Brighton, a day trip seemed like a fun way to stock up for Christmas and catch up with my old friends, Nicola and Ben. (The booze cruise is also the ideal way to mass-check the admin’s “Let’s make holiday drinks.”)
With our Christmas jumpers on, a Mariah medley on Spotify and an empty boot, we piled into my Honda Jazz on a soggy Monday morning and drove to Folkestone and through the Channel Tunnel into France.
Nowadays, LeShuttle, which currently offers day trips from £27 each way for a car and four passengers, is my preferred way to get to the mainland. Go ahead and head out, the journey is simple and quick, and even cheaper than the ferry (P&O journeys start at £29.50 per car each way for a journey lasting an hour longer). As the Cité Europe shopping center is just a five-minute drive from the terminal, we happily wandered the aisles of the Carrefour hypermarket less than 45 minutes after leaving Blighty.
(I should mention, however, before continuing, that it is essential to check opening times before travelling, as French supermarkets are not as generous with their shopping hours as British ones. Especially on Sundays: Carrefour Cité Europe closes at 12:30 pm)
At first it is too much and I feel overwhelmed by the French offer. Tinsel-lined aisles packed with Lindt chocolate, refrigerators stocked with foie gras and truffled delights, displays of colorful pastries and fragrant cheese. But before long, we’re tossing bags of muffins, wheels of brie, whole sausages, and jars of duck rillettes into our carts with joyous abandon.
The clink of a loaded cart reminds me why we’re really here. Fortunately, Carrefour’s wine section is very extensive. Divided into regions like Alsace, Burgundy, and Provence, we spent about a fun hour browsing the shelves looking for the prettiest labels at the cheapest price. Ben, a bit of an oenophile, knows a bit about wine and finds an excellent value Picpoul de Pinet for €4, while I find a nice Provençal rosé for €4-5. My trick was to look in the best-known wine regions like Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Loire Valley and choose the cheapest bottles with a nice label. Nicola was smarter when it came to choosing and watched what the locals bought and sourced from them. For true connoisseurs, the fine wine section offers real delights, such as a Château Du Grand Soussans Margaux 2021 for a bargain €16.
It’s worth downloading the Vivino app, where you can find reviews, ratings and prices for over a million wines instantly by simply scanning the label.
While leaving the EU meant the end of unlimited alcohol for personal use, post-Brexit allowances are still quite generous: 24 bottles of still wine, 12 bottles of fizz and 42 liters of beer per person. However, the quality and value in France are unbeatable. A case of three bottles of Champagne Jeanmaire is a bargain at €49, while I pick up a couple of bottles of Crémant de Loire (the gloss of choice in many Parisian bars) for just over €5. The same bottle is easily £9 at Aldi and almost £11 at Waitrose.
As I wheel my huge cart to the checkout, I say a friendly “bonjour” and a “je suis sedido” to the cashier, who has no doubt seen and heard it all before. My haul of 20 bottles of wine, a case of beer and various cheeses and chocolates cost just over €100, an amount I have easily spent in the past at my local Tesco Express on Christmas Eve.
Sated with our loot, Nicola, Ben and I head to Calais for lunch. Around 2:00 p.m., many restaurants close for the afternoon, as is the French style. However, a quick Google search found us Au Café de Paris on Rue Royale, an old-school French brasserie-café full of dusty, old-fashioned Gallic charm. Warmly welcomed by the maitre d’, we feasted on seafood dishes, moules marinière and an excellent bottle of white burgundy Aligoté, before crossing the English Channel into England.
As we drive back to Brighton, our hearts and car boot are filled with festive cheer. And although today’s trip costs around £150 for LeShuttle and petrol, when you divide it by three, you can still save by shopping in Calais – and it’s a lot more fun than braving the hordes at Aldi. We all agreed, a new Christmas tradition had been reborn.
The truth about alcohol: Aldi versus Carrefour
Came
Carrefour’s wide range of wines ranges from 1 euro a bottle to thousands of euros. The cheapest wines I bought were a very tasty Bordeaux at €1.99 (£1.71) a bottle and a deliciously dry Muscadet at €2.79 (£2.39). Aldi’s cheapest wine is Baron St Jean, a Spanish table red that costs £3.45 a bottle.
At the top end is Aldi’s specially selected Châteauneuf-du-pape, which at £17.49 is actually cheaper than Carrefour, which was €25.09 a bottle. Aldi is also currently offering Château Guillemin La Gaffeliere Saint Emilion Grand Cru at a very reasonable £9.99, while a similar St Emilion Grand Cru was €11.55 at Carrefour.
However, the variety and quality of Carrefour’s wines far exceed those of Aldi, Lidl, Asda et al, making it the number one choice for me.
Spirit
Aldi’s own brand spirits such as gin, vodka and blended whiskey are priced at £15.99 a litre, while liqueurs such as Bellucci Superiore Amaretto are a bargain at £5.49 a bottle 50 cl.
Carrefour is a little cheaper: €13.51 per liter for Sobieski vodka, while Old Thames London gin costs €11.09 per 70cl bottle. But it’s the World Duty Free store in the LeShuttle terminal that wins the day with Gordon’s Gin and Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum at £11.69 a litre.
Beer
The cheapest beer I found at Carrefour was a case of Saint-Omer for €10.15 for 24 25cl bottles. However, you can get 3 cases of Saint-Omer for €24 at World Duty Free at Le Shuttle.
Aldi’s cheapest beer is the French-sounding Sainte Etienne (made in England), a premium lager costing £3.49 for four 440ml cans, and The 1079 Project, a pilsner for £3.49 for six cans 330 ml.
Verdict
Carrefour simply beats Aldi when it comes to good, cheap Christmas drinks.
The final savings
Our LeShuttle tickets were £108 return for the car and three of us passengers. I spent £45 on petrol. Lunch cost €30 each. Taking all this into account, and thinking about how much I usually spend on alcohol each Christmas, I still saved between £40 and £50.
