Posted On November 8, 2011 at 12:26 pm in Paris Restaurants
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Owner Jacques Mélac’s father arrived in Paris in 1938 from the Aveyron region of southwest France and soon opened this wine bar and bistro located in a quiet residential neighborhood far off of tourist routes. As to be expected many of the hearty food specialties from the region are featured such as aligot a cheese and sausage dish. The excellent wine list favors the southwest France and the Languedoc. Each fall the thirty year old vines which line the outside walls are harvested and crushed the old fashioned way. Apparently about 40-50 bottles are produced.
Crushing Grapes the old fashioned way
Mélac
Bistro à vins
42 rue Leon Frot
75011 Paris
T. 0143705927
Posted by Greg Roberts No Comments »
Posted On December 18, 2009 at 6:30 pm in Paris Restaurants
The Paris restaurant La Tour d’Argent recently auctioned off some of the 15,000 wines in its cellars. To give you an idea of the size of their cellars, the wine list weighs in at 17-and-a-half pounds and has over 400 pages. André Terrail, the owner, said they needed to make room for new wines. They may have also wanted to free up some cash for improvements in an effort to regain two of the Michelin stars they have lost since 1996.
Meet the Duck Presser
In addition to its cellar La Tour d’Argent is famous for its pressed duck. Here an entire duck carcuss organs and all is pressed with the juices mixed with marc de champagne and served in over the previously removed duck breasts. Pressed duck at the lunch service will run around 70 euros ($100) a person while their fixed menu dinner menus start at 160 euros ($230) a person.
I attended the sale held at the auction house Salons Hoche and I was surprised by some of the prices that the wines were selling for but then again, its a rare occasion when you can acquire bottles of perfect provenance from a prestigious restaurant. There is now a thriving market on eBay for empty wine bottles from prestigious chateaux that are then refilled with ordinary wine and then sold to unsuspecting customers.
Salons Hoche
Posted by Greg Roberts · Tags: Tour d'argent Wine Auction Paris · No Comments »