The Paris Wine Museum is one of the flagships of the French capital, created to promote and defend French wine in the world. With more than two thousand collectibles available and accessible to the public, the Museum, present since 1984, has a team of expert oenologists and sommeliers who guide the visitor inside a place that seems suspended in time.
Let’s discover the history and services that the Museum offers from the words of Claude Josse, President of the Conseil des Echansons de France, founder of the Paris Wine Museum and Director of the Paris Wine Museum.
©Musée du Vin de Paris
When was the Museum born and what goals have been achieved to date?
The Paris Wine Museum was born in 1984, under the impulse of Mr. Claude Josse, President of the Bachique Brotherhood: The Council of Echansons of France.
Paris lacked a wine museum, cellars were for sale (under the name of Caves de la Tour Eiffel). Several people from the association gathered to buy the place. Since 1984, the Wine Museum has enriched its collections of objects (more than 2,500 wine objects).
How is the Museum structured and what does it offer the visitor?
The Wine Museum of Paris is structured according to the functions of the object: tools of the vine (forks, etc.), tools for planting the vine in the ground, hooks for banknotes and hooks for pruning, hoods for harvesting, press, wood, pewter, ceramic vases, Beauvaisis vases, corkscrews, containers (glasses, bottles), a glass from the 4th century. Of course, there is no shortage of collectible labels (war years: a Latour from 1918, a Haut-Brion from 1940, a Château Chalon from 1945 …) and the path is marked by wax figures: Pasteur, Rabelais, Balzac (because he lived in the neighborhood and escaped his creditors through the galleries.
©Musée du Vin de Paris
At the end of the visit, the visitor can enjoy a glass of wine sitting in a vaulted cellar, or follow a 30-minute comment tasting of 3 glasses of wine, or take a 2-hour tasting course on 5 wines.
There is also a restaurant, Les Echansons open for lunch, with traditional French cuisine. We have our own chef, who cooks using fresh and seasonal products.
In the evening, the Museum closes to the public and opens for private dinners and appetizers.
©Musée du Vin de Paris
What are the main points of interest of the museum that most attract the visitor?
The atypical site attracts many visitors. The Wine theme is of great interest, as are the restaurant and tasting courses.
©Musée du Vin de Paris
How is the tasting organized inside the museum?
All tastings are organized in one of the 3 vaulted cellars in the continuity of the exhibition part. We have 3 large cellars (92 sq m, 55 sq m and 60 sq m).
Why is the Paris Wine Museum worth visiting?
The Paris Wine Museum is worth a visit because it is part of the historical heritage of the city of Paris:
– old coarse limestone quarries from the late 14th and early 15th centuries (7 km of tunnels at the time, parallel to the Seine (to be able to transport the stones along the Seine);
©Musée du Vin de Paris
– former cellars of the Abbey of Passy, the monks cultivated 7 hectares of vineyards on the hill of Passy;
– Refuge during the war against possible bombing
– Cellars of the Eiffel Tower from the 1950s to 1984;
– Finally, the Paris Wine Museum since 1984.
©Musée du Vin de Paris
