Good addresses - September 2024

RESTAURANTS 

FOGO, Paris 17th - 8 Rue Meissonier

Discover this superb restaurant in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, sure to delight lovers of flame-grilled meats and fish! 

Chic/bobo atmosphere with a Brazilian touch and an open kitchen. 

Flame-grilled meats and fish are the order of the day: the menu is short but very enticing. Several sharing starters to begin and very fine land or sea main courses to follow. The desserts are also very tempting… 

We ultimately choose a grilled sausage to share, along with small comté bites. A good start. 

Two beef picanhas with small grilled vegetables follow. 

All accompanied by a rather pleasant cuvée from Yves Cuilleron, already drinking well: Petite Serine 2022 (old grape varieties). It is already quite open and nicely fruity. 

The wine list is rather lovely but it does not come cheap…

It was impossible to resist upon seeing the dessert plates of our neighbours. 

We simply had to try the Saint-Honoré, which was quite simply delicious and light! 

The Glue Pot Reims - 49 Place Drout d'Erlon

Discover this fantastic restaurant in the heart of Reims! It is not the first time we have been there… So it was perfect to return on the Friday evening of our seminar, after the visit to Louis Roederer! 

With the feel of an Irish Guinness bar, red banquettes and lively DJ sets, this restaurant is very well known among enthusiasts for its superb wine list! 

Stéphane, the manager, will welcome you like royalty and will be able to share with you all the wines that do not appear on the "general public" wine list. 

Many references in Champagne, but not only! 

Do not hesitate to ask him to serve blind: carafes or tasting sleeves parade past and allow us (or not) to determine grape varieties, regions, and even estates and vintages. We tasted everything blind, with Stéphane having followed the precise or imprecise requests of our founders to choose what would be tasted. 

We began with 2 lovely Champagnes: Aurélien Lurquin and Emmanuel Brochet. 2 great names in Champagne de vignerons, and rather difficult to get hold of! 

Lurquin is very good, if a little austere; Brochet is delicious! 

We then continue with Jean-François Ganevat, Les Chalasses Vieilles Vignes, to accompany our small sharing plates served as an aperitif / starter course. Some identify the Chardonnay from the Jura, but not everyone… Always as delicious, well made and straight, the style of the pope of the Jura is inimitable — we love it. 

Then, on to our main courses (no vegetarians in the team, so it was meat all round, with special mention to the côte de bœuf and the big boy burger), and to accompany them, several red wines followed in succession. 

Let us begin with the Clos Nouveau, Domaine du Bel Air, Bourgueil 2018: cabernet franc comes up fairly often in our guesses, but we are not 100% certain. The wine already drinks very well despite its young age. A very fine wine from the Loire, with a complex fruity and toasty nose, precise and deep on the palate — a thoroughbred cabernet franc! 

We then move on to another red wine; the nose is superb, violet and garrigue dominate. It is ripe and spicy, with body and power, well-integrated wood, ripe fruits and notes of pepper, yet with a certain freshness… We naturally head south: a syrah? An Italian wine? It is quite difficult to pinpoint. Nobody gets it — it is a wine from Corsica: Clos Venturi Chiesa Nera 2020! This estate is the highest domaine in Corsica, and the altitude can thus lend it a certain freshness. It is a blend of indigenous grape varieties (Aleatico, Niellucio, Sciaccarello, Minustellu, Morescola, Carcaghjolu Neru, Moresconu and Vermentino) cultivated using biodynamic methods. It is excellent and perfect with meat! 

More fine company for the continuation of our meal, still tasted blind. 

Next came the Mémé 2021 from Gramenon (Rhône), which lives up to its name as it is made from century-old vines. Powerful black fruit aromas, a beautiful reduction… It is very good, 100% grenache produced using biodynamic methods, whole-bunch maceration, in a raw cement vat, fermentation using indigenous yeasts, 12 months of barrel ageing… Very pleasant after a little aeration! 

Then, back to the whites!

Thierry Germain follows: Domaine des Roches Neuves Clos Roman 2020. A very lovely Saumur: white fruits, an exotic touch, citrus and floral aromas of acacia and hawthorn; a delightful chenin blanc just as we love it! 

Michel Autran Les Enfers Tranquilles! It is very chiselled and precise, one can sense the flint and beautiful white fruit notes. Beautiful tension and beautiful salinity, we love it too. Another very fine chenin blanc that is a real pleasure, offered by Stéphane! 

Maxime Magnon La Bégou 2022: some are delighted to be able to retaste this little gem from Corbières (Languedoc)! A very seductive white from the South, 60% grenache gris and 40% grenache blanc, notes of flowers, fruit on the nose, a hint of iodine… It is precise and balanced, we love it! Very pleasant at the end of a meal. 

This wonderful tasting ends with many empty bottles on the table: proof that the selection is top-notch! Go there with your eyes closed and your stomach empty!  

