The Paris Wine Museum Reopens ⋆ Secrets and techniques of Paris

After being closed for six months of renovations, the Paris Wine Museum — now bizarrely known as Le M. Musée du Vin — reopened final month below new possession. Because it had been effectively over a decade since my final go to, I assumed I’d test it out.

A Little bit of Historical past: From Quarries to Wine Museum

The wine museum is fittingly housed inside historic limestone quarries dug into the hills of what’s now the Passy district within the sixteenth arrondissement of Paris. These tunnels had been used within the 16^th and 17^th centuries to retailer the wines of the monks of the Order of Minimes from the Passy convent. The convent was destroyed through the French Revolution, and the tunnels forgotten till the Forties, once they had been used as a bomb shelter. From 1950 via 1984, the tunnels had been as soon as once more used to retailer wine, this time for the Eiffel Tower’s restaurant, Le Jules Verne.

The Wine Museum was first opened in 1984 by the Confrérie du Conseil des Echansons de France, a wine brotherhood with a mission to “defend and promote France’s greatest wine appellations” (immediately its members additionally embrace ladies). My solely reminiscence from earlier visits was that — whereas an attention-grabbing place to flee the warmth and crowds in the summertime if you happen to occurred to be within the neighborhood — it appeared outdated, with dusty wax figures demonstrating the wine-making course of, and a somewhat cheap-tasting glass of wine on the finish.

However I used to be prepared to provide it one other likelihood.

Visiting the Musée du Vin

Le M. Musée du Vin
5 sq. Dickens, Rue des Eaux, sixteenth, M° Passy
Tel 01 45 25 70 89
Open Tuesday-Saturday 10am-6pm
Entry €15 with advance ticket buy (€17 on the door)
Non-obligatory glass of wine €4 (or €25 for 3 wines; reservations required by telephone)

Even with a map, it’s straightforward to overlook the museum, whose entrance is inside one of many oldest hôtels particuliers of the 16^th arrondissement, behind a gate on the far finish of the Rue des Eaux.

The primary entrance is now via a small present store promoting wines, wine equipment, and souvenirs. Should you didn’t pre-purchase your tickets on-line (advisable if you wish to save €2), you should purchase them right here for a whopping €17/grownup. And the glass of wine on the finish is not included, however prices €4 additional. Apparently there are audio guides in English obtainable, however there aren’t any indicators saying so, and since we had been talking French (and my buddy is a registered tour information) they didn’t provide them to us.

Just a few of the indicators with extra generalized data have translations in English. However 90% of the indicators are in French, I’m guessing that even with the audio information, you’ll solely get the fundamentals for every room, not the translations for the over 2,000 objects on show. For that, you’ll be greatest served with a translation app that works offline (Google translate will do it if you happen to obtain the French when you’re on-line).

Having mentioned that, even when your French is ideal and you’ve got a translator, a number of the objects are so obscure you’ll should guess what they’re for. Like most of you, we had visited many vineyards and wine-making cellars all through France through the years, so a number of the objects had been acquainted (the outdated presses, grape-picking baskets, wine riddlers, and tastevins), however a number of the objects remained a thriller (I photographed quite a lot of their French names to Google later as soon as I had reception once more).

Should you’re simply there for a superb time, attempting to determine the stranger objects is a part of the enjoyable. Laughing on the waxworks (you’ll hardly acknowledge Napoléon, who apparently solely drank Chambertin wine), is the opposite a part of the enjoyable. Should you’re a severe wine aficionado, you’ll nonetheless have lots to maintain you intrigued. From the distinctive geological composition of the cellars to Pasteur’s discovery that saved France’s wine business, the museum is nothing if not thorough in its historical past of French wine historical past (don’t anticipate to listen to a lot about different nations).

Two of the extra attention-grabbing issues I realized about wine on this go to:

• The “Grand Cru” appellation for wines, was established in Bordeaux in 1855 by native wine retailers, who determined that solely Médoc wines had been worthy. It has taken a looooong time for different wines, even superior ones, to problem Bordeaux’s status.
• The Ile-de-France city of Argenteuil has been making wine for over a thousand years (it was supposedly King Philippe Auguste’s favourite within the thirteenth century), and was the nation’s largest wine-producing commune within the early 1800s. The photograph on the correct commemorates Jacques Defresne (who handed away in 2013), the final in a household of Argenteuil wine-makers courting again to the 14th century.

Along with being usually impressed about how a lot brighter and customarily “tidier” it appeared since my final go to, it additionally appeared larger. It took us about an hour to go to all the museum, though I’ll admit by the tip we had been most likely shifting a bit sooner in direction of our personal glasses of wine, not stopping to learn the entire detailed descriptions of the flamboyant containers used to retailer and serve and revel in wines all through historical past.

Ingesting and Eating and Lessons on the Wine Museum

Once we completed our tour of the museum, we needed to monitor down one of many workers to allow them to know we had been prepared for our wine (which all of us pre-paid with our tickets). As soon as seated, you get to select from one of many two “vins du mois”, a white or a pink. The pour was beneficiant (we had been nearly completed after I took the photograph), the wine was fairly good. Some olives or nuts would have been good, however hardly a deal-breaker.

There are 4 giant vaulted cellars within the non-museum part of Le M. Musée du Vin, one with tables set for lunch, one subsequent to the bar for the wine tastings, and two for wine-tasting courses, that are open to people on the weekends (solely personal teams on weekdays, just like the chocolate-and-wine-tasting class happening whereas we had been there).

I can’t communicate for the meals, since I haven’t tried it, and because the restaurant has solely been reopened since final month, there aren’t any dependable evaluations but. Should you’d like to provide it a go, meals begin at €30, or €65 for 3 wines and a full menu. Wines by the glass value €6-10, bottles below €30.

As talked about earlier than, there are additionally wine tasting courses and wine pairing courses within the vaulted cellars. However though I can see the schedule for these courses on the web site, irrespective of how I attempted, I couldn’t efficiently e-book one (their web site isn’t user-friendly AT ALL, ugh). There are apparently three steps: have a look at the calendar, then buy a ticket, then make the reservation. However even within the English model, it simply doesn’t make any sense (and we’ve all been reserving issues on-line now for fairly just a few years, so no excuse for making it so difficult).

The Verdict: Definitely worth the Worth?

Even when I completely beloved this museum, the pre-purchased, non-wine-drinking ticket at €15 appears somewhat steep (in spite of everything, the Louvre costs that with no reservation). The six-month renovations clearly didn’t embrace updating the museum signage, which I’d assume even an bold intern might sort out over the course of some weeks.

However if you happen to’re even mildly desirous about wine-making historical past, and love to go to quirky, hidden locations in Paris that haven’t (but) been overrun by Instagrammers, then this would possibly simply be one of the best a part of your journey. We visited on a Wednesday at 2pm and solely noticed one different small group of three individuals within the museum all the time we had been there. And the brand new homeowners appear extra desirous about selling their restaurant and occasions than the wine museum, so it’s not shocking most individuals — even Parisians — don’t know the town has one. And for these with restricted mobility, there aren’t any staircases, so it’s wheelchair-accessible (not like the town’s different subterranean museum, the catacombes, which now prices a whopping €29).

So voilà…that is most likely one of many true secrets and techniques of Paris! For now. 😉