Ici Même

From the art world to the wine world! This is the story of three friends from very different backgrounds: Claire Aimonier, an art dealer, Bertrand Deniau, a plumber, and Claude Legrand, a political science graduate, who decided to start an art gallery with a little apéro corner back in 2014. Very soon after that, said corner brought in more money than the art gallery, so much so that the trio transformed the entire space into a massive wine shop filled with bottles everywhere you look, and two guiding principles: offering up as much natural wine as possible, and having something for every budget. The result? Solid choices, between the lovely small-producer champagnes (Val Frison, Lassaigne, Bérêche & Fils), the rare bottles (Originel, an explosively flavorful romorantin / menu pineau blend from Julien Courtois at €48, Night Cost, a light pinot noir from Yann Durieux at €83), foreign labels (Lucy Margaux in Australia, Zidarich on the Italian-Slovenian border) and some very good options in exchange for a blue banknote – like Roboul, a mourvèdre-grenache blend from Danjou-Banessy. And for something to eat, if you open up a bottle in house (€10 corkage fee), there are platters of Prince de Paris ham, patatas bravas or burrata, which you can savor seated around the communal table or out on the terrace. // Gwen Jacquère 

THE BULLET-PROOF BOTTLE: Ixilune, an oxidative white from Imanol Garay in the Pyrenees (€35).