Description of the attraction
There cannot be a wine museum in France! The Paris Museum, which tells about the history of winemaking, was created specifically to maintain traditions and quality standards.
The museum is located in the vaulted cellars, which were once the underground gallery of the Franciscan monastery. In the 15th century, the Abbey of Passy was surrounded by terraces descending to the Seine, on which gardens and vineyards grew. The monks discovered the old quarries under the monastery, left after the extraction of limestone in the old days, and turned them into cellars for storing wine. They say that Louis III loved, after hunting in the Bois de Boulogne, to stop by the Abbey of Passy and drink local red wine.
During the French Revolution, the monastery was plundered and destroyed. Only in the XX century they remembered about these basements and opened a museum in them.
In the cellars more than a kilometer long, about 2,000 items are exhibited: winemakers' tools (many of them are no longer used), a solid collection of barrels, bottles and labels for them, corkscrews, ceramic vessels, wine glasses. The wax figures depict Bacchus, Dionysus, famous wine connoisseurs Napoleon, Balzac, Louis XIII, as well as the very monks at work - at different stages of production. The tour price includes a glass of wine (for children - grape juice).
The restaurant also hosts collection wine tastings, sommelier lessons, and theme nights.
The museum belongs to the Council of French Butchers, an organization created in 1954 to protect and promote the best French wines. The council numbers several thousand professionals and wine lovers who not only store the knowledge and experience of winemakers of past centuries, but also organize many events in France and abroad.