Aux Mandarins de Belleville - 12 rue Jules Romains, Paris 19

A good Chinese restaurant with truly crafted dishes, but above all: a corkage fee of just €6 per bottle! 

Truly typical and lovely dishes, with the possibility of bringing your own bottles: perfect if you do not want to spend too much and your wines are reaching maturity, or if you need to make space in your cellar without bothering the neighbours or doing the washing up… We tasted several wines alongside lovely refined dishes! A great evening in Belleville! 

Savagnin Ouillé 24 months 2020 Kevin Bouillet: A very lovely, vibrant and chiselled savagnin! The long ageing reveals an ample wine of beautiful complexity with smoky notes.

Le Bruit 2022 Alexandre Plassat: A very easy-drinking gamay from the Jura! Produced by a little-known winemaker but already highly sought after by Jura enthusiasts, this wine offers a lovely acidic backbone accompanied by red fruits.

Andreas Tscheppe Salamander Reserve Chardonnay 2021: To close this meal, we head to a country that never ceases to amaze us with the quality of its wines — Austria! Andreas Tscheppe, from the Steiermark region, produces wines of remarkable quality. This chardonnay of superb complexity, accompanied by remarkable acidity and an infinite finish, has more than won us over! We are in the presence of a very great wine, much like his Sauvignon Blanc, which had also impressed us greatly.

ESTATE VISITS 

Villa Minna - Provence 

During a short weekend away with colleagues in Provence, we went to taste the wines of Domaine Minna. 

It is a family estate whose first red vintage was in 1999 and white in 2005. 

The new generation carries on the Villa Minna adventure: the family is still immersed in a love of wine, and it shows! The wine labels are created from drawings made by the children: many blocks of colour are chosen according to the characteristics of the vintages. A family estate right down to the labels! 

The welcome was delightful and we were able to taste a wide range! 

They produce several cuvées, in red and white, using a lovely palette of grape varieties: Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Mourvèdre for the reds, Vermentinu, Roussanne and Marsanne for the whites. The appellations of their wines vary: IGP Bouches du Rhône, Vin de Pays des Bouches du Rhône and Vin de Table. 

The vinification of MINNA wines relies exclusively on the indigenous yeasts naturally present on the grape berries. No oenological yeast or any other input is used, thus guaranteeing the authentic expression of the terroir.

Ageing is carried out grape variety by grape variety in an underground winery. For the MINNA Whites, 30% of the wine is aged in barrels and 70% in small stainless steel tanks. As for the MINNA Reds, ageing takes place exclusively in barrels, on fine lees, with regular stirring. New barrels are not used, in order to preserve the aromatic expression of the terroir.

After 12 months of ageing for the whites and 24 months for the reds, the blend is assembled with the aim of obtaining wines that are digestible, harmonious and balanced.

Each vintage has its own typicity. Much like a great chef who adjusts their creations according to the seasons, the approach is adapted each year to the particularities of the harvest. No effort is made to standardise the wines, which allows each vintage to fully express the characteristics of its year.

The young whites are already drinking very well today, and the reds need a few more years! A particular favourite for the 2006 red and the 2021 white! 

Do not hesitate to call them to book a tasting if you are near Aix-en-Provence, and to purchase a few bottles on site that will impress your guests! 

Domaine Bargemone - Provence

During that memorable weekend, we also visited Domaine Bargemone! 

Domaine Bargemone extends over 120 hectares! Immense. All the vines are farmed using organic agriculture. The estate produces several wines in different categories: 

Classique: rosé, red and white

Libre: rosé, red and white (single-plot selection) 

Les secrets: rosé, red and white (aged in oak barrels) 

Single-varietal wines: viognier and sauvignon 

Bascule: two natural wines, white and red 

Minuit: sparkling wine produced using the Provençal method

Impressed by the brand-new facilities (following major renovation work), we visited the winery and the press house after a day of harvesting, then tasted a large part of the range. 

We all greatly enjoyed the rosés and whites, and our favourite was the Les Secrets range in rosé. A lovely gastronomic rosé, well balanced and very expressive, perfect to pair at the table with fish. Discover our rosé wines on the site! 

Do not hesitate to contact them — they frequently host groups and the welcome is very warm in a beautiful setting with views of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire and excellent facilities! 

Domaine Josmeyer - Alsace

A little trip to Alsace! 

One of our team members spent a weekend there and visited Domaine Josmeyer, a must-see in Alsace! A wonderful welcome and a lovely tasting, as the photo attests. 

This estate was founded in 1854 near Colmar. It now has 90 plots located on the plains and slopes of the Grand Cru Hengst and Brand vineyards (24 hectares in total). Farming has been certified organic and biodynamic since 2004! This lovely family estate was first passed down from father to son, then from father to daughters! 

Time for the tasting! 

Rieslings, pinot gris, grand cru Hengst and Brand… There is plenty to savour! 

Lovely wines with beautiful tension, straight, clean and complex. 

We love it! 

Do not hesitate to call them if you are in Alsace — you will be perfectly received!