Lavinia has always been one of my favorite winestores in Paris. It's like a wine epicentre in this city of bons-vivants. The choice is huge, the selection offers nice surprises and discoveries. And if you're looking for exclusive Grand Crus, this is definetely the place to go with a jaw-dropping treasure-cellar featuring endless lines of Petrus, Moutons and other VIP's of the wine world. And after not having been there for 2 years or so, the wine store had a special surprise for me: I couldn't believe what I was seeing there...


..this machine in the middle of the store it was. A wine-carousel-automat allowing you to try sips of a selection of wines. Probably my favorite Parisian toy now.


Yes, one of the wines you could try here. My eyes got big!


and, yes, 15 Euro for 0,03l, but better than 230 Euro for a bottle. This was the opportunity to try a Haut-Brion. It was still way too young though but brilliantly showing its potential.


Another candidate at 10 Euro a sip, didn't try it though. Too low profile after Haut-Brion ;)


Very sexy Pauillac de Latour with loads of coconut, nougat and chocolate. A hedonistic pleasure wine.


intense barnyard and horse stable nose...


Wow, probably my favorite that day. Very dense and aromatic yet smooth and silky. Intense nose and endless finish. Superb value when compared to those Bordeaux.


Price is 35 Euro from 6 bottles on...


The white wine automat on the back-end featured an excellent Condrieu!


The rare wine cellar holds the piano of my dreams...


Some of the bottles under glass are priced up to 35000 Euro


Another big benefit of this place is that you can pick any bottle in the store and drink it in the first floor restaurant for the regular sales price. So for lunch we had this very smooth Pic St-Loup with absent tannins, yet dense and concentrated and intensely aromatic. Nice pick by the vendor!

Lavinia
3 boulevard de la Madeleine
75001 Paris