Here are a few photographic notes of wines that stood out and events where wine flows, we'll look back a couple months for these things. Some of these pictures are very long and narrow, I shot them with my phone.
these first few pictures were shot at Paris by Wine, a tasting event for professionnals
that took place at the Musée de la Chasse [Hunting Museum]
in Paris (directions). The domaines that took part were mostly from Burgundy but there were a few other domaines which shared the artisan/uninterventionist philosophy, this other group having been selected by Gilles Manzoni. The setting of this tasting in the middle of the Marais was particularly in line with the idea of tradition, with these vaulted rooms, thick stone walls and game trophies hanging.
This Domaine de la Ferme du Cade is located in the Gard département (Southern Rhone) 50 km north of Nîmes, David Teyssier is doing a very good job here on his 7 hectares (plus as much hay fields), he is growing grapes since 2006, it was his first vintage in 2019 with 10 000 bottles because prior to that he was selling grapes to the local coopérative, stopping in 2018 when he made his first trials with 3000 bottles vinified naturally. He keeps hens and chicken in his farm, moving them with a chicken coop on wheels in order to bring them to different parcels.
__ Prime, Rosé 2019, made in collaboration with the Soulier brothers. 80 % Clairette (direct press) blended with Cinsault. Super nice color. Unfiltered, a bit SO2 (1gr/hectoliter) because malolactic started too early. 30 hectoliters of this. Priced around 15 € in cavistes (6,5 € pro price).
__ Les Garbettes 2018, a red barely darker than the rosé, 80 % Grenache 20 % Cinsault, on slopes. 7-day maceration, he tries to make easy-drinking wines. Superb nose, smoky notes. 15 € retail (7 € pro) lovely wine.
This is Domaine Cinq Peyres, it is managed by Charles Bonnafont who farms using biodynamie (not certified yet) 12 hectares of vineyards of a total estate of 20 hectares (the rest is woods/garrigue) in the Gaillac region. He vinifies all his grapes and likes that. He sells much locally, them some across France, plus a little bit of export (Stockholm). Charles loves to work in the vineyard, taking care of the preparations. For his plantings he chooses to first plant the rootstock, leaving them grow comfortably before later grafting them with the massal-selection
wood he took care of himself beforehand. He uses the graft technique known under
the name greffe anglaise compliquée.
__ Antidote 2018, white blend of Mauzac and Loin de l'Oeil; hand picked grapes, whole-custer pressing, débourbage and fermentation on its own indigenous yeast (finished in spring, bottled in may). No sulfites at all, any time. 9 € retail at the domaine.
__ Arrosé, Rosé 2018, Gamay & Braucol, this is the jus de goutte of the carbonic maceration. He says he likes the carbo to be dry, meaning he keeps the taps open with the juice flowing out (no remontage) and he keeps this jus de goutte separate for a distinct cuvée. The wine stopped fermenting at one point, leaving some residual sugar. He made a tight filtration and bottled with 2 gr/hecto. Aromas of grenadine, candy, seems pretty generous in alcohol.
__ Impeccable, table wine (Vin de France) red blend of Gamay, Merlot, Syrah, one-week pre-fermentation cold-temp maceration (destemmed grapes but gently done, he wants to keep the grapes whole) with the aim to get the fruit. Vat only, no oak. Nice color, lightly turbid, but he says he did a light filtration here, just to take out the big things, because he bottled early, in february. Vivid wine, he says it comes from the Gamay. 8 € retail at the domaine. Lovely wine. He says even local customers don't care about the table wine label, they know how he works.
__ A Capella, Gaillac 2016, a red made from Braucol, half carbo, half classic maceration with whole clusters, then blending and élevage one year in cement vats, and lastly, racking and bottling, no fining, no filtration, no SO2. Very fruity, blackcurrant style, super vivid in the mouth, alive with juicy substance, love it ! 13 € retail at the domaine.
Remi Dufaitre was there, another treat of this tasting. When you speak with him he looks like he's not the genius behind his wines, like, you might not like hit hat, but he's a real rebel,
honey badger don't care !
__ Brouilly
2018, it is soooo goood, you might have thought that it's a bit early to drink it but when sipping the actual wine, no, it's already excellent. The color has this exciting chalky something which makes you salivate, and you find this character in the mouth too with this enjoyable tannic touch. Fresh, acidulous notes, this wine has everything for you to love it. Unfiltered, unfines, no added sulfites. Bottled in april. Felow taster Jean-Christophe Hanier who was there remembers with delight a confidential cuvée of Juliénas Remi made a few consecutive years starting in 2015, from a small parcel belonging to an elderly farmer, but he hasn't it anymore, the last vintage was 2018, the problem was the owner didn't let him work the way he wanted.
