Paris wine Bars : Vinos

Opéra district, Paris.
Here is the Japanese-most wine bar of Paris. In Tokyo itself, the bars are usually hidden inside ordinary-looking buildings, often btw at an upper story outside of which you may remember seeing Japanese inscriptions near signs like 3F, 5F or 8F, but of course if you don't read Japanese you'll stay clueless of the nature of these venues, and many of the drinking spots are thus out of reach for the unsuspecting Westerners. Plus many bars in Tokyo are quasi-clubs and you don't walk in like that if you're not introduced by someone beforehand. The Vinos wine bar can samely be easily passed-by without noticing its presence : While roughly located in the Jananese district of Paris, its black curtains are often drawn and the bar doesn't precisely capitilize in the French bistrot- ot terrace culture. But it would be a mistake to make your opinion on these first-glance appearances : the Japanese are very keen when it comes to fine wines, and the wine selection at Vinos is one of the most serious one of the French capital (even if it comes at a higher price per glass).
Take your most humble attitude and be ready for an experience which is a strange mix of full Japanese immersion and of fine-wine tasting. If not the typical french experience that you might expect for your next Paris visit, it is one where you will have at the same time a taste of Japan and sample a selection of solid-value French wines.

Japanese Paris Newspaper I must say a few words about the Japanese district in Paris : there's quite a number of Japanese expats living and working in Paris and while they generally live in the 16th and the 15th arrondissement, the district where all the Japanese companies, stores and restaurants are the most concentrated, is somewhere between the 1st and the 2nd arrondissement, along or near the rue Sainte Anne, the Avenue de l'Opera and the rue Saint Augustin. This is our little Tokyo over here and you can shop and eat in Japanese-owned spots, and discover btw that a truly-Japanese lunch is very affordable. If you long for a noisy treat of ramen gulped on a counter top you'll find there a large choice of true Japanese eateries.
The Japanese expats even have several free newspapers in Paris to help them in the travails of adapting to our alien culture and to the daily problems of French life. The page above is reproduced from one of them, Bonzour, and you may recognize the most well-known symbols of the French culinary : wine, baguette and camenbert...The paper is full of tips to find an appartment, to find some work, informations about the diverse cultural events of Paris or even on how to mary a frenchman (the woman on top). Another one is Bisou (isn't it a cute name?) and some stories are in French, like this beautiful story about a French-Japanese family living a happy life in Japan, in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, in the Island of Shikoku...Ovni is another one, complete with a forum and a blog...This is during the weekday evenings that you will experience the best of your Japanese hour at Vinos, when Japanese businessmen and employees from the Japanese companies and offices nearby flock to the bar for the after-work traditional socializing. The first thing you'll get with the wine-list and menu is the traditional oshibori, these moist cotton-towels with which you can clean and refresh (even if they are hot) your hands and face. Definitely not usual in a Paris wine bar...
You can sit either at one of the tables or along the low wooden counter-bar which is deep enough to accommodate your plates and glasses. There is a flat screen hanging up on the wall at one end of the bar with shows going on sometimes, like one time we went there [pic on left] last year, it was Roman Holiday, the 1953 movie with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. The interior design is sober and modern with velvet-black being the main color for the walls and seats. The place is relitavely dim lit, but not as much as some bars in Tokyo.
For licence reasons you must pick a plate in the menu to go with your glass. The wine list :
9 wines by the glass (the selection changes very often), beginning with a Champagne Drappier at 12 Euro, 3 whites (Côtes du Rhône Beaucastel 2006 at 12 Euro, Meursault Pierre Matrot 2004 at 13 Euro, Mercurey François d'Allaines at 9 Euro), and 5 reds ( Syrah Pierre Gaillard 2005 at 7 Euro, Languedoc Domaine de l'Hortus 2006 at 8 euro, Chinon philippe Alliet 2006 at 9 Euro, Bordeaux Chateau Peuy-Sancrit 2002 at 8 Euro, Crozes-Hermitage Laurent Combier 2006 at 7 Euro). A bit over the usual prices found in other Paris wine bars but a good selection of wines, and not so expensive for a trip to Japan... The bottle selection is large and is Burgundy-centered : about 35 white Burgundies (most between 40 & 140 Euro) and 40 red Burgundies (most priced between 90-something & 530 Euro), with in the upper-tier for the whites for example a Corton Charlemagne Domaine Coche Dury 1998 at 1225 Euro, and for the reds a Romanée Conti-Romanée Conti 1996 at 6500 Euro...
The other wines include a couple of Languedoc and about 20 Bordeaux wines from the best Appellations, Saint-Estèphe, Pauillac, Margaux, Pomerol, Saint-Julien...In our last visit we had the white Mercurey by d'Allaines (B.), a rich, aromatic Chardonnay with butterscotch notes, and the Chinon by Alliet (me), which was very long to open and showed some reduction on the nose, but had a well-structured mouth that I liked.
The food consists of plates, entrées (beginning with a salad at 5 Euro, and others like Saumon Fumé & Blinis Maison, or Millefeuille de Betteraves au Comté, at 10 Euro) and dishes like Magret de Canard, Beef Stew, or Faux-Filet Limousin (Desnoyer) at 15 or 20 Euro. There is also a "Menu Tapas" at 20 Euro (Assiette Canapés + 6 Snails + Cheese Plate).Hakari, Seiko and MayoThis is a small world... you may remember an unidentified Japanese Sommelier that I took a picture of, at a Loire wine tasting at Caves Augé (middle of the page, on the right) last year : I didn't know who she was at the time but her name is Hakari (she is the one on the left here) and she happened to begin to work at Vinos later that year. She somehow heard about the picture and recognized me after we ordered our wines the last time we visited Vinos (I'll get sued someday...)... Mayo, on the right, is from Yamanashi Prefecture, the number-one wine region in Japan. Vinos29 rue d'Argenteuil75001 ParisPhone 01 42 97 52 43Métro : Pyramides (line 7)

Comments

[hrayr]

To my knowledge camembert is spelt with "m".
Great articles and pictures
Regards

[Alyssa the Wine Enthusiats]

It is always so true to not judge a book by the cover. I have had some of the best wines at places that you would never thought even served wine let alone a great port wine.

Thanks for the nice article.

[la fourchette]

oh my goodness! I have just found your blog - yipppeeee! I'll be back often as I learn more about the wines of the country I now call "home".

Lovely shots...especially the one of Alain and Stephane - Aux Tonneaux des Halles. Really great!

[Fabrice Le Glatin]

Salut Bertrand,
Toujours aussi excellent ton blog. Et tes photos...
Une dégust à un Tupperwine, ça te dirait? Renseignement sur mon Blog (rubrique Tupperwine).
Bien à toi,
Fabrice, Paris XVII.

[Steve L.]

Mmm...sounds like just the perfect menu to accompany that $10,000 bottle of DRC. ;-)