PARIS VINES: Montmartre vineyard produces the capital’s only wine
Photo credit: CC/Montmarte Museum
Montmartre conjures up images of the Sacre Coeur, artists and the Moulin Rouge but not a vineyard.
Nevertheless, a vineyard on the north side of the hilltop district, produces the only wine that is grown in Paris.
Before it was enveloped by Paris, the village of Montmartre was covered in vineyards but by the beginning of the 20th century, the area’s vines were either ravaged by phylloxera or ousted by urban development. Not one vineyard was left, until the plot that now produces Clos Montmartre and which was destined for an apartment building, was saved by a petition from a local painter.
In 1933, Paris city hall replanted the vines, with the first wine produced in 1934.
Each October, almost a century later Eric Lejoindre, mayor of the 18th arrondissement where the vineyard is located, organises the five-day Montmartre Wine Festival.
Montmartre wine is auctioned for charity
As well as live music, workshops, wine-tasting, bands, street parades and fireworks, approximately 1,500 bottles of the Clos Montmartre production are auctioned off for charity.
Talking to the CNN news channel ahead of this year’s festival, Lejoindre explained that there was an “air of mystery” attached to the wine, which made the Montmartre festival so special.
“So we keep it a bit of a secret, but a widely-shared secret.”
Lejoindre went on to explain that until the 1950s Montmartre could never have been described as an affluent neighbourhood.
“People were always very neighbourly,” he said. “And that’s why it’s so important for us even now to maintain those traditions and the spirit in which those traditions were created.”
It was particularly appropriate that the Clos Montmartre profits should go to charity, Lejoindre added.
18th arrondissement town hall has its own wine cellar
Lorryloads of the Montmartre grapes are driven down from Montmartre to the 18th arrondissement’s town hall, which has its own bodega where the grapes are processed and bottled.
In line with the district’s close relationship to painters – think Toulouse Lautrec, think Pablo Picasso – different artists are commissioned to design the labels each year.
The Clos Montmartre’s wine expert Sylviane Leplatre explained that the vineyard grew grapes that adapted well to the light, sandy Paris soil and produced a red wine, low in tannins, and a rosé.
Although most of the production is auctioned for charity, the wine is also on sale at the Montmartre Museum, which charges €35 for the red and €30 for the rosé.