Asked about the vintage 2019, Remi says it is good except for smaller volumes, the wines are lighter in color than 2018 even if alcohol will be around 13 %.
At the table of Kevin Descombes I first tasted his Beaujolais Villages 2017, made half in cement, half in demi-muids. Very enjoyable nose. Very nice, you feel it is still young but has all the needed base to get better.
Then got his Morgon 2017, ample, good. Then his Morgon vieilles vignes 2016, aged in 6- or 7 years old oak barrels. Darker color. Super good wine, lovely. I asked about 2019, he says the vintage was fine except for some frost, then the heat/drought but they got enough rain in august (9th to 20th) to compensate. They'll have less volume but not that much compared to what they feared. Kevin is happy with 2018 and 2019, finding these vintages good for the easy-drinking Beaujolais he likes to do.
Former oenologist consultant in France and abroad, Matthieu Dumarcher started his winery in 2006 in southern Rhône (Provence side), he farms organic since the start and vinify with low intervention. Present surface :
5 hectares.
__ Léon &
Séraphin, Vin de France 2018, Grenache and Syrah, part carbo, part destemmed for an easy drinking wine, a spring wine. A bit of SO2 at bottling, like 15 mg. Bottled in may 2019. Delicious wine ! 11 €.
__ Vin Rouge, Vin de France 2017, bottled in november 2018. This wine is more closed, less easy at first sip compared to the former. 14 € retail.
__ Réserve Vin de France 2017, Grenache, Carignan and Syrah, 1/3 each with Grenache and Carignan being 70 years old on garrigue terroir, gravel and red clay while the Syrah is 40 years old and sits on clay/sandy soils. Destemmed (but it's not a fixed rule) with 12-month élevage, part in stainless-steel tank, part in oak. A bit of SO2 at bottling. Super-nice extraction here with empyreumatic notes, ink, eucalyptus, dry leaves. Quite powerful but really a super nice wine. He says this cuvée has this aromatic character every year, it's really the terroir that comes out through the soil and the indigenous yeast. Retail 19 €.
Antoine Lienhardt and Juliette Joblot make wine since 2011 after Antoine took over his grandfather's parcels in 2010 in the Côte de Nuits villages appellation. His vineyard surface is about 3 hectares with no herbicide use. Juliette who helps for the vinification is herself from a well-known family at Domaine Joblot
(Côte Chalonnaise).
__ Gamayoptère, Gamay du Pierrot 2018, the vines grow in Fixin. There used historically to be a lot of Gamay here but the growers reduced their surface for economic reasons because Pinot Noir was selling better. Juliette says this variety stands better the drought and it would be wise to replant it, especially near cities because it needs less water. It takes disease earlier also, making a well-timed warning for Pinot Noir parcels. Carbo one week, élevage in stainless stell and egg tank, indigenous yeat, only 1gram/hectoliter SO2.
__ Les Plantes aux Bois, Côte de Nuits villages 2017, make 1/3 of the domaine vineyards. one-year élevage in old barrels.
__ Emphase 2017, red made from some of the oldest parcels of the domaine (from 70 to 90 years), all located in Comblanchien. They want here to emphasize (thus the name) the terroirs of Comblanchien which have been ignored for too long. When the appellation districts were delimited long time ago the village of Comblanchien was already very wealthy because of its quarries and the village elders didn't feel the urge to fight to get included among the best terroirs of the area, which is why the market disregards the village's wines. There are presently 5 growers on the village, only one working naturally.
__ Gevrey Chambertin Village 2017, purchased grapes.
Jean Foillard was there in person, not his son Alex but there was the wines of both of them. Jean seems a bit bored these days, I think he got enough of these tastings although I don't know if it's an attitude or a real tiredness : I asked him what he had to say about 2019 (weather, early vinification mood...) he answered he had nothing to say with a laugh, just one thing : it's good ! He says I
should have gone listen
Matthieu Mouts at Hotel Grand Amour because the guy speaks at length about the issue... He himself doesn't speak anymore, he just makes wine, he adds with a smile. He stll ended say that 2019 was nice including in terms of volumes, and the juice was balanced.
