In an article for French daily Le Figaro, six of France's best chefs revealed their top picks for wine - from winemakers flying under the radar, to small vintages or even renowned producers.
The bottles chosen by the chefs are priced between €11 and €50 (including Champagne), they do not necessarily appear on their restaurants’ wine lists, but are what they like to drink themselves.
You can find the full list here, but here are some of their recommendations;
Pierre Gagnaire recommends - La colline en flamme by Romain Paire
Pierre Gagnaire admits to a certain degree of bias when mentioning this wine, as he discovered it at his son’s wine bar in Lyon.
It's a white wine, and the grape variety is Chardonnay. It “expresses the purity of the fruit and freshness, with distinct aromas”, said the 13-Michelin-starred chef.
Chef Gagnaire has 13 restaurants across the world, and three of them are in Paris; these include Gaya and Piero, both in the 7th arrondissement, and Pierre Gagnaire in the 8th arrondissement.
€11.50 (available at idealwine.com)
Chef Emmanuel Renaut recommends - Domaine Blard, Brut Alpin cuvée
This sparkling wine offers "excellent value for money", said Emmanuel Renaut. It features a blend that showcases Savoie's grape variety called Jacquère. Without any added sugar, this wine is a very good alternative to Champagne.
Chef Renaut was awarded three Michelin stars in 2012 for his restaurant Flocons de sel in Megève, located in the Alps of southeastern France. He is an expert in Savoyard wines and even dedicated a book to them in which he lists the leading figures of the Alpine vineyards.
€22 (available online at vigneronsdexception.com)
Chef Dimitry Droisneau recommends - Domaine de Terrebrune, rosé
It is precisely these rosés that Dimitry Droisneau has a soft spot for: “It’s thanks to Terrebrune that I’ve experienced such emotion when tasting rosé,” he told Le Figaro.
This rosé includes a mix of red wine grapes, Mataro, Grenache and Cinsault.
Originally from Normandy, Droisneau is the chef at the Villa Madie, located in Cassis, south of France. His recommendations of wine are produced in the Cassis area and more generally in Provence, which is famed for its rosé wines.
€23 (available on the estate’s website)
Chef Hugo Roellinger recommends - Michel Guignier, Au bon grès
This Beaujolais is a natural red wine which includes the grape variety Gamay.
“Michel Guignier practises mixed farming, and everything is done by hand... The result is fresh and offers very deep Gamays,” said Hugo Roellinger.
Up-and-coming chef Roellinger is known to serve mostly natural wines in his three-Michelin-starred restaurant Le Coquillage, located near Saint-Malo in Brittany. He attaches "great importance to digestibility and natural wines allow for that".
€23.50 (available at vinnouveau.fr)
Chef Arnaud Lallement recommends - Roger Coulon
Chef Arnaud Lallement said that few things give him as much pleasure as the glass of Champagne he treats himself to every Tuesday at lunchtime, during the weekly closing day at L’Assiette Champenoise, his restaurant located in Tinqueux in the Marne département, which boasts a selection of 1,100 Champagnes. He added, however, that overall he does not drink much wine.
For Lallement, it’s hard to pick a single cuvée from Roger Coulon, as "the whole range is brilliant", but they are all “a safe bet". Take, for example, their Heri Hodie 1er cru cuvée, priced under €50. The grape variety used for this champagne is Pinot Meunier.
€47.80 (available at plus-de-bulles.com)
Chef Jean-François Piège recommends - Domaine Gramenon, ‘Poignée de raisins’ cuvée
Jean-François Piège, a famous chef who held three stars during his time at the Plaza Athénée, located in the heart of Paris, chose a wine from the Rhône Valley.
More specifically, Domaine Gramenon, which, as well as producing good wine, is one of the few estates to be unanimously appreciated by both ‘natural’ wine enthusiasts and those with a slightly more traditionalist outlook. His pick is a Côtes-du-Rhône red wine made with the Grenache grape.
“The Poignée de Raisins cuvée is a juicy, easy-drinking wine. It’s exactly what I’m looking for these days,” said the chef.
€15 (available at la-pangee.com)
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