Tanisha Townsend's 5 favourite wine bars in Paris
Tanisha Townsend is the American who made Paris her home and built a business as a wine expert and wine tour guide. Here are her favourite wine bars in the city of light!
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Phone: +33 6 07 87 55 04
Address: 77 Rue Beaubourg, Paris
Best Short List of the Year France 2024
I found this bar by accident, when I walked past. The owner’s name is Alex and he has a great selection of French wine and creates a warm, fun atmosphere. He’s also amenable to charades, which will be a relief for non-French speakers, and will eventually work out what you want. You can buy wines by the glass or by the bottle, and you can even buy a bottle to go. The wine list is extensive, offering bottles from across France. It’s small and intimate, but there is plenty of seating outside.
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Phone: 01 42 46 54 72
Address: 8 Rue Rossini, Paris
The name means “The Drops of God”, also the name of a famous manga comic. Staff speak English, and will ask you what you like and then pour a couple of things, to see what you enjoy. You can also buy a bottle, and they have a menu of small plates. So it’s not just cheese, like most wine bars. One of the walls is all glass so you can see the street. The wine list is conventional and French, but extensive.
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Phone: +33 1 48 04 57 59
Address: 6 Rue Charles-François Dupuis, Paris
Although the wine bar is tiny, it has plenty of seating outside, making it a place to head to in spring and summer. Le Barav is also a wine shop that offers a wide range of both conventional and natural wines, including some top Burgundy and Bordeaux. This means you can go and pick out a bottle, and staff will get it to the right temperature and bring it out to your table. You can also order wine by the glass. A quirky feature of Le Barav is that staff may offer a glass of wine. If you can guess what it is, there is a prize. What’s the prize? Who knows? It will only be revealed when someone actually guesses the wine.
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Phone: +33 1 43 43 14 32
Address: 1 Rue Théophile Roussel, Paris
This is an old school Parisian favourite. Situated near the market, it’s the ideal place to enjoy oysters in season. Staff will pour wine straight from the barrels that line the wall and will also fill and seal bottles for you. While there are only about ten seats, there’s plenty of standing room, and a capacious wine-by-the-glass menu. The offer is wide, with wines from all of France’s major regions, and they’re good value—the wines are under €7 a glass.
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Phone: +33 1 43 40 00 99
Address: 68 Rue de Charenton, Paris
Open since 2014, Ici Même has a particular bent towards biodynamic and natural wines, though it stocks others as well, including magnums of Champagne and other fine wines. The wine-by-the-glass programme changes daily, and customers can also choose a wine from the shelf, pay a €10 corkage fee, and then drink it at the table. Not only is the space comfortable, but it’s used as an exhibition space for art that has wine as its theme.