__ Alex Foillard, Beaujolais Villages 2018
__ Alex Foillard Brouilly 2017, very nice wine, intense with chalky tannins, a pleasure even if still young.
__ Jean Foillard, Morgon 2017, super nice wine, very refined, and here again you feel you're at the early stage of its potential. Beautiful silky tannins.
__ Jean Foillard Morgon Cote du Py 2017, superb mouth, it radiates through the palate, sooo good, sharp, deep and with length. Love it !
B. and I went for a change to the huge wine fair at Porte de Versailles in Paris (we don't go every year by far, although we should) a few weeks ago. The Salon des Vignerons Independants gathers about 1000 domaines from all over France including Champagne and spirits distillers for 4 days including a weekend. The entry is either free if you received an invitation from a domaine or 7 € if you don't, and it's really worth a visit, you don't have only mainstream boring wines here, there are quite a few organic and natural wines, and as the viticulture/vinification practices are changing you can have good surprises even by tasting at random. Crowds of parisians come here to buy wine before Christmas and the fêtes de fin d'année in order to replenish their cellar, be it electric. Best is to prepare your visit and select the vignerons you want to taste. For that, go on the website and click on "Rechercher", selecting the region and scrolling down to find an interesting domaine (the link may not be active if the tasting is in the past). You end up receiving many invitations for the fair (each time you buy a bottle, the domaine takes note of your address and you'll receive invitations for the following fair) and each being valid for two people you can bring a party and have fun tasting around.
We stopped at Jo Landron, it's great he is almost always there in person, humbly pouring his wines. Here are a few notes of what got my attention. We began with the iconic cuvée Amphibolite
but somehow I missed writing any notes on it.
__ Clos de la Carizière, Muscadet sur Lies 2018. 2nd bottling.
Nicely-structured wine. 12 € at the fair (generally the wines sell for ether the same price than at the domaine, or just slightly above). I asked about his news, he says that (at the time of the visit) there was these 25 % tariffs slapped on French wines by the U.S. administration and Jo says some orders haven't been renewed.
__ Muscadet Les Houx 2017. Long élevage on lees Nice viscosity feel on the palate. Terroir : clay & sandstone. The wine has more structure, he says. Intensity in the mouth, beautiful indeed. 13 €.
__ Muscadet Fief du Breuil 2015. Stony, mineral ! Longer élevage he says. Malolactic is blocked with SO2 as a rule.
__ Haute Tradition 2016, vines on Le Mortier Gobin (a reknown terroir) but Jo doesn't put the name on the label because most of the terroir surface is owned by other vignerons.
Melonix, Vin de France 2017. Natural wine, no SO2 during the vinification, just a bit at bottling (30 mg, less than 10 mg free SO2). 100 % Melon de Bourgogne. I think it's a new cuvée, if I'm right. 13 €.
__ Atmosphères, the bubbly. Traditionnal method, extra brut, blend of Folle Blanche (39 %), Pinot Noir (28 %), Chardonnay (33 %). We love this cuvée and wanted to have a taste again... 13 €.
I don't remember if I selected this domaine in advance or just walked to the booth when passing by (I'd say the latter) but that's the reason this wine fair is a gem, it allows you to get a taste of what's been done outside the strictly-natural, and it's worth a tour because I suspect there's a number of "family" wineries that work pretty naturally without being
aware of it.
The Saint Pourçain Appellation
is part of the Loire Appellation but it is located at its far east. With 600 hectares and 20 growers, it is a small area. The wines of Saint Pourçain were ordered by the popes sitting in Avignon along the 14th century, in spite of the arduous shipping conditions.
The Domaine de Bellevue is a family domaine of 22 hectares, and the vigneron Jean-Louis Pétillat who trained in Beaune was here to pour his wines. They had 11 cuvées to taste, including a rosé and 3 sparklings (which I didn't taste alas). I didn't take notes but loved pretty everything I tasted here, the whites were vibrant and some of them very mineral. the reds delicate and subtle, hinting at a very uninterventionist winemaking. They'll be under my radar from now on, and I'll go taste their wines again when given the opportunity. the prices were moderate, starting at 8,8 € for the Rouge Grande Reserve (Gamay-Pinot Noir) to 15,75 € for the red or white Urbain V. The whites are blends of Chardonnay & Tressalier, the latter being a local variety that adds a vibrant acidity to the blend. the reds are blends of Pinot Noir/Gamay, like it was probably done even in Burgundy centuries ago. I am confident this sub-region of the Loire deserves to come back in the spotlight.
