Wine Harvest Festival in Paris: Fête des Vendanges de Montmartre

Did you know that there’s a small vineyard in the Montmartre neighborhood of Paris?

Each year in October, Paris holds a wine festival in honor of the grape harvest and release of the new vintages from the Clos Montmartre, a tiny historical vineyard in the 18th arrondissement. Paris is not known for being a wine-producing area in France, but vines are said to have been growing in the area since the year 944. They unfortunately disappeared in the 1920s, but in 1933, new vines were planted and the Clos Montmartre was created. 

Located in on the corner of rue St Vincent and rue des Saules it’s normally closed to the public. However, you can visit during special festivals like the Fête des Vendanges or by booking a tour a guided tour through the Musée de Montmartre. The tours during the harvest festival are free, but fill up quickly. If a tour isn’t on your itinerary you can still get a glimpse of the vines by sneaking a peak through the gate.

A Guided Tour Through the Montmartre Vineyard

A couple of years ago, I booked the tour through the museum, which was 36€ and included a guided visit to the vineyard (in French), a glass of wine, and entry to the museum. During the visit, I was able to learn about the history of the vineyard as well as some viticultural facts.

For example, there are 30 different grape varieties in the small vineyard as well as an array of trees and flowers to promote biodiversity. The wine does not have a reputation for being very good because of the soil conditions, but the vineyard has its own œnologue to ensure the drink’s quality. I thought the wine tasted just fine, but it was certainly unique due to the blend of grape varieties.

So , how much wine does this petite winery produce? Around 1,000-1,200 half-liter bottles of red and rosé wine per year! For around 35€ per bottle, you can buy it at the Musé de Montmartre, the Maison des Épicuriens shop nearby, or at the Clos Montmartre stand in the Parcours du Gout during the festival.  

Le Parcours du Goût

Besides visits to the vineyard there are art exhibitions, dance performances, soirées, and more! The biggest attraction during la Fête des Vendanges is le Parcours du Goût, which is an outdoor wine and food expo with Around a hundred producers and winegrowers from different regions in France. This is open-air market is located at the base of Sacré-Coeur and is free to enter, you just need to brave the line and the crowds. It usually opens on the Friday afternoon of the festival weekend and is open from 10 AM – 11 PM on Saturday and Sunday.

A couple of years ago I attempted to participate in this festival, but failed. When I tried to visit the grand parcours, I arrived a little too late because it was way too crowded for comfort and the line to get in wasn’t worth the wait. This year, I decided to try again but go earlier in the day. My boyfriend and I went on Saturday afternoon and there were still a lot of people, however the line moved quickly and once we got in the actual event, we got used to the crowd and were able to find places to stand off to the side when we wanted to drink our wine.

There were so many options of wine to choose from at different price points as well. The first wine we tried was a red from the Languedoc region at 3€ per glass plus a 2€ deposit for the plastic glasses. In addition to wine you can also get traditional French market food like aligot, escargots, saucission, tartiflette, and crêpes.

The second wine we sampled was the red from the Clos Montmartre, which I had had before, but since my boyfriend wanted to try it, I was happy to rediscover the taste. I believe it was around 8€ per drink and they also gave you a Clos Montmartre engraved glass. Finally, after walking by all of the tents, we ended our dégustation with a sweet white dessert wine known as Muscat de Rivesaltes. We felt a little weird switching to a sweet white after two reds, but because this wine came from the region where we used to live in the Pyrénées-Orientales, it made us nostalgic.

Would you try the wine from the Montmartre vineyard?

Santé,

Camden