Ok, I wanted to do a post giving a list of dates for the wine fairs from all the different supermarkets around Boulogne this autumn.
If you remember, there was one I went to at Auchan last year. I did not know in advance that there was a wine fair, it was just luck that I went there when it was on. Last year it was from 25th September to 9th October Read about it here.
They are always around late September/early October, but that the different supermarkets stagger when they are on, so that they are not all competing at the same time. I wanted to get the specific dates for all of them. This was not as easy as I thought.
I tried using the French phrase which is ‘Foire aux vins’ instead of the English ‘wine fairs’ but all I got was general information about what good deals you can get going to these around late September/early October.
What I wanted was specific dates for the fairs for each specific supermarket in Boulogne.
This turned out not to be that easy.
I did manage to find this, but this was dated 2011.

This was from a website called FrenchDuck.com. I could not find an update on their site for this year. I can see that the supermarkets to sometimes change their wine fair dates from year to year as the dates in 2011 is different to 2018
(However I did look at other articles on this site, and can definitely recommend visiting it, check it out here. Lots of good articles about France and wines and I am glad that I found it.)
Is there a reason why I did not find a nice simple list like this for 2019. Could it be that it is just not that easy to get this information.
If I could get this information, then this could be a useful way to attract people to this site each year?
As the dates for each supermarkets are staggered, I tried searching for each supermarket, starting with Auchan. However all I got was general information. (I did use the Google Chrome ‘Translate this page’ option.

Also I was not sure if all their branches have their wine fairs at the same time. Maybe each supermarket stagger the wine fairs in difference stores. So I selected ‘Boulogne-sur Mer’ and then searched again for ‘Foire aux vins’ , but this just took me back to the general information.
For a brief moment, I thought I had found something on Facebook.

But then realised it was from 2017. (Something tells me that a lot of companies now are not so bothered about keeping up to date with their Facebook pages, and maybe do not consider it that important anymore.)
So then I searched for other supermarkets, starting with E. Leclerc and doing a Google search on ‘E. Leclerc Foire aux vins’.
Not right at to the top, but further down the search list, if find this link here.

Success, I have dates for their wine fair. 1st to the 13th October. So I then try Googling ‘Intermarche Foire aux vins’
Again, not at the top, but scrolling down I find this..

This link (here) goes to an online brochure with details of many of the wines available, so you can read up about them, as well giving the dates of 10th to 29th September.
Great, I feel that I am making progress. Interesting to see that dates seem to apply to all their stores. It seems that they do not stagger dates between stores. And it seems that best way to search is to type ‘<supermarket name> Foire aux vins’. So I try this again with Auchan.
The results seem to just list what I had found before, general information about the wine fairs, some out of date links for previous years. But then, I see at the bottom of the first page, in listed in 10th place, this link

Clicking on it (follow link), I find just what I am looking for. A list of all the autumn wine fairs for all the supermarkets.

FANTASTIC. Just what I wanted at the beginning. I am sure this is correct because I can see that the dates for the large Intermarché stores and Leclerc match those from the website. (Not sure if the Carrefour in Boulogne is a large ‘hypermarché’ or not. I will get back to you all on this.)
I will definitely make a note of this website, and try and find out dates for 2020 well in advance. I must do this because….
Looking at the dates of the wine fairs for all the different supermarkets, this year I CANNOT MAKE ANY OF THEM….ARRRGGGG!!!!
I have already made both holiday and work commitments and just cannot get over to Boulogne for any of these dates.
But you still can book on some of the dates to match the wine fairs at Auchan, E. Leclerc, Carrefour or Intermarché . Visit Rue de la Providence to book.
Keep posted as I plan to have the 2020 wine fair dates up as early as possible next year. I will ensure that late September early October is clear in my diary to spend a lot of time in Boulogne to see what bargains there are.
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