Top 5 wine bars in…Paris
What better place to indulge in a passion for
wine than in the French capital – a city bursting at the seams with
food, culture and most importantly, wine
There was a time when the wine bars of Paris were long-established
haunts that reliably served small-production wines from a few select
appellations to a loyal customer base.
The tide turned in 2000 when Cyril Bordarier opened Le Verre Volé,
one of the first in a wave of new style wine bars and which went on
to become the archetype for newcaves à manger (wine shops that serve
food).
Serving mostly natural, organic or biodynamic wines, many followed in
his footsteps setting off a chain reaction which resulted in dozens of
increasingly bijou wine bars springing up across the capital.
The move saw a shift in popularity toward more casual drop-in bars,
which often doubled up as a shop or deli serving small plates of
charcuterie and cheeses, alongside an extensive list of all-natural
wines by the glass.
Natural wine is produced from grapes which have been organically
grown and are unfiltered with no sulfites, sugars, yeasts or other
additives.
Today Paris is littered with wine bars ranging from the
long-established to the cutting edge, most flush with natural wines, all
with something to offer for the discerning drinker.
Situated in an 17th-century building a stone’s throw from the Louve
this bistrot à vins has bucket loads of character serving a wide
selection of wines alongside a menu featuring typically French cuisine
such as pork loin with wild mushrooms and Paris-Brest (hazelnut
cream-filled choux pastry).
While you might struggle to get a seat at
the bar, its well worth booking in for dinner upstairs to sample its
wide selection of ‘natural’ and organic wines by the glass and the
bottle.
Its menu sources ingredients from some of the best producers in
Paris including Hugo Desnoyer, star butcher, and Jean-Luc Poujauran, a
celebrated Parisien baker.
Address: 43 rue Croix des Petits Champs, 1st
Telephone: +33 1 42 61 35 41
lesfinesgueules.fr
Le Verre Volé
The delightfully ramshackle La Verre Volé, located near the Canal
Saint-Martin, is largely credited with kicking off a trend for more
diverse wines and increasingly inventive food pairings, which in this
case includes delicacies such as lamb and fig terrine and a wide array
of cheeses.
With mismatched tables and wine bottle-lined walls the La Verre Volé is anything but pretentious serving up a wide selection of natural and biodynamic wines and hearty dishes.
Pop into Le Papilles, owned by Bertrand Bluy’s, at lunchtime for a
glass of wine and a quick bite, but make a reservation for the evening
if you want to take advantage of its great value €33 fixed price menu.
Straddling the line between bistro, wine shop and delicatessen, Le
Papilles is small and intimate with wines on sale ranging from a modest
$40 to a wallet-emptying $1,400.
An institution among Paris wine lovers, Willi’s Wine Bar opened in
1980 and describes itself as the “proverbial hole in the wall, a speck
of cosmic dust that is part of the fabric of Parisian life”.
Behind
its funky facade lies a polished oak bar serving up a wide range of
wines by the glass and the bottle until midnight.
Tim Johnson may have handed the reins to daughter Margaux but the
feel remains the same.
A wine list made up of quirky small French
producers, a big chunk of Rhones and, you better believe it, a sherry
list and a smattering of Aussie wines, you read that right, Australian
wines on a Paris wine list.
One Aussie winemaker even went so far to
name one of his wines after the place. Friendly, laid back and better
value than ever following a recent upgrade of the menu this old timer of
the Paris wine scene remains an institution and worth a visit.
Address: 47 rue de Richelieu, 1st
Telephone: +33 1 42 97 46 49
Source: The Drink Business
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