I once thought Paris would be my whole book. Well, looking back today, I can say it was a decade-long chapter. I was, for what felt like eternity, unconditionally in love with the French capital. It gave me everything and more, but it also took someone from me and I haven’t quite been able to forgive. There will, for sure, one day be a Paris chapter in the blog, but today is not the day. Today I want you to meet an unexpected town in Eastern France that does not get mentioned often enough in the wine books. To everyone’s great surprise, I left Paris for…Metz. In August 2020 I needed refuge and Metz turned out to be quite literally a life savior. Our new place was on one of the town’s main squares, Place du Roi George. Regal, but with a side of heavy traffic. Well, I dared not complain, I went from my 30m2 Parisian studio to a 70m2 1930s palace. Palace with a side of amortization, but again, I was far from complaining. It was still a time of Covid restrictions, but the cavistes (wine merchants) were open. A while later the wine bars reopened also, so less and less reasons to complain. In this post, I want to cast light on the places in Metz where you can get the best wines and meet the loveliest people. So get ready, here they come:
Boire et Manger in Montigny-Les-Metz is a cozy wine bar slash cellar. So far, I can clearly remember the first, the last and all the times in between I visited that place. Ludovic, the owner, is an awesome guy to talk wine with. Also, for someone with a goldfish memory, I was super impressed with him memorizing all my previous purchases and always recommending something new while taking into account our discussions and my preferences. He has also surrounded himself with a fine team of people who share his vision and passion for excellent wines. It was never just the wine; it was the wine and the conversations for me. But yes, he has a decent wine selection of more than 400 references and a great representation of local wines. Needless to say, most of them organic, biodynamic and some even natural. It was here, that I discovered Château de Vaux, the nearby wine estate I wrote about in one of my earlier posts. I was also introduced to Château de Jonquières from the appellation Terrasses du Larzac. The cuvée La Baronnie 2012 vintage tasted like blueberries and sweet cherries covered in dark chocolate. What a delicacy! Les Vianderies by Domaine de la Renardière from Jura proved to be a very pleasant Chardonnay to boost the mood on a rainy Sunday afternoon. B&M also serves finger food, ham and cheese platters, oysters, and on weekdays lunch. Moreover, they recently launched an actual restaurant called La Table in the old town of Metz – definitely something I need to check out asap. In any case, as I was in the fall months of 2020 prepping for the infamous WSET level 3 exam, I often had a reason to get my wines from that place. Pro tip: The terrace has morning sun, so weekend late mornings are perfect to get a chilled glass of local white wine and why not, a dozen oysters. The quartier will be buzzing and full of locals hitting the market for some roast chicken, the mass for some forgiveness or the nearby tennis courts for some sweats, bref, something for everyone.
La Belle Épicerie I promised myself I would not discriminate and love all my wine bars equally, but yes, this one is also very dear to my heart. Basically, across the street from our place, La Belle Épicerie was first the wine shop slash bar of the next-door restaurant Kristal, until it wasn’t and I guess it kind of emancipated and became something new and improved throughout my years in Metz. As with the previous place, it is essentially a wine shop that has a sit-down service and you can order snacks and ham&cheese as well as other artisanal wine barish foods. The décor is very different though, with a massive centerpiece chandelier that changes design throughout the seasons. They have a small terrasse, but I would suggest you stay indoors to gaze at the ceiling. Also, the staff is lovely and warm, another reason to return. The most memorable wines I have experienced here were a special kind of behind-the counter, under-the table don’t expect to see it on the shelf kind of wine Les Dessous de la Terre 2019 by the Soulier brothers from Southern Rhône. A 100% Syrah grape dark-dark rosé that just blew my mind with a freshness and umami I had never experienced before. I mean, yes, I am definitely a devoted Syrah fan no matter what, but this wine was undoubtably in my top 3 most remarkable wines I had tasted during my time in Metz. It was probably the lees contact and something about the indigenous yeast and I wish I still had my tasting notes from that night, but instead I will allow myself to describe it as an out-of-this-world-umami-rich-wine. Full stop. Another amazing wine encounter came from theL’anglore estate by the Pfifferling family and more precisely from their 2021 Terre d’ombre cuvée. We are talking about a red wine made of Grenache and Syrah grapes and interestingly again from the Rhône region, more precisely from Tavel. This wine, although natural as well, felt more traditional I would say, compared to the Soulier brothers. Not that they should be compared but geographical proximity is definitely a factor. To finish on a bubbly note, I can honestly say that every single time I sat down at La Belle Épicerie, I took a coupe(or two) of pet nat or natural sparkling wine from the Loire valley made at the estate Les Pierres d’Aurèle. I had tried their white still wines also and nothing ever disappointed, but the sparkling one was unanimously my favorite. Made of luscious Chenin grapes and with a resting time of 10 months on a lath, it tasted so ripe, so well composed and so seriously delicious. Well, I am convinced I could give many more recommendations, but best if you just check the place out yourself.