Always a pleasure to stop at the table of Clos Siguier, a valeur sûre
of the salon. Gilles
Bley is an easy-going, warmful person and his wines perspire truth. He's there every year for his longtime customers, and he also delivers your cases himself direct to your home/work in Paris in the days before the salon, if you send him an order in advance. I think many participating domaines do that, that's why when they send you and invitation they join a list of cuvées with prices in the envelope.
I liked particularly his Clos Siguier Cahors Vieilles Vignes 2015 at 8 € (great deal !) and loved the awesome Cahors La Gamassade 2016 made from carefully selected pickings, which was superbly aromatic and spicy, 15 €, also a good deal for the money.
Alter (the bottle above on the right) is a complex Grenache Syrah Mourvèdre blend with spicy notes. 14 €.
This domaine is located in the Languedoc-Roussillon,
I didn't take any notes
from what i tasted here but apparently I liked these two wines. The domaine has been farming biodynamic for 20 years. The domaine is really big, 220 hectares (all biodynamicly farmed). I have another picture of a wine I tasted here, made without sulfites (John Wine no sulfites, a Côte du Roussillon).
br>Le Credo 2014 (the bottle above on the left) is a high-end cuvée (47 €) made with 40% Grenache, 30% Mourvèdre and 30% Syrah, it was really a lovely wine for the smooth tannins and beautiful extraction.
Fabien Jouves farms organic and vinifies naturally his domaine Mas del Périé near Cahors, he started to work on the family domaine in 2006 after studying
at the wine school,
he is a fan of Eric Pfifferling wines, which is a good omen, i loved his wines. Surface : around 20 hectares. He wasn't there when I tasted, but this young woman
explained very well (but again, I didn't take any notes).
__ Grape Invaders, Vin de France, vines at 350m altitude, living wine, unfined, unfiltered. 12 €.
__ Cahors, Haute Côt(e) de Fruit 2018, Malbec (Côt is another name for Malbec). 9 €.
__ Cahors, les Acacias 2018, cuvée sidérolithique (limestone).
__ Cahors, Amphore 2018, sélection parcellaire, cuvée sidérolithique.
__ Cahors Bloc B763, the high-end cuvée, 24-month élevage, no added sulfites.
At last I could see Céline Coté, I had tried to ask for a visit once but never had any answer from my phone message at the time. Céline makes wine in Molosmes, in northern Burgundy (Yonne), making from
biodynamic vineyards cuvées from the old terroirs of Epineuil and Tonnerre. She
started to work on her domaine in 1999, her surface today is 7,5 hectares. She had brought 9 cuvées including bubbles but I only tasted a few.
__ Bourgogne Tonnerre 2018, a white (Chardonnay). Nice harmony. 12,5 €.
__ Bourgogne Tonnerre Barrique 2018, Chardonnay (élevage in oak). 14,5 €.
__ Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2018. Quite powerful but refined and with a light color. 11,5 €. Very nice wine !
__ Bourgogne Cuvée Julia 2014. This light-colored Pinot Noir has a beautiful harmony, very feminine wine, a north-Burgundy pinot... Love it ! 12,5 €.
__ Destrier 2017, a red made from a parcel farmed with a draft horse, no use of barrels here. Wow, more power here, and very nice length.
__ Epineuil 2017, Pinot Noir, élevage in barrels.
the Domaine Mann in Alsace was selling its grapes to the coop until 1998 when they began to sell their wine in bottles, then they converted to organic farming in 2004 and since 2009 they added biodynamic practices in the vineyard thanks to one of their sons, Sébastien, who spent time working with
wineries in Austria and Australia.
The vineyard surface is about 12
hectares.
__ Crémant d'Alsace Brut Nature 2016. Chardonnay, Auxerrois & Pinot Noir. 2 years sur lattes.
__ Ortel 2014 is a large blend of complanted varieties, red and white, Sylvaner, Muscat, Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer. Super notes of exotic fruits, lovely.
__ Naturellement Ortel 2018, same blend but here no SO2 at all. They kept this batch 2 years separate in vat without SO2 to see if it was standing, so they decided to bottle it as such. B. loves it ! Superb and harmonious. 16,1 € There should be more trials like that to show people how wines are really alive and excitingly different without any SO2...
