Secret Wine Door

Ursprünglich erschienen im AH Magazine, International Issue No. 7.

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Paris in Six Glasses

At 3 Rue Bouchut, in Paris’s 15th arrondissement, in a room with a handful of round tables, shelves lined with bottles, and a wall covered in chalk writing, the tasting begins before the first glass. Erwan welcomes his guests with the attentiveness of a host who knows how much the opening minutes shape the tone of the tasting. It matters to him that people feel at ease straight away, so from the outset, he tries to create small connections between them, through the country they come from or the part of Paris where they are staying. “The most important thing for me is that people feel comfortable straight away,” he says. “The first few minutes are a crucial time for creating a special connection, not only with me, but also between the guests.”

Erwan, a WSET-certified wine professional, opened Secret Wine Door in April 2019, after a period when everyday life had begun to feel too narrow. He had been working an office job with fixed hours and a predictable routine, outwardly perfectly acceptable, yet increasingly foreign to him.

He gave himself a year to try something else, set off travelling, and, along the way, stepped into kitchens, workshops, and smaller-format experiences where the relationship with people was direct and time was arranged differently. It was there that he recognised wine as the right medium for that kind of experience. “I built the tasting around the life I want in the future, and not the other way round,” he says. Out of that decision came set timings, small groups of guests, and tastings shaped around the table and the people gathered around it.

A tasting with Erwan lasts around two hours. At the table, the conversation moves through wine, but also lunch, holidays, habits, regions, and everyday life in France that naturally comes with a glass in hand. “People want to learn without feeling like they’re learning,” says Erwan. “They want to have a good time while drinking wine and talking.”

“For me, it’s about the connection more than anything,” he adds. That is why he works with small groups, so that the people around the table can connect. Once the numbers grow, the conversation changes. Wine is discussed through humour, comparison, a brief digression, and the sort of question that arrives only once people have relaxed.

He was born in Paris, spent part of his life outside France, and brings those experiences to the table. During our conversation, he said that different cultures helped him better understand how people listen, when they interrupt, and who needs more time before asking a question. In the opening minutes of the tasting, he tries to work out who is who in the group, and from there he guides the rest of the conversation.

His wine selection follows the same logic. He keeps around three hundred labels and roughly four thousand bottles on site, yet the tasting moves through six wines distinct enough for a guest to recognise, in the course of a single tasting, what they enjoy and what they would rather leave behind. Erwan works with small family-run vineyards and uses the differences between glasses to bring people closer to their own taste, rather than impose one on them. “It matters to me when someone discovers what they don’t like as well,” he says. “That’s part of the wine journey.” After two hours, he wants guests to leave feeling more confident when ordering wine in a restaurant, able to recognise a region, remember a style that suits them, and move through a wine list with less hesitation.

When he speaks about what he wants people to take away, he returns to the same idea. “Knowledge is a plus,” he says, “but people remember how they felt somewhere.” What matters to him is a glass that stays in the memory, and even more, the moment when someone says, on their way out, that they had a lovely time, met new people, and are taking something away from Paris that will stay with them.

The Wine Club and international shipping came later, growing out of the trust first built around the tasting table. After the tastings, guests first bought bottles, then enquired about delivery, and eventually began asking him to curate their next selection. The Wine Club sends out three selections a year. The summer selection leans more towards rosé and white wines, the Christmas selection towards Champagne and reds, while the winter one shifts towards fuller-bodied reds. Each box comes with notes on the producers, tasting notes, and pairing suggestions, so that what begins at the table in Paris can continue at home.

When he speaks about Paris, Erwan returns to the kind of small addresses people fall in love with the moment they discover them. Secret Wine Door belongs to that part of the city: a hidden door, a small room, a handful of tables, and a tasting that unfolds between the first glass and the end of the conversation.

When we asked him which bottle he would use to represent Paris, his gaze went to Pommard, a Burgundy Pinot Noir. He spoke of lightness, layers, and spices that reveal themselves gradually, of a wine that feels approachable at first meeting and then shows character and depth.

Among the plans ahead are specialised tastings devoted to individual regions, designed for guests who already know the basics and want to go deeper into Bordeaux or Burgundy. He sees the space behind the existing wall as a future bottle shop and later as an additional tasting room. Even now, guests often want to take home the wines they have just tasted.

When asked what Secret Wine Door is, Erwan answers: “It is a taste of French culture in a very small space in Paris.”

What stays with you after a tasting with Erwan

A bottle for Paris

Erwan most readily translates the city through Pommard, a Burgundy Pinot Noir, a wine that opens with elegance and reveals its layers only with time.

A rule for pairing

Erwan explains pairing through two simple formulas. The first is: “one plus one equals three.” The second is even more practical: what grows together goes together. If you do not know where to begin, choose a wine and a cheese from the same region.

Two regions he believes deserve more attention now

When speaking about French wines that deserve more attention, he often points to Beaujolais and Languedoc, each for very different reasons, yet both with plenty still to discover.

What a guest takes home

Sometimes it is a bottle. Sometimes it is confidence when faced with a wine list. Sometimes it is simply a sentence: “We had a really lovely time.”

What a tasting looks like

A tasting at Secret Wine Door lasts around two hours and moves through six glasses: one Champagne, two whites, and three reds, alongside six cheeses and a French baguette. Everything is arranged for small groups, so that the conversation can remain personal and alive.

This article is part of AH Magazine Issue No. 7.

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