Wines and vineyards of Paris

Bercy wines 1/2

Bercy owns a few vines reminding us that once its wine stocks were the most important in France even in Europe. In the garden “Yitzak Rabin”, situated in Bercy park (13th district), planted in 1996 682m² of vines with sauvignon and chardonnay grapes and 341m² of table wine grapes. Bercy was the obligatory passing point for the majority of wines and eau de vie which were brought to the capital by water, mainly from Bourgogne and Beaujolais. The first wine depot built in Bercy under Louis XIV marked the beginning of three centuries of uninterrupted activity.

The barrels destined for the capital arrived by boat on the Seine River and were unloaded and placed on the quays of Bercy. The wine merchants didn’t pay taxes because the depots were situated outside of Paris. (See below for the tax system of Bercy).

In 1878 the town of Paris gave Bercy its first official depot.

Bercy was called “happy Bercy”, because the whole of popular and worldly Paris crushed into the dancehalls that had invested in the banks of the Seine. The wine, that was much cheaper than in Paris, flowed through the Rocher de Cancale, the Marroniers and the Soleil d’Or. On Sundays and holidays the festivities animated the riverbanks. There were jousts, and fireworks….

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