We are planning on visiting Paris the end of April for 3 days and we are looking for suggestions and recommendations on local/small wineries which we can use public transportation. We have been in Paris with a tour group 10 years ago and don't speak French. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Posted by
France Southwest
2622 posts
Apart from a few small anecdotal vineyards there are no vineyards "near" Paris, so no wineries.
The closest wine regions (less than 2 hours from Paris) are Champagne, Loire, or Burgundy.
These are rural regions where wineries are sometimes far from any public transport, so on your own and without a car you will be limited in the choice of wineries to visit.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6738 posts
If you had a car, I'd say go to Vouvray, in north Loire. Close, wonderful wines. Without a car, I'd suggest Reims in champagne. Reims is an interesting and attractive city. The cathedral is spectacular. There are two big wineries in town and at least a couple midsized. I would also recommend Trésors de Champagne, close to the train station. They have an assortment of producers where we tasted some lovely champagnes and we learned a lot from the knowledgeable staff.
There is a vineyard in Montmartre(Paris), very pretty and atmospheric area near the montmartre museum
Posted by
Sydney, Australia
57 posts
I would also recommend Reims (pronounced 'Rance') and nearby Epernay. This is champagne country so lots of champagne houses in both these locations (Mumm, Ruinart, Veuve Cliquot, Taittinger, Vrancken, etc etc), but Reims also has the cathedral that hosted French coronations for 900 years and it was also where the Germans signed the surrender of WWII. There are lots of interesting buildings to visit but if you made the champagne houses the focus of your visit that would not be amiss either.
Lavandula
Posted by
Alsenborn, Germany
1754 posts
Understand that wine tasting/tours are not at all like in the USA. They sell tickets, by time, and limit the numbers of people who visit. Small wineries may not even be open. It is much more common to use a reseller, and that's where most go for tastings.
If you go to Reims, make sure you purchase your tickets for the major Champagne house tours well in advance. I prefer to do the ones that come with food as well as the wine, but each to their own. La Vinocave is a wine seller a couple blocks from the Cathedral that I've used, they have a good selection of the smaller houses. And there's an excellent cheese shop next door. Vintage, across the street from the Cathedral, is pretty good also. For real bargains I recommend a trip to Carrefour, a large supermarket that offers discounted prices.
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10848 posts
There are a lot of wine bars that I hope someone could name for the OP. I don't go to them so can't help there.
Posted by
IJzendijke, The Netherlands
2164 posts
I have found this website, hopefully it can be of interest.
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
8159 posts
Since you only have 3 days, you might also consider the big department stores, which might have (from the bottle) small tasting events in the store. In less touristy parts of Paris, I would think you could still find wine stores that only sell in-bulk wine, for delivery to the customer's empty container. I confess I last saw one of these in Avignon, not Paris.
Posted by
Chicago
8812 posts
Paris is not in a wine region -- the best bet is Reims as noted. With only 3 days, I would not leave Paris for this but would do a wine tasting in Paris (there are many -- O Chateau is one). or go to a bar in Paris with a variety of wines; there are many.