After being closed for six months of renovations, the Paris Wine Museum — now bizarrely known as Le M. Musée du Vin — reopened final month underneath new possession. Because it had been properly over a decade since my final go to, I believed I’d test it out.
A Little bit of Historical past: From Quarries to Wine Museum
The wine museum is fittingly housed inside historical 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 16th and 17th centuries to retailer the wines of the monks of the Order of Minimes from the Passy convent. The convent was destroyed throughout the French Revolution, and the tunnels forgotten till the Nineteen Forties, once they had been used as a bomb shelter. From 1950 by means of 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 finest wine appellations” (at the moment its members additionally embrace girls). My solely reminiscence from earlier visits was that — whereas an fascinating place to flee the warmth and crowds in the summertime should you occurred to be within the neighborhood — it appeared outdated, with dusty wax figures demonstrating the wine-making course of, and a moderately cheap-tasting glass of wine on the finish.
However I used to be prepared to offer it one other probability.
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-compulsory glass of wine €4 (or €25 for 3 wines; reservations required by cellphone)
Even with a map, it’s straightforward to overlook the museum, whose entrance is inside one of many oldest hôtels particuliers of the 16th arrondissement, behind a gate on the far finish of the Rue des Eaux.
The principle entrance is now by means of a small reward store promoting wines, wine equipment, and souvenirs. For those who didn’t pre-purchase your tickets on-line (really useful 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 further. Apparently there are audio guides in English out there, however there aren’t any indicators saying so, and since we had been talking French (and my good friend is a registered tour information) they didn’t supply them to us.
Only some 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 finest served with a translation app that works offline (Google translate will do it should you obtain the French whilst you’re on-line).
Having stated that, even when your French is ideal and you’ve got a translator, among the objects are so obscure you’ll need to 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 among the objects had been acquainted (the previous presses, grape-picking baskets, wine riddlers, and tastevins), however among the objects remained a thriller (I photographed a variety of their French names to Google later as soon as I had reception once more).
For those who’re simply there for time, making an attempt 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. For those who’re a critical wine aficionado, you’ll nonetheless have a lot to maintain you intrigued. From the distinctive geological composition of the cellars to Pasteur’s discovery that saved France’s wine trade, the museum is nothing if not thorough in its historical past of French wine historical past (don’t count on to listen to a lot about different nations).
Two of the extra fascinating issues I discovered 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 repute.
- 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 picture on the correct commemorates Jacques Defresne (who handed away in 2013), the final in a household of Argenteuil wine-makers relationship again to the 14th century.
Along with being typically 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 your complete museum, though I’ll admit by the tip we had been most likely shifting a little bit quicker in direction of our personal glasses of wine, not stopping to learn all the detailed descriptions of the flowery 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 observe 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 purple. The pour was beneficiant (we had been nearly completed after I took the picture), the wine was fairly good. Some olives or nuts would have been good, however hardly a deal-breaker.
There are 4 massive 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 lessons, that are open to people on the weekends (solely non-public teams on weekdays, just like the chocolate-and-wine-tasting class happening whereas we had been there).
I can’t converse 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. For those who’d like to offer it a go, meals begin at €30, or €65 for 3 wines and a full menu. Wines by the glass price €6-10, bottles underneath €30.
As talked about earlier than, there are additionally wine tasting lessons and wine pairing lessons within the vaulted cellars. However despite the fact that I can see the schedule for these lessons on the web site, irrespective of how I attempted, I couldn’t efficiently e-book one (their web site will not be 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 a couple of years, so no excuse for making it so difficult).
The Verdict: Well worth the Worth?
Even when I completely liked this museum, the pre-purchased, non-wine-drinking ticket at €15 appears moderately steep (in spite of everything, the Louvre expenses that with no reservation). The six-month renovations clearly didn’t embrace updating the museum signage, which I might suppose even an bold intern might deal with over the course of some weeks.
However should you’re even mildly focused on wine-making historical past, and love to go to quirky, hidden locations in Paris that haven’t (but) been overrun by Instagrammers, then this may simply be the very 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 your complete time we had been there. And the brand new homeowners appear extra focused on 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. 😉
