Mysterious vineyard in Paris with mystical wine

Mysterious vineyard in Paris with mystical wine

On a foggy October morning, the winemaker Vincent Bolenor gathers his team between rows of wine vines that are difficult to hide with grapes. The coming day will spend the fruits of the carefully cultivated branches and load them into trucks that are ready for the pressing.

The wine harvest in Montmartre

A scene that repeats itself throughout France at this time of year, while the country harvests the ingredients that make its wines famous worldwide with connoisseurs. But Bolenor and his team are not in the classic wine -growing regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Languedoc or Loire. You are in the middle of Paris.

of the Clos Montmartre - a hidden jewel

The Clos Montmartre, located on the north side of Montmartre, is a small but picturesque vineyard, which houses around 2,000 grape whores and apparently undeterred in the middle of the French hustle and bustle. These grapes are a remnant from a time when Montmartre was a picturesque village surrounded by vineyards. The wines produced there disappeared with the entry of Montmartre to Paris in 1860.

preservation of tradition

but the tradition of wine growing in Montmartre survived. Today the Clos Montmartre is a small, picturesque property that lies under the watchful eyes of the Montmartre Museum away from the city chaos. Every October, Parisian gardeners and wine lovers gather here to harvest these grapes directly in front of the city's eyes.

It is no different this year either. While the sleepy Parisians walk past their way to work and rumble from the van, the local gardeners are preparing for a harvest that has been taking place here since the 12th century.

wine for a good cause

With less than 2,000 bottles produced per year, this wine is predominantly auctioned. The entire proceeds flows into social programs of the 18th arrondissement, the diverse district of Paris in which the vineyard is located. "Montmartre was a very poor quarter until the 1950s and people have always built their solidarity here," explains Eric Lejoindre, Mayor of the 18th Arrondissement. "That is why it is so important for us to maintain this traditions and the spirit in which they have arisen."

"Working in the vineyard in Paris is exceptional, especially in Montmartre," says Bolenor. "And the fact that the wine sales benefit charitable purposes increases the charm."

The wine production in Montmartre

While the harvest progresses, trucks with grapes get down the Montmartre hill down to the town hall of the 18th arrondissement. In the basement of this impressive government building there is a largely unknown wine warehouse, in which the grapes are processed and bottled from the Stadtweinberg.

Sylviane Leplâtre, the wine expert at Clos Montmartre, is waiting for the processing of the grapes in the basement. As the person responsible for this operation, she knows that this is not an easy task. In addition to the cool location of the vineyard, the soil in the French capital is light and sandy, which means that it lacks fertility. But as a trained agronomist and ÖNologist, she is ready for the challenge.

Through Leplâtrė's hard work, specialist knowledge and intuition, the wine from Montmartre obviously gains recognition. It follows a personalized approach by selecting varieties that are better adapted to the Paris terroir and adapts the processing methods to the harvested grapes. She draws knowledge of her work in vineyards around the world and says that she tries to make the flavors sing and work with nature instead of against them.

The wines from Clos Montmartre

Leplâtre and your team produce both red and rosé wine. Both are characterized by their rich color and aromatic qualities. The red wine is light, tannin arm and, according to Leplâtre, is well suited as an aperitif. "Recently we had the wine tasted blindly by a sommelier. He could not see that it comes from Montmartre and found it very good," she adds with a smile.

Eric Lejoindre concludes: "There is a certain mysticism for wine. This mysticism makes the Montmartre-Weinfest and the history of Montmartre special. That is why we keep it a bit secret, but that's a generally known secret."

where you can buy the wine

Although the wine is mainly auctioned, it is still possible to acquire a bottle. The wine is sold all year round in the Montmartre Museum. A bottle of red wine costs 35 euros, while the rosé is available for 30 euros.