__ Pinot Noir Chemin du Soleil 2017. Nice light tile color. Peppery, lovely ! 22,2 € Pinot Noir can be so great in Alsace !
__ Pinot Noir, Chemin de Pierre 2018. Meat juice, nice length, a pleasure again ! 36,5 €.
I brought back from Suntory city (as is dubbed Osaka) this bottle of Torys Classic, not only because the mid-range quality whiskies of Suntory and Nikka have become too expensive but also as a tribute to the last Tory's bar which was located in the red light district of Juso and which I visited 12 years ago. I didn't go there this time but heard it burnt down a few years ago (Don't know if it reopened since). This Torys Classic is better than I expected in spite of its ridiculously-small price of 700 Y in liquor stores in Japan (less than 6 €). It is pleasantly aromatic and doesn't have the burning feel associated with cheap whisky. With only 37 % alcohol it can't be sold as whisky in other countries, from what I understand.
I went to the Caves Augé for the Beaujolais Nouveau which as always is free and open to the passing public from 11am to 6pm on Bojo day. Since Marc Sibard is gone the new
manager has instituted
a deposit for the glass, you give 10 € to get a glass, and you're given the money back at the end, given you didn't break it. like usual, the participating vignerons came with a full barrel which they bottle and cork by hand on the sidewalk, which adds a festive touch.
Marcel Lapierre was there very long ago when we began to come to these sidewalk treats. Pours are still often generous and it's a pleasure to chat with stars of natural wine, especially that it's not overcrowded. The best of the best have come here like L'Anglore's Pfifferling and Fred Cossard of Domaine de chassorney for example (see here), and it's a good thing that this seems to last.
__ FRM Savagnin Macération XIV 2019. 19 € at the shop.
Starting this Beaujolais Nouveau day with a Savagnin sounded like a good idea,
this is Nouveau day after all, regardless of the region and variety. François Rousset-Martin took over his family vineyard in 2007, before that the grapes were sold to the local Coopérative. He farms today 13 hectares, mostly white near Chateau-Chalon.
François Rousset-Martin vinifies naturally and makes terroirs cuvées of topped-up Savagnin from different parcels/soils. His wines are unfined and unfiltered. No SO2 during the vinification and long élevages, and for his Vin Jaune he is said to release some of the wines after 12 years. Here's a profile in English by an importer.
You can see the prices for the Nouveau wines at the shop.
Of course it was a pleasure to have the wines of Alex and Jean Foillard (both were there and Agnès as well). After the Savagnin that's where I went to, the barrels
were already empty and the bottles corked, too bad I should have come early because the bottling from the barrel is something, imagine 7 guys and their aides busy doing this on a sidewalk in Paris...
As I said, the thing is, the pours are really generous, and that's where you see that natural wine is really about another mindset, i've been to so many tastings (mainstream commercial wines usually) where the pour size is just ridiculously small, even for tasting...Speaking of price, the bottle of Beaujolais Primeur 2019 by Jean Foillard was 11 €, a treat.
I didn't take any notes but I found out that Arnaud Combier of Domaine des Moriers worked at Domaine Valette after studying at the wine school of Beaune and he keeps close relations with them. He then works in Chablis with Colbois and ends up taking back the parcels of his grandparents in 1998, making nice textured whites for 10 years. Then he went to the south of France, met Jeff Carrel, oversaw the organic conversion of a large domaine in Beaujolais, then joined Domaine des Moriers. His Beaujolais Primeur 2019 was at 11 € at Augé.
Almways a pleasure to sip the primeur by Marcel Richaud, I loved partucularly his primeur 2018. His domaine is quite big today, several dozen hectares I don't remember exactly, and his sister Claire who spent a year working at Marcel Lapierre is now in charge. Marcel came with his other daughter Edith. these bottles seem to have different labels but it's just the colors, they're all his Côte du Rhône 2019 primeur which was at 11 € at Augé.
I remember that the primeur of Jean-François (Domaine des Foulards Rouges) Nicq was really very juicy and enjoyable. His Octobre Vin de France 2019 was everything you can expect for this festive days, the price was 14 € at Augé, more than other primeurs but it was worth.
