Straight From the Cask at Le Baron Rouge
Posted On October 19, 2009 at 6:27 pm in Paris Tastings
I had lunch last Friday at Le Baron Rouge which is well known to locals and tourists alike as an unpretentious place to enjoy a wide selection of wines paired with cheeses, dried sausage and in the winter months, raw oysters. Le Baron Rouge is one of the few remaining wine stores in Paris that sells in bulk. What’s interesting is that these are good quality wines – not the bulk plonk of the the old days. I purchased a good bottle of Morgon made from organically grown grapes that they sell for 6 euros a liter. They also have a great selection of bottled wines poured by the glass.
Seeing wine sold in bulk from one-liter demijohns reminded me of a visit years ago to a cooperative winery in the Bordeaux region. Mostly elderly locals would come in and fill up their containers for the week with bulk wine poured from a sort of modified gas pump device. Back when per capita wine consumption was at its height in the 1950′s wine was generously consumed with nearly every meal and both consumers and producers had little concern about wine quality. Today per capita consumption in France has declined by two-thirds to 50 liters per year. The French drink less but they drink better quality wine now mostly bought in bottles. But here you can relive the old days while enjoying some inexpensive but well made wines.
1, Rue Théophile Roussel
75012 Paris
01 43 43 14 32
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