La Cave de Lucia

White tiling, unflattering overhead lighting: you definitely don’t come to Lucia Guicheteau’s wine shop for the decor… you come for her stunning selection of natural wines! Especially the smart Loire vintages, including Whaka Piripiri Mai, an Anjou chenin from Olivier Lejeune (€19.50 a bottle), a 2021 savennières from Tessa Laroche (€89 for a magnum) and Gorges, a muscadet from the Domaine de la Pépière (€17.50), along with bottles from highly-sought-after winemakers, like Mesdemoizelles 2015, a pouilly-vinzelles from Philippe Valette (€41) and Les Chazaux 2020, a Jura chardonnay from Nicolas Jacob (€55). But the boss also offers up around twenty small-producer self-service whiskys stored in big transparent jars (including the excellent Scottish Springbank whisky at €99.54/liter), with 200 ml or 500 ml empty bottles to fill up, along with good beers from all over (like Le Bateleur, a double IPA produced by Hoppy Road at €7.50 for a 440 ml can). The latest cheeky addition to the shop: the naughty Fondant Baulois chocolate cake, or rum-soaked gâteau nantais cake – and if the shop is too far away or you’re feeling lazy, know that Lucia opened up a second location on Rue de Saverne, with more or less the same selection! // Gwen Jacquère 

THE BULLET-PROOF BOTTLE: Chime.R, a blend of grenache grapes grown in the Roussillon department, produced by the Domaine Yoyo (€29).