We made a very pleasant discovery in the 20th arrondissement in Paris the other day. It is a wine shop/wine bar called Au Nouveau Nez (which is a play with words, the name means “ the new nose”, but also, if you spell it a little bit different, but pronounced the same, “the newborn”). You are greeted by Agnès (Baracco), who runs the place, and you instantly feel at home. It is open as a wine shop all day and from 6 pm you can also have a glass of wine with charcuterie or cheese of very good quality. Lovely Saint Nectaire for instance.
It is a tiny place. We were there early, at 6.30, so we had plenty of space but I imagine that it fills up pretty soon. For warm evenings there are also a few tables outside. You could easily spend all evening here because more or less all wines are worth trying, but it closes at 9 pm even though, says Agnès, “that doesn’t always happen, sometimes it is very difficult to close…”
The speciality of Au Nouveau Nez is organic and natural wines. The range is quite large but the common denominator is that the wines have low levels of sulphur, or no sulphur at all, and less other additives than “normal” wines.
We had an interesting wine from chenin blanc called Tête de Gondole made by Domaine Chahut et Prodige. It is a Vin de France because the owner Gregory Leclerc, says Agnès, doesn’t bother with AOC. The name of this wine is also a play with words. Can anyone figure it out? (Write a comment if you can! It helps if you know your French well!)
We were lucky to meet Claude Courtois at Nouveau Nez that evening. Claude is a wine grower in the Sologne, very natural and he makes some excellent wines. So why not try his wines when you visit Au Nouveau Nez?
(Don’t miss the video commentary below!)
Au Nouveau Nez, 52, rue de Bagnolet, 72020 Paris, Tel 01 43 56 94 55
Monday : 4 pm – 9 pm, Tuesday-Friday : 10.30 am – 1 pm and 4 pm – 9 pm, Saturday: 10.30 am – 9 pm
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