But the crown goes for me to Jean-Christophe Comor (les Terres Promises) with his cuvée primeur A Ma Guise, which is a gorgeously-vivid blend of white and red varieties, don't ask him how many (just look at this magic color)... Really terrific juicy wine, you'd sip the bottle by yourself without noticing. Unfiltered, unfined, no added so2. 14 € at the shop, but worth the money, enjoy every second ! Man, I remember having bought this cuvée for 8 or 9 € at the domaine a few years ago...
I'm not doing wine-bar stories these days but I realize I should post single-pictures stories like here
to tell about places. If you look for a cool wine bar and a wine shop in one venue, here is La Cave de Belleville, it's a short distance from the metro Belleville, up the Rue de Belleville a couple hundred meters on the left. Nice choice of bottles including pet-nat and magnums, and a comfortable space to sit if you want to order a bottle or a glass of wine for your party (there are so many bars where it's cramped and you're squeezed in a corner). The guy is very helpful if you need information on the wines. They have a couple small tables outside on the sidewalk.
Since I looked into Japanese vodka and gin instead of whiskies I keep being positively suprised. Japanese whiskies have reached skyrocketing prices (even in duty-free shops at Narita) due to their success and the numerical might of the Chinese buyers, and there's a new frontier with I think unlimited potential in terms of volume : vodka and gin. These spirits are way easier to make than whisky and require less ingredient imports (like malted barley). Knowing the care with which Japanese distillers work, it is no surprise that here again they're doing great. This Nikka Coffey Gin is a wonder [and remember how Nikka already makes top-tier whiskies], it costs about 4800 Y in Japan (40 €) , not that much more in France (49 €) and at Narita's Duty Free Fasola only 4000 Y or 33 €, a steal, don't miss that.
But in order to get a strong foot on the cheap gin market as well, here's Nikka's product of choice, and if not as wildly aromatic and exciting as the Coffey, you'll have here a nice gin with behind the serious expertise and care of this distillery : Nikka Wilkinson 47.5 %, made on Nikka's recipe with over 10 botanicals. Now take a seat for the price : 932 Y in liquor shops in Japan (7,7 €). Who needs duty free here ? If this gin reaches Europe with this price range it will decimate the continental market for sure...
We had a fairly mild november, and same in december, and I won't complain, Paris can be so cold and damp at this season, the worse here is humidity, which can make moderately-cold temperatures feel excruciatingly cold, even visitors used to extreme frost in eastern Europe complain...
It's been quite a while but I discovered this during an event centered on Burgundy and Jura in Paris. The region present jointly once a year to the Parisians many different products and activities, not only wines (the selection of which
was mostly uninteresting). I didn't expect much from this professionnal event except some entertainment, sipping and socializing on the public dime (at least here we can consume a fraction the lavish regional subsidies), but in addition to a few Absinthes there was this tartare served on the buffet, and it was exceptionnal :
Chef Jean-Alain Poitevin who works at the 4-star Hotel Chateau de Chailly (50 km west of Dijon) makes tartare with oysters (you may see that the texture of the meat is a bit different than usual on the picture), and not any oysters, but fresh water oysters from Burgundy ! Really excellent and unique tartare, no drowning into a spicy sauce but fresh with iodine ! Asked where the oysters come from in Burgundy (like me, you probably never heard about Burgundy oysters), he said from the Saône river, but he couldn't tell more because the producer makes (as you can understand) very small volumes.
Don't expect to find this tartare on the menu in the two restaurants of the hotel, he told me he does it on demand for special events or occasions (if you plan ahead I think you could have some).
If you look for a place to enjoy Beaujolais Nouveau in the evening (after having begun at noon with all the Bojo/Primeurs wines at Caves Augé), this is the
place : Ma Cave Fleury is the shop window in Paris for Champagne Fleury, it's a bistrot serving of course all the range of the artisanal maison Fleury, but they also have a wide range of natural wines from all regions, both to go or to drink there. Morgane Fleury who is an artist/comedian by training runs the place, and whatever time of the year you go there it's fun and easy going. The bistrot is very central, close to the Halles and Beaubourg (see directions).
B. was working late and too tired to come after work, there were 3 of us including a guy from Minsk spending a few months in Paris (but few Parisians neither know about this gem) and we decided against all odds to jostle for a glance in the crowded venue (and we needed to order the real thing anyway). The room was pretty packed, but we managed to get a spot at the counter (good timing, some people were leaving). You can see here Morgane (in blue) behind the counter taking the orders. The charcuterie planches were very successful also.
Morgane got some extras to help her on that busy day, among them Debra Kemp, the British importer of the best British cheese (I interviewed her on video in this recent story).
