It’s a sad sign of the times when one is pathetically grateful for good customer service. Dealing with global internet companies has lately become a bête noire of mine, so a weekend in Paris could not have been a more different experience. We were visiting one of my favourite restaurants, Le Verre Volé (The Stolen Glass), a little cave à manger near the Canal Saint-Martin.
The place was closed for lunch, but we knocked on the door anyway. The staff already had their own meal on the table and were about to sit down, yet they let us in and spent some time talking with us about the wines. The walls are lined with an excellent selection of natural wines, many of which I long to see in London, especially the Beaujolais and the Loire bottles.
They pulled out a perfectly chilled Beaujolais and two glasses. “Have a seat by the canal,” they said, “and return them when you can.”
We had mentioned a few producers we knew, having seen a lot of Lapierre’s Morgon on wine lists around town. Marcel Lapierre was one of the “Gang of Four” in Beaujolais, alongside Jean-Paul Thévenet, Jean Foillard and Guy Breton. The name is usually credited to the importer Kermit Lynch, but what unites them is the influence of Jules Chauvet, especially his work on carbonic maceration and yeasts. Often called the father of natural wine, Chauvet left only a few written works, yet they shaped the practice of “natural” and “conventional” winemakers alike.
The wine they chose for us came from the same circle: Yvon Métras, often described as the fifth member of the Gang of Four. Known as something of a recluse who would sooner be in the vineyard than doing paperwork, he has dropped off the radar somewhat. Sitting by the canal, we didn’t think about the wine too much, and like the city moving past, its buzzing fruit, tempered by dry iodine notes, felt like joy in neon lights.
It wasn’t until I was back in London that I read more about Métras and realised how good the recommendation had been. The research appealed to the intellect, the wine at lunch to the senses, and the whole experience to the emotions. This corner of Paris sets the scene for romance, but to borrow an overused business cliché, it was very good customer service. It was the perfect wine for the moment, and it said something good about the people who chose it for us.
Oh, and yes, we returned the glasses.
Le Verre Volé, 67 Rue de Lancry, 75010 Paris (at the time of my visit).
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