Alicia Dorey reports from Paris – and adds 24 new Red Stars

By Rachel Fellows

Published 07-May-2026

Interview / Paris

French journalist Alicia Dorey joined the Star Wine List team earlier this year, helping to present our French awards and quietly investigating the wine bars and restaurants of Paris in anticipation of publishing her first set of Red Stars across the city. Read Alicia’s 24 new reviews as she tells us what sort of critic she makes, what she’s looking for in a wine list, and in which arrondissements you’ll find the most “extraordinary” ones.

“I firmly believe that a wine journalist who doesn't travel… isn’t a good journalist,” says new Paris Ambassador Alicia Dorey, who has joined Pierre Vila Palleja in reporting from the French capital for Star Wine List – despite a hectic schedule that takes her across France and, indeed, the rest of the world for up to 20 days each month.

“You have to meet the winemakers, visit the regions to grasp the soul of a vineyard, the complexity of a personality, and stay on top of new trends. I travel mainly within France, with a particular focus on Champagne, Burgundy, the Rhône Valley and, more recently, Bordeaux, but also abroad: Italy, Spain, Georgia, the United States, Japan. I have gaps when it comes to the New World, and I’m going to try to catch up, because there are extraordinary wines there too.”

During her travels, Alicia has frequently found Star Wine List to be of use – even before joining the team. “I have to admit the app has saved me a few times when arriving in cities I didn’t know well,” she says. “Recently in Edinburgh and London. I usually cross-reference Star Wine List’s selection with the Raisin app, and ask a few sommeliers for advice.”

Growing up near Lyon, Alicia later studied in Paris and New York before settling in Paris’ 19th arrondissement, where she now lives, near the Parc des Buttes Chaumont. Always a writer, she shifted her literary attention from the performing arts to wine during her mid-twenties, after tasting a revelatory bottle of Dard & Ribo Saint-Joseph.

Alicia mainly writes for Le Figaro, also presenting its Parlons Vins (“Let’s Talk Wine”) podcast, as well as work for Paris Match, En Magnum (Bettane & Desseauve), L’Opinion, Elle à Table, Petits Plats and the Louis Vuitton City Guides to Paris, New York and Monaco. She has recently launched her own Substack newsletter (“where I’ll reveal my secret addresses”) and is hoping one day to write a book on Italian wine, which is “something that’s really missing in the landscape right now,” she tells us.

In her first Parisian dispatch for Star Wine List, Alicia has added 15 brand new venues to our guide as Red Stars, as well as upgrading nine existing White Star listings into full Red Star reviews. And so a simple question to begin: what does a Red Star mean to Alicia?

“A list that helps the wine world shine.”

Discover more from Alicia, below, and explore our refreshed guide to Paris’ best wine spots.

How would you describe Paris’ wine scene?

“The Paris scene is very dynamic, and above all very diverse – you’ll find the lists of Michelin-starred restaurants alongside funkier bistros, institutions with partly hidden cellars… But I do regret that we’re still not very open to foreign wines. Every time I go to New York, Copenhagen, London or Brussels, I realise just how chauvinistic we are.”

What kind of reviewer are you?

“A kind one. I know how difficult the job is.”

Do you have any favourite areas to hang out in, for good wine?

“It depends on who I’m with. For reliable classics, I love the bars of the grand hotels in the 1st and 8th arrondissements, and for institutions with extraordinary lists, I’d say the 10th, 11th and 6th.”

What are the main trends you’re seeing across Paris’ wine lists at the moment?

“I think the Paris scene is evolving at different speeds – some are just discovering certain trends and regions (Jura, the Loire Valley, orange wines, carbonic maceration) while others already find them passé. Lately, I've noticed growing interest in regions like Auvergne, Savoie, Burgundy’s Aligotés, dry Jurançons, and also Italy – because since Brexit, many Italian sommeliers who were working in London have migrated to Paris and now hold key positions in top establishments, helping to shake things up.”

When you sit down in a bar or restaurant, do you make a beeline for any one section of the wine list?

“Yes, I always check what’s available by the glass first – it’s a very good indicator. Then I look to see if they have Coteaux Champenois, my current passion.”

How are you going about selecting your Red Stars?

“For me, the two main qualities are originality (not having the same wines you see everywhere) and consistency, because what sets a great list apart is seeing that privileged relationships have been built with winemakers – which shows in the presence of rarer cuvées, older vintages, and so on.”

What’s the best thing about the wine industry?

“Without hesitation, the sheer variety of people you get to meet. Between a Bordeaux château owner and a natural winemaker in Anjou, a Michelin-starred sommelier and a bartender in the 11th, a consulting oenologist and a biodynamics devotee, you need to be highly adaptable – and diplomatic – but that’s what makes this world so fascinating.”

And the worst thing?

“The fact that the profession has sometimes lost touch with market realities.”

Do you have any pet hates on wine lists, or in service?

“Yes, I can’t stand lists full of holes where dozens of references are missing – it’s always frustrating. And I hate it when a sommelier refuses to hand me the list, saying: ‘The wine list? That’s me!’”

Do you like to take sommeliers’ recommendations, or prefer to make your own choices?

“It depends, but sometimes when the list is too overwhelming, I prefer to tell the sommelier ‘I trust you,’ while giving them a few hints about my tastes.”

Explore the updated guide to Paris.