Every year they have a fanfare on the sidewalk that day, adds some family vibe to the event. the rue Saint Denis is pedestrian, no annoyances with traffic. The street was known in the past for its many prostitutes but the area has gentrified in the last couple decades. Here on the left you can guess Jean-Christophe Comor behind the blonde young woman, he knows the good places and had come here after finishing his time at Caves Augé...
I went a few weeks ago to a bulk-wine tasting in Paris, it was organized by En Vrac [means "in bulk" in French], a bistrot and wine shop that sells wine by the liter or 75cl. Before WW2 and even during a couple decades after, you could buy wine in bulk in Paris, this era is alas gone but I think there's a future for this
concept, especially at a time everybody is complaining about these mountains of empty containers and bottles overwhelming reprocessing and recycling systems. And related to the new 100 % tariffs on French wines imported into the U.S. I remind that this tax doesn't apply to bulk wine (3 liter-containers and up) and that something
could be done between the importers and natural-wine producers to get around this problematic issue.
Here are a few of the wines, some of them I liked. All the prices are when purchased at the tasting or at En Vrac (the wine bar), the wines change there regularly of course (bring your empty bottles for filling or they give you some for a deposit).
__ Domaine Mongilet Sauvignon 2018, 5,9 € per liter & Grolleau 2018, 5 € per liter. These basically were the only wines sold by the liter, and I appreciate, the others were by 75cl which is a bit unethical when you think "wine in bulk"... The Domaine de Mongilet has a 70-hectare surface in Anjou, farmed on "sustainable agriculture". They have 10 hectares in Grolleau, which they often vinify in rosé, they have also lots of Chenin.
__ Laurent Herlin, viognier-Vermentino, Languedoc. 5,3 €/75cl. A southern white (by a Loire vintner) but not too powerful.
__ Catherine & Pierre Breton, Trinch 2018. Mokka aroma, nice smoky tannins. 9,8 €/75cl.
__ Clos Roca 2018. Organic farming. Carignan, Grenache, Merlot. Quite nice, fruty, light.
__ Mas de Janiny, Languedoc 2018. Carignan, Syrah, Grenache.fermented on low temperature. Very nice wine. 3,3 €/75cl.
__ Clos Roca, white, Sauvignon & Colombard 2018. 2levage sur lies in stainless. Quite alive and generous but no alcohol feel. 5 €/75cl.
__ Mas de Janiny, Languedoc 2018, Sauvignon & Vermentino. Nice mineral feel, neat. Nice wine indeed for only 4 €/75cl.
__ Chateau Catus, Bordeaux white 2018. Sauvignon. Elevage on lees (stainless). A bit green, not convinced. 5,8 €/75cl.
__ Jérôme Arnoux, Arbois, Poulsard 2018. Light red color ! The guy worked with Stéphane Tissot, that's his 1st vintage. Filtered and a bit of SO2 here. Super mouth ! 9,5 €/75cl.
__ Chateau Coupes Roses, Minervois 2018. Carignan (40%), Grenache (40%), Syrah (20%). Spicy nose, the color is a bit milky (turbid).A bit rough-edged, I think got some SO2.
__ Estézargues, Carignan-Grenache 2018, unfiltered, unfined. The king of this tasting, just delicious ! Nice chalky color, freshness, a pleasure. 3,3 €/75cl, an incredible value.
__ Artmas (Rhône), Visan 2017. Nice nose, dry herbs. A bit tight in the mouth, filtered and sulfites I guess. 4,7€/75cl.
__ Domaine Lucien Tramier Rhone 2017, Syrah, Grenache, Carignan and very old Alicante. Fruity. Substance lacking, filtration maybe ?
__ Chateau Cajus, Bordeaux 2018. Merlot (80%), Cabernet Franc (20%). Organic since 1998. Earthy notes on the nose. Nice chalky tannins, well integrated. Still young, very promising wine.
__ Nicolas Dubost, Beaujolais Nouveau 2019. 100 % grapes, nothing added. Clear, light color, super good !!! The other super deal here at 5,3 €/75cl, I think nowhere in Paris you could get such a delicious nature Bojo Nouveau at this price...
__ Karim Vionnet Beauolais Nouveau 2019.Classic maceration here, I'm told. A bit tight, less enjoyable that the former, had filtration and sulfites I think.
More small news to come, didn't have enough room here...
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