The Auswine Forum

Hi All
Heading to Venice, Rome & Paris in the next month. If anyone has any "don't miss" wine experiences, or just great places to buy wine in any of these cities, would love to hear about it.
Thanks+
Nick

Venice:
- If you have a chance to go for a day trip to Verona, there are a lot of wine shops with many OLD OLD OLD vintages of Amarone for sale. 20, 30, 40, 50 years old, and pretty reasonably priced as well. It's a small town, walk around and you'll find a store eventually.
- Venice: On the south bank of the Dorsoduro, I think on Calle Zucchero, there is a wine bar frequented by locals with a good range of wines by the glass (and bottles too) at good prices. Can't remember the name at the moment, I'll update this if I remember. Barolo, Barbaresco, Amarone etc by the glass.

In general, wine in Venice is either crap and served in small thimbles, or outrageously expensive...such is the nature of their unique layout and the masses of tourists there.

Paris:
- Caves Taillevant - large selection. The shopfront on ground level only has a little, ask to be taken into the underground cellars. This place also sells Jacques Selosse champagne...I paid 70 euro for the brut initial NV back in November 2010.
- Galleries Lafayette (Blvd Haussmann) - massive selection, especially Bordeaux, and includes a vertical of Yquem going back probably 100+ vintages. I also had a sneaky glass of Yquem 1998 here while the missus was shopping in ladieswear

- La Tour d'Argent (restaurant): 450,000 bottle cellar, eat there and ask for a tour of the cellars...
- If you want to test whether a wine store has a good/interesting range, see if they have Domaine de Plageoles, Jacques Selosse or Chateau Simone. Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone are a given - even DM has a wide selection of these...

A note: most of the large retail stores in Paris aren't cheap, however that is the cost of the spacious layout, incredible range and back vintages in stock. Just browsing in these stores is an "ah-moment" that you don't get buying online or shopping at the large chains here.

Rome - sorry, didn't notice many great places here.

Assuming its fine to post international stores...

LAVINIA Madeleine (Paris)
3 boulevard de la Madeleine,
75001 PARIS
http://www.lavinia.fr

One of the most impressive wine stores I have seen!
Its downstairs area features a huge range of wines and champagnes (at great prices) and it has a private cellar area with some of the most unique large format wines available
There is also an Enomatic Wine System on the main floor where you can buy pours of wines like Château Pichon Longueville to try for tasting

Enoteca Properzio S.R.L. (in Spello – about 1.5hr drive north of Rome)
Piazza Giacomo Matteotti,
8, Spello Perugia, Italy
http://en.enoteche.it/

If you’re planning to drive into the Italian country side, you have to try this place in tiny Spello. You can eat at the restaurant for lunch and Roberto (the owner) will just start bringing you random/amazing wines, like Kurni and Arnaldo Caprai, from the nearby regions. And seriously decent pours!
A quick look at tripadvisor and you will hear of some of the experiences from dealing with Roberto – who doesn’t speak a word of English but that makes it even more fun. You can point at a wine and he is likely to open the bottle for you. This store is regarded as having one of the best ranges in Italy

Respectfully,I'll have to disagree Fog. Lavinia's prices are ridiculously expensive for Europe. Their range, as you point out is excellent!

BTW, welcome to the forum. I'll try to be nicer next time!

Mike

I also think Lavinia was expensive but it was a great spectacle non the less. I have linked a TripAdvisor thread I wrote some time ago on Paris. Included Lavinia and another wine bar not far away that was great for tasting. In the context of a family holiday with young teenagers its limited but hopefully informative on what I was able to see and do. I was really only looking to taste and sample as well, not purchase.

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic- ... l#44232998

As for wine bars in Paris, it is hard to go past Willi's Wine Bar on rue de Petit Champs. Great wine, great service and funky posters to take home and frame.

Cheers

Fair feedback Mike - admittedly I was focused on champagne when I shopped there and they had some specials that made Lavinia more than competitive with other stores at that time

Thanks+ All, will report back in a month...
Cheers
Nick

Paris. Another vote for Willi's Wine Bar. Caves Augé ( slightly off the beaten track) Boulevard Haussmann is a wine shop well worth the visit. And I agree about high pricing at Lavinia.