Will be in Paris for two days in June and wanted to see what the best wine lists are (in terms of size, number of older vintages and price). Only restaurant I definitely plan to visit is La Tour d’Argent. I need restaurants for two lunches and one dinner. Also, is it better to do La Tour d’Argent for lunch or dinner?
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My extent of Paris fine dining is La Tour d’Argent, Taillevent and Pierre Gagnon. While Taillevent was my favorite for both food and overall experience, d’Argent’s wine list is incredible! I went for lunch in Dec. 2010 and when I asked my waiter to bring me the wine list, he brought a leather-bound book that had to be 18" in length, another 12" in depth and, I don’t know, 100 pages? He asked if I had any particular wine type in mind and when I said “Burgundy”, he brought to the Burg section which was more extensive than I could have imagined in a restaurant. I chose a 1/2 bottle of a 1990 Jadot Vosne Romanée Les Suchots which was absolutley beautiful! It was about $150 which, considering an exchange rate at the time of about $1.5/euro, I thought was very good value.
I enjoyed the food at d’Argent (you have to try the duck, for which you’ll receive a postcard stamped with the “number” assigned to your duck!) I would give d’Argent an “A” for service, a “B” for food, and an “A++” for wine list. Oh, and the view out to Notre Dame wasn’t bad either except for the snowstorm that temporarily clouded everything. (I think I must have brought the snow with me from Minneapolis.)
What about Lavinia?
The wine list at Chez L’Amis Louis is pretty deep and aged. There are many reasonably priced choices from what I recall.
The place gets mixed reviews but that lamb shoulder is as memorable as anything I’ve had at Pierre Gagnaire or Arpege.
+1 for La Tour D’Argent…could have spent hours with that list. Somm was quite helpful in spite of awful attempts at speaking french.
“Who are you kidding!!!?” I thought, when I read the highlighted portion.
But a bit of poking around turned up this, written by Patricia Wells in January 2012:
The wine list [at L’Ami Louis] has improved a thousand-fold (both in selections and in value), and on my last visit we feasted on both the flinty white Sauvignon Blanc Henri Bourgeois Sancerre “Jadis,” (80€) and the heady, deep purple, expressive Gigondas from Domaine de la Bouïssiere (59€), bargain prices by former L’Ami Louis standards.
And here’s what Robert Parker wrote in a March 2012 Forbes article:
If you are looking for the best of Bordeaux or the best of Burgundy, they can be found at L’Ami Louis for a substantial fortune. However, the shrewd consumers go right to the restaurant’s wine list section on the whites of Alsace or Loire or the reds of the Rhône Valley and Languedoc-Roussillon for the real secrets in value wines. This may well be the best wine list in all of Paris, even eclipsing the more famous wine lists of La Tour d’Argent and Taillevent, two restaurants of much bigger fame and longer renown than the little hole-in-the-wall L’Ami Louis.
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Had the 2005 Domaine Lignier-Michelot Morey St. Denis 1er Cru Les Faconnières at 100 Euro back when it was 1.35USD/Euro a couple of years ago. Slightly less than 2x markup which isn’t so bad from my US point of view. I remember the list at Arpege being a much higher markup a couple of nights later.
I had a shitty wine experience at Taillevent. I don’t recall the bottle at this point, but was a CdP that was clearly cooked to my taste. (cooked, not corked). I brought it up to the Somm and they argued with me and refused to do anything about it.
Yeah, saw that list, then closed it when I saw La Tour d’Argent was excluded…
I can’t say whether it is the best but Jean Francois Piege has a great wine list for burgundy lovers and the food is wonderful as well.
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Well, like almost all “Top 10” lists of all genres, it comes down to matters such as what criteria one is using, and who is assembling the list.
Is a wine list great merely because it’s incredibly long? Is a wine list great because the wine is somewhat reasonably-priced? Is a wine list great because it is thoughtfully selected, with wines that complement the cuisine? Is a wine list great because it contains hidden, lesser-known “gems?” Is a wine list great because the sommelier actually knows the wines and can suggest that Bottle A is in fact a better choice than the better-known Bottle B? Is a wine list great because it has multiple vintages of Petrus/Lafite/DRC/fill-in-the-blank?
Bruce
I would trust that list from Gayot. I know Tour d’Argent is interesting but the food is just ok.
Dont expect to find any “bargains” at La Tour d’Argent. They are very proud of their best wines and have priced them accordingly. Lavinia the same.
Fair enough…I learned a long time ago to never argue with a lawyer 
Is the list at Tan Dinh as good as it was 10 years ago? The couple of times I dined there we would pick a gem off the list, then ask Freddy to bring some food to match - then repeat, repeat, repeat.
I was in Paris about a year ago and have a great lunch at Le Cinq (dinner was too expensive!). I remember them having an extensive wine list with some reasonably priced selections. I vaguely remember being impressed with the Chablis choices. I ended up going with an '06 Dauvissat Le Foret for around 100 euros, which isn’t too bad compared to pricing in the US.
What would happen in France if, at that point, you just got up and left?
Would they send the gendarmes after you?
Willi’s Wine Bar has a wonderful Chablis section. Lots of Dauvissat and Raveneau at extremely good pricing. When I was there in October we had a bottle of 2007 Raveneau Valmur that cost I think 85 euro.
Relais D’Auteil - 80,000 bottles - reasonable prices.