Exhibitionist alert: natural wines have been spotted baring it all in Paris’ 15th arrondissement! Since July 2021, this wine bar/shop run by Julien Métias (ex-Vivs Vivants in Le Mans) has been putting on a show in a neighborhood that’s been deprived of pure nectars for far too long. Inside this tiny shop with stand-up sourcing, there’s a selection of wine on the shelves from all over France that will delight shoppers, which you can take to go or pop open on the ivory countertop: an Alsatian Pinot noir by Florian & Mathilde Beck-Hartweg (€16.50), a sparkling Jura Cabernet-Franc from Le Clos Kixhaya (€16); a 2011 Ugni-blanc vieilles vignes from Le Château Tour Blanc in the Landes department (€18)… At night, cheeky small plates join the scene to soak up all that booze: pâté de campagne, spicy chorizo, truffled brillat-savarin cheese, etc. That moral of this story? Long live living wines! // Wanda Wagner
The bullet-proof bottle: For varietal geeks, grab a bottle of La Fine Bulle produced by the Domaine Goepp Gérard & Fils (€19) – it’s an Alsatian pet’ nat’ that combines Muscat, Auxerre and the very rare Savagnin-rose grapes, which are planted on fewer than 50 hectares on the entire planet.
