Salon de vignerons independants in Paris

[42390]

There is a wondeful event called the salon de vignerons independants at espace champerret beginning Friday and going through the weekend.

This is a tradeshow of independent wine producers. For the price of admission you get a small wine glass, then can go around to any of the hundreds of vignerons to taste what they have.

I went last year and got the impression that most were there looking for contracts to supply restaurants, but all were more than happy to sell individual bottles.

I have seen some restaurants giving out tickets to this event for free.

[Bux]

In October we attended the Salon Fermière at the Espace Camperret. This was a similar event for producers of food -- cheese, pates, sausages, preserves, etc. We also noted that many of the attendees arrived with either free of discount passes. They also arrived with shopping carts and stocked up on the non perishable items.

[Laidback]

Saturday we attended the wine expo at Espace Champerret. €6 gets you a tasting glass and admission to an overwhelming display of tastings from the nearly 600 exhibitors. I have a genetic flaw which does't permit me to expel a perfectly good wine from my mouth, ergo, a decision had to be made to priortize some sort of order. We started with red Bordeaux and limited ourselves to St. Estephe and Margaux, then gravitated to white Burgundies represented by Meursault and Chassagne-Montrachet, then red Burgundies from Vosne-Romanée(satin in a glass), Corton, Corton Charlemagne. At about this point, my propensity for swallowing started affecting my memory among other things. I do remember clearly getting back to our apt. in the Trinité-St Georges area with several bottles purchased at a seemingly good price. Of course my reference is framed by wine store prices in FL and cartes de vin in Parisian restaurants. I probably would not have lasted those few hours in a vertical orientation had it not been for a tempering of the digestive system before hand at l'Entredgeu, from which it is an easy stroll to Espace Champerret. This was our 4th visit to Entredgeu since they broke away from Chez Casimir and it may have been better than ever. Since it was Saturday lunch the restaurant was not elbow to elbow as in our other visits, so the service was much more relaxed and the food was better than I require at those prices. If anyone is interested I will attempt to post my photos of the dishes.

Edited April 10, 2006 by Laidback (log)

[John Talbott]

For past info on the Salon, please see here.

[bleudauvergne]

I would love to see photos of your dishes and see a discussion of what we should eat before these tasting events.

[Laidback]

I would love to see photos of your dishes and see a discussion of what we should eat before these tasting events.  

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I would enjoy some discussion as well but feel that my comments would be akin to the 3 Stooges attempting a dialogue with Curnonsky/Parker. I will continue trying to post photos, but presently the software seems to look askance at my efforts.

Edited April 11, 2006 by Laidback (log)

[John Talbott]

This year it'll be 22-26 November in Paris.

The charming couple, Catherine and Pierre Breton, who have been kind enough to send me invitations ever since we bought some wonderful Bourgueil at their place, informed me today.

[Vinotas]

This year it'll be 22-26 November in Paris.

The charming couple, Catherine and Pierre Breton, who have been kind enough to send me invitations ever since we bought some wonderful Bourgueil at their place, informed me today.

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I was thinking of going as some of my wineries will be showing there (at least I think so), but not sure I can make it. I've never been and would look forward to trying it.

Cheers!

[sharonb]

Hey Vinotas, if you want to check out the list of vignerons attending, look here: http://www.vigneron-independant.com/auxsal...106&salon=Paris

John, I completely agree - the Bretons are great; we had a bottle of their 2004 Bourgueil "Clos Sénéchal" last week that was absolutely delicious. And got an invite from them for the show around then, too!

[Margaret Pilgrim]

This event really can't be described. I have heard it mistakingly described in a food group by someone who hadn't attended as being a collection of middling producers. Nothing can be further from the truth. Note also that the array includes difficult to find wines and liquors: premium vin jaune, extraordinary calvados, bugey de cerdon, unique local aperitifs and digestive as well as fine cognac and armagnac. We actually plan one of our trips around the dates.

[pierre45]

THis is truly a wonderful event.I have attended a few of them in the past.

You meet the producers directly and discuss wines.Many of them are well known .

There is no pressure to buy.However speaking french adds a lot to ones enjoyment .

[John Talbott]

An article from today's IHT by Jacqueline Friedrich is entitled: "When Talent ennobles terroir: Maverick Vintners in France forging an uncommon path to stardom, creating new grand crus from underachieving soil" although it has another title online. It's timed to the Salon and suggests 10 wines to taste and is "must reading" in preparation for the Salon.