Moving on to the legendary Venus Vins. Oh yes, legendary because the owner, Paul, has run this shop since 1991. Located just a few-minute walk from the imposing Metz Cathedral, you will find a relatively small wine shop that stocks all its bottles in a naturally temperature regulated cellar underground so you are essentially just walking around the display bottles. Well how else would you imagine it, given that it has over 2,500 references. So clearly, it comes as no surprise that each time I was in, I found excellent guidance and bottles to take home, without ever needing to repeat my purchase. Although Paul never got any recommendation wrong, I will cite some of my favorites. Crystalline white wine from Savoie that tastes like Alpine grass fields after spring rain. Domaine des Ardoisières is the producer and Argile is the name of the cuvée. This bottle is perfect to accompany some fresh water fish with an herbaceous side.
Château Simone 2018 white blend from the Palette appellation in the heart of Provence. If you know me at all, you know I have a weakness for whites and reds from the South of France. This one had such a seductive nose, hitting the high notes on caramel, vanilla, ripe stone fruit and white flowers. It was so gourmet on the nose, a friend of mine with whom I tasted the wine, expected it to be sweet. However, it was dry and fruity on the palate and provided a freshness like a summer breeze by the Mediterranean. Truly close to perfect. Another iconic one from the region: Domaine Tempier 2021 vintage rosé from Bandol appellation. It was like drinking a bouquet of peonies and roses. Let’s face it, we all know cheap supermarket rosés from Provence that are frankly begging for some ice cubes to numb the lack of taste but this one is on a whole other level. It is well worth paying 25 euros for a rosé. Well, make it 50 or 75 because one bottle simply won’t suffice. Pro tip: leave a few bottles in the cellar for a few years. The wine will develop a complexity worth waiting for and you will taste a rather rare evolution of a rosé. In my case, I remember clearly, we finished all the bottles that same evening. My mother-in-law was visiting us over the weekend and I was cooking my a* off while bringing my A-game with the wines. For the entrée I made Chioggia beetroot and yellow zucchini carpaccio with edible flowers and a nutty-goat cheesy vinaigrette. For the main course, there was marinated and oven baked monkfish on the bed of fennel and carrots. It was a feast to remember…
By the way, Paul’s daughter and her husband run, in my opinion, what is the best restaurant in Metz. Naturally, they serve Matilde’s father’s wines and this is why you just cannot help but to go back there again and again. Au Cul d’Poule is the name to remember. Their specialty as you might have gathered from the name, is poultry, which is quite rare for a fine dining restaurant. First of all, I salute them for so masterfully cooking different parts of the chicken, not just the crowd pleaser breast and white meat. Second, they have this secret ingredient homemade chicken stock they use in purees and mashes which adds an incredible smoothness and depth of flavor. I can honestly say, one side dish portion is not enough, especially in case of their carrot puree which is just elevated to a whole other stratosphere. They use locally sourced produce, all organic, needless to say, and just every single dish on the menu is a sheer delight. Also, in case your wallet can handle it, their impressive-to-say-the-least wine selection include the likes of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and my personal coup de coeur a 2007 Château Rayas red from Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation by the celebrated Emmanuel Reynaud. This wine deserves a book, not a mere sentence of appraisal in a blog post, but one day, maybe one day…Anyhow, there are many other fabulous bottles to enjoy, for example a 2014 Domaine de la Grange des Pères or a 2018 Clos Marole cuvée from Givry 1er cru appellation by Domaine Joblot – you get my point, go check this place out for yourself!
…The quartier will be buzzing and full of locals hitting the market for some roast chicken, the mass for some forgiveness or the nearby tennis courts for some sweats, bref, something for everyone.
I could go on and on about those places, but in all honesty, I also want to give some merit to other wine places in Metz such as La Cave de Mes Terres where François Thibaut represents the new generation of wine advocates emphasizing everything pure and authentic. La Quille is a wine bar in the old town that at least once upon a time was all about proposing alternatives to the conventional Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, with a somewhat tricky yet bold selection of wines. Vinodurum on the very central Fournirue street serves amazing food and introduced me to Stéphane Sérol’s Les Originelles made from Gamay St Romain grapes. Reading the technical sheet of sandy granite and young vines would normally not spark much enthusiasm in me, but there was something so inexplicably delicious and straight forward fruitiness about it that I immediately wanted to order it for my Quintessence in Estonia.
Last but not least, I do not remember where I bought another memorable bottle, the red cuvée Clef de Sol by La Grange Tiphaine from the Loire valley and more precisely the Touraine region. I have had other wines from Coralie and Damien Delecheneau but this Malbec (locally called Côt) and Cabernet Franc blend was particularly to my liking being both fruity and earthy at the same time.
I guess the bottom line is, although I wasn’t in Paris anymore with excellent cavistes on each street corner, my education in French wines continued at full speed and I am forever grateful for those unforgettable experiences and amazing people I met on the way. I would say: Metz, you will be missed, but lucky me is back in Metz regularly teaching wine courses for DegustEmoi. But this is plenty of juicy material for another blog post. To be continued…
